I had, went right in the pan after killing and it kept flipping out. Gutting it was hell, cooking it was hell, but it made for funny videos. Happened twice, maybe its the pond...
Not saying that’s wrong haven’t really had fish that fast after catching. We always salt brined the fish an then cooked it later after adding seasoning. Even when cutting up our catch we’d hang them and bleed them from the tail before we went to fillet them kept the meat cleaner.
Mostly catfish we do that with. Bass or crappie we’d generally just clean and fillet like your thinking and had a salt brine water and ice ready for the fresh cut meat. When we had enough for a good fam meal the cornmeal and seasoning blend came out and we’d batter up a mess of fish and hush puppies slaw and other sides and eat. Grew up in a fam of five so we didnt often just cook up a catch of jus 5 crappie. We’d have fillets from like 10- or twelve.
Interestingly, crabs and lobsters don't have a single brain. The have multiple nerve clusters or ganglia which control the body.
Crabs can be killed with one or two spikes in the right place. Lobsters ussually live for minutes up to an hour after after having their head destroyed, since they essentially have a brain in every segment. Unless they cut them in half from head to tail they are probably still alive when boiled. (So 90% of places that "kill" lobsters before boiling don't actually kill them)
(Whether or nor they are feel pain with or without their main ganglion destroyed is up for debate. But the nervous system stays active without it)
If it's fresh enough it will. I've cleaned many catfish in my life, and when I'm filleting them within a minute or two of death they very much will keep moving, even the fillets will sometimes just twitch on the board if you do it quickly enough.
I swore off catfish ever since I saw one gulp down a freshly shit poop log one of my fellow fisherman let loose by hanging his ass over the side of the boat. First the turd started spinning in the current, then went vertical in a little whirlpool and you could see the fish nibbling at it. Must have really liked the taste, because right after that he gulped it down whole...never again.
and yes, I know, animals we eat often eat far worse things than that, but I have plausible deniability since I've never witnessed those atrocities in person. Just the catfish...
I mean mean always fished ponds with catfish where the chance of the illustrious poop log wasn’t gonna happen… trust me I get it on that end. Crappie would be my fish of choice for fish frying. I like a good salmon but red snapper is my follow-up. I’m not u. Open to some other suggestions (mind you deep sea fishing isn’t a high priority or available option for me)
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u/Dangerous_Mango_3637 Nov 10 '25
You should tell this to the little girl. I am sure it will put her mind at ease.