Are Hornpout normally difficult to kill? I tried using a priest and this fish would not die. The whole event was really traumatizing for me because I've been a vegetarian for 12 years and just recently decided to catch and eat fish. I killed a Bluegill without difficulty after it'd swallowed a hook. But while hoping for another Bluegill, I hooked this Hornpout. It'd swallowed the hook and it was after dark, so I figured I might as well just take this one home to eat.
Now I just have a hole in my hand (even through some thick rubber gloves) and I feel pretty awful. I hope to never hook one again, but is this a fluke or can you not kill this fish with a priest? I wanted to choose a fast, humane way to dispatch fish, and apparently for Hornpout, this isn't it.
I appreciate any insight.
Now I just have a hole in my hand (even through some thick rubber gloves) and I feel pretty awful. I hope to never hook one again, but is this a fluke or can you not kill this fish with a priest? I wanted to choose a fast, humane way to dispatch fish, and apparently for Hornpout, this isn't it.
I appreciate any insight.
- um -
Yes they are tough critters....
and ya gotta look at it this way...
the more primitive the fish, the tougher they are
unlike the prima donna's of the fishworld
like perch, trout and salmon etc.
horned pout, gars, sharks and eels go further back in evolution...
consider them the neanderthals of the water world...
as a child we caught them and beheaded them and the head still
gasped... others bludgeoned them and they still twitched when skinned... and gutted they would still twitch in the bucket...
but they (New England hornpout) are still very good tasting....
the southern one aren't even worth buying (as they taste muddy)
but the small New England variety (are still very tasty).
- hope that helps -
Ca
Yes they are tough critters....
and ya gotta look at it this way...
the more primitive the fish, the tougher they are
unlike the prima donna's of the fishworld
like perch, trout and salmon etc.
horned pout, gars, sharks and eels go further back in evolution...
consider them the neanderthals of the water world...
as a child we caught them and beheaded them and the head still
gasped... others bludgeoned them and they still twitched when skinned... and gutted they would still twitch in the bucket...
but they (New England hornpout) are still very good tasting....
the southern one aren't even worth buying (as they taste muddy)
but the small New England variety (are still very tasty).
- hope that helps -
Ca
the NE type...
my dad needs some before he dies...
he's 88 going on 89 (and I am 60)
will try and break out the fresh water stuff to do him justice...
Twine Road, Sterling, Ma. reservoir (still clean water)
old man Twine (our relative) planted the trees obliquely so from one angle
the view is blocked and from another you see clear to the reservoir.
<damn>
dad took us fishing there nights plenty of times...
I got a hornpout on a streamer at night once...
Ca
my dad needs some before he dies...
he's 88 going on 89 (and I am 60)
will try and break out the fresh water stuff to do him justice...
Twine Road, Sterling, Ma. reservoir (still clean water)
old man Twine (our relative) planted the trees obliquely so from one angle
the view is blocked and from another you see clear to the reservoir.
<damn>
dad took us fishing there nights plenty of times...
I got a hornpout on a streamer at night once...
Ca