Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Using the pointy end of my fillet knife I do the ike jimmi method first then insert the knife in behind one gill plate and out the other side then slit the troat in one swift slice.

I find they can or will still flap around abit even after doing this. So I try and gut and clean them as quickly as possible. I have found sometimes there nervous system is still active even after fully gutted and gilled, that a little freaky.

I use a very sharp knife to quickly cut down behind the back of the head until I feel the tell tale pop that lets me know I have severed the spinal cord and the main blood supply to the head/brain. Instant death, no stress and it would appear that like iki jimi all the blood gets centralised into the gut cavity.

From the look of the pictures freoboy uses the same method

Yep that's the one I use too

I just did 30 using the method in the first video - quick and easy

Had a problem with my smoker though if anyone can help, its a wilson SS model, has tray in bottom for wood dust/chips then a rack over this for the fish, first problem was burners set fire to the table it was on - nothing serious because I was watching it but anyway you learn I guess,
Next there wasnt much smoke seen and it appears the juices from the fish wet the sawdust and prevented it from burning so I sort of have steamed fish, still Ok but not what I was expecting.

My smoker sounds similar to yours Jet and mine has a drip tray that sits over the sawdust and under the rack and fish. Perhaps a piece of alfoil would work just as well. I actually line my drip tray with alfoil to save cleaning it.

A good whack on the head with the back of the filet knife seems to kill them quick for me

I do my Herring with a finger in each gill and thumb behind the head and pull back till you see a squirt of blood. Instant death and great for bleeding out straight away.

Hi all,
I use a clean rag to hold them seeing they are so slippery, and use a spike to the brain to kill the trout immediately. The body spasms and ten completely relaxes. I then gut and clean the fish and they taste great.
I use 3kg of salt in my system of approx. 1,400 litres of water and the trout were surprising like fish from the sea.
I have had trout from a fish farm where the fish were held in dams and they tasted sort of muddy, but the trout form my AP system were a lovely clean taste. Very impressed.
I didn't purge the fish before culling.