how to deal with large catch?
 

So I have a strong feeling as Im gaining experience with fishing that I will land a big boy be it YT, WSB Hali etc. I have a net but should I get a gaff and use instead? Do I kill the fish before I put it on the keeper and how are you guys killing them bash skull (what do you use) or cut gill or Iki Jime? When do you bleed them and is it species dependent? Thanks for helping the new guy.

You need a gaff and a game clip. The net is to catch crap you drop overboard.

Stick it and clip it.

Short:
Bleed everything your gonna eat
Never use a net, its useless on anything over 10lbs
Get a solid gaff shot or game clip it right away.
Gut after the action's over.

Long:
IMO tactics depend on what kayak you have and how comfortable you are in it. For my YT that I intend on keeping I go for a heart/collar/gill gaff shot if possible otherwise I gaff the first 1-1/2" of its belly. (meat I usually don't eat anyways. You can gaff them in the back but i've noticed that gets the meat bloody and you lose about a # doing such.

Then i'll secure the fish with a game clip (still in the water) and then rip the gill arch closest towards its stomach on both sides of the fish. Bleeding the fish is enough to kill it after 3-6min but i've became irritated watching the fish's eye's rotate to look at me so now I kill spike every fish. If you don't plan on spiking them but have one that's #35+ and your putting them inside your yak expect them to go ape shit after 4-5min. (For YT they have a ridge/bump thing above their nose/eyes and spiking horizontally through that does the job.

On my PA you can do whatever suits you best at the time. On my revo I gaff, put my hand/arm through their mouth and hold onto their gill plate then bleed (still in the water, I don't want to clean up blood), spike, and throw them in my hull.

WSB are easy. They come up, you gaff their collar, put game clip in while its in the water, re-gaff its lower jaw then pull it over the side (talking about a PA for these). Once their aboard, bleed, spike (the don't flop around but why not) use a sponge/ towel to wipe off your deck then wrap it up in the wet towel.

Gut all your fish either after the action stops or with in 2hrs. look up commercial fishing for tuna vid's you'll find a super easy way to gut fish.

how to deal with large catch?
 

Semi-Newbie advice: I purchased a " iCast 2016 best in show" fancy rubberized floating net about 6 months ago, around the time I transitioned from Bay fishing to La Jolla/Carlsbad. I was really excited about it & getting the right net. Never been used. Get a gaff and/or release the fish with pliers alongside the kayak)

Edit: I've never dealt with a thrashing halibut in the yak yet. I've gaffed and pulled my YT's on board and slashed the gills and they haven't thrashed about. My only 'Butt was in Carlsbad lagoon and I just paddled to the shore and beached it.

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Gaff it. Rip the gills. Watch it change color as it dies. Contemplate your mortality.

You can buy a 1/0 gaff hook for like five bucks and whip it onto a broomstick. Great way to spend your afternoon at home.

Don't forget the primal yell after it hits the deck.

Thanks guys for the tips, especially sheephead for the super details! I do have a game clip and watched a few vids. My first kayak was 33" wide and very stable and now I have the Outback so its a little smaller but I'll manage. Yeah I didn't think of getting the game clip on when I landed a legal hali so when I tried to use my jaw pliers it freaked and shook hook off. Off to Bass Pro to get a Gaff! Thanks again

This is awesome! :cheers1:

You're going to need a gaff. You can buy on or make one. A game clip is vital as well. I always try to keep the fish well secured the whole time because one flop and you can lose a trophy.

I don't kill the fish with a knife or club. I let the fish bleed out then put it under the hatch. Of the fish you mentioned seabass and yt are easy. They come up tired and bleed out fast. Halibut are different. They come up green and pissed. Some do nothing. Others go absolutely crazy. Mike

Good pull! beat me to It.:notworthy:

Take it from someone who learned the hard way. A sharp gaff and a game clip is a requirement for a halibut over 25 pounds. It can get dangerous if you don't stun them with the gaff and don't forget the teeth. Also with them put your reel into free spool so that if you miss the gaff you wont have the fish snap the line 2 seconds latter.

Lol all me. Then when the MF comes back to life and decides to bash its massive body back and forth in hopes of somehow freeing itself, be somehow prepared as possible :rolleyes::D Thank goodness for my gator hatch ;)

Gaff, Clip or Stringer, remove hooks, bleed and then scream if you want to. And have all of your tools at the ready before your fish hits the surface. Gaff should be in easy reach, with point protector easily removable. Clip or stringer should either be already attached to the kayak, or have a plan to quickly do so. Remove the hooks only after your fish is secured and before you work around the head for bleeding (or the next hookset might be in you).

Note: You can get away with a much more girly scream if you end up with the fish to show for it. If you scream and the unsecured fish flops off your lap and back into the water, you lose experience points.

[Contemplating my mortality for a moment]

I feel good on the days the fish win and live to see another day. I still get invigorating kayak exercise and enjoy the beauty of nature.
Call me a pussy, but I also like the feeling of releasing my bait when I'm done fishing. It's an uplifting moment.

I try to target what I want to eat and I try to avoid collateral damage with minimal carnage.

When the time comes, I prefer to dispatch a fish by cutting the gills in the water. Personally, I don't like clubbing.

Mongol General: What is best in life?
Conan: Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.

[Beats chest like Tarzan]

Its a relief to hear I'm not the only one that contemplates their mortality while watching a fellow creature die. Mike

Amen. This is the exact reason why I've never gotten into hunting. At least with fishing you can go through the actions of the "sport" and your target can live to see another day.

I'm not sure I'll ever be completely ok with killing a catch but man I would love to taste a fresh YT...

Here's a technique for bleeding a halibut that might be useful to consider on a kayak. I fish with a small short-bladed emergency flip knife on an elastic lanyard around my neck that is easily accessible for this purpose.

You can usually see a natural mark or seam in this section that lines up with the pectoral fin behind the gill plate that is easy to punch and follow.

I started this clip at :45 and the point about bleeding stops at 1:25, before going on to filleting technique.

https://youtu.be/yviDaE5FO8Y?t=45s

Isn't fishing a form of hunting? What makes one better morally than the other?

You can always stalk your game and purposely miss the shot or take a photo if that makes you feel more complete.

Then go to the store and buy your meat laying on a maxipad wrapped in cellophane with a date stamp.

As I get older I "feel" for the animal's/fish's lost life. To honor that animal I only take a clean shot, butcher everything myself and don't waste it.

At least a yellowtail doesn't let out a long protracted death moan like a bear does in its final moment. Talk about a sad sound.

You want to talk about contemplating ones mortality... our sport can be dangerous. I have felt relief on mutliple occassions finally
making the harbor when things turned rough or the fog/lightning rolled in quickly and unexpectedly. I'm sure we all have stories
of stupid boaters, sharks, big bull sea lions. Hell I almost got killed by a bonita (my friends all know that story).

I too release my bait at day's end.

He may have been referring to "catch & release" as not killing. It's a little harder to release a deer after it's shot.

I'm not a catch & release guy. I'm a catch and eat guy. I try to make use of everything I can render from a life I've taken. Yellowtail collars are amazingly delicious, and I try not to worry too much when I see them wasted by others.

If we are going to kill and eat, it's all the same, right? Morally, I think we are designed by nature to be omnivores, right? Nature itself can be ruthlessly brutal and amoral. Morals may be a human societal thing.

Prudent respect and management of natural resources makes sense to me too. Sometimes there's a problem with pests that need to be eliminated. Sometimes people are the pests.

Without morals and natural resource management, it defaults to Darwinism and natural selection. Right? When we paddle out into the ocean on a flimsy piece of plastic, we become part of the food chain.

All that philosophical stuff makes me really thirsty for a cold beer.

Pics and vids are worth a thousand words. Thanks for finding the vid for me.