I like fishing but only partake in it very rarely cos I feel so bad about hurting their poor little mouths. People say that they wouldn't pull so hard if it really hurt, but I suspect that fear of death outweighs the pain avoidance urge, and that the little chaps really suffer.

2 things I can think of: A small anaesthetic barb that numbs the mouth enough to ease the pain a little. Hooks that dissolve after a couple of days in the water, so that if a hook is left in when a line breaks the fish won't be subjected to what is presumably a slow and very painful death. Maybe this is baked already.

I also think that people who leave fish to suffocate are being really cruel. I caught one on holiday recently that we ended up eating, and I hacked it's head off immediately.
-- sild, Jul 23 2002

No hooks http://www.fisherie.../electrofishing.htm
[half, Jul 24 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

tight's link http://www.fishingk...files/rechooksc.htm
please use the link button. [yamahito, Oct 06 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

So you've got no problem about chopping a fish's head off, but hate brbed fish hooks? You can already get fish hooks without barbs. Why do you fish if you have no intention of eating the fish afterwards?
-- [ sctld ], Jul 23 2002


Fish with dynamite. They never feel a thing.
-- Mr Burns, Jul 23 2002


[sctld] Not if I'm gonna eat it, no. I do only fish with the intention of eating them, and I've only fished 3 times in my life. This idea is aimed at those who, unlike myself, fish for the fun of it.

Also, not all fish can be eaten, so you might have to throw them back anyway.
-- sild, Jul 23 2002


I share your love of fishing with your distaste for harming fish. However, I posit that the only humane fishhook is one that stays in the display case.

[And remember this: every single fish you ever eat that was purchased commercially has slowly suffocated to death. And when it comes to fish, we are still hunter-gatherers, recklessly pillaging the fruit of the sea with no provision for the future. And I eat a lot of fish.]
-- DrCurry, Jul 23 2002


I hear you there. I'm a firm believer in the health benefits of fish, so I'd never stop eating it, but damn that evolution for making our existence so barbaric.
-- sild, Jul 23 2002


Try fishing with a bow and arrow, way more fun.

Second only to thcgenius - dynamite method of course. Or maybe the flashlight- baseball bat method.
-- dag, Jul 23 2002


oxymoron
-- reensure, Jul 23 2002


Seconded. It seems to me that the obvious answer is not to eat fish. Of course, this is easy for me to say since I can't stand them.
-- madradish, Jul 24 2002


Electrofishing anyone? (link)

I fear that the numbing option would result in the fish fighting harder to get away and ripping their little fishy lips off.
-- half, Jul 24 2002


//damn that evolution for making our existence so barbaric//
Well put, sild
-- thumbwax, Jul 24 2002


[blissmiss] So you mean - <terrible pun>novocaine for the sole</terrible pun>. Yeah I did try to put it in sport:water, but does anyone else find that sometimes ideas jump to the "other" category? I thought maybe jutta had developed some clever filtering system or something.
-- sild, Jul 24 2002


Quick trout death: insert finger in mouth (of fish, not your own), lift upper jaw and pull back until it touches the fish's back, snapping the neck and killing it instantly. Hum loudly to drown out the crunching sound if that sort of thing bothers you.

Perhaps the fish hook could play an audio track of someone whining and moaning incessantly in a sorrowful and agonizing tone, causing the fish to kill itself.
-- waugsqueke, Jul 24 2002


Bonus pun value: just found out that "Novocaine for the soul" is by.... the Eels.
-- sild, Jul 24 2002


It appears some hooks are better than others, these ones appear to only hook in the fishes lips. <admin - link moved to link area>
-- tight, Oct 06 2002



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