Concerning the Cruelty of Angling 



sever the head with a knife, but this is likely 

 to cut the gut. 



The most humane and rapid method is 

 to rap the top of the head sharply either 

 on a stone or any hard substance near at 

 hand, so that he is stunned and quiet, then 

 with a knife make an incision from the gills 

 to the mouth. To be sure, this is necessary 

 in nearly all fish that take the worm as a 

 bait, and it is one of the evils of bait fish- 

 ing against which fly-casters have a true 

 complaint, for many young trout under 

 legal size are caught on the worm and not 

 being skillfully unhooked are of necessity 

 killed, even if returned to the water, for the 

 slightest tear in their gills means a speedy 

 death. Most anglers are loth to spend 

 precious time in properly extracting the 

 hook. Yet it can be done harmlessly by 

 pulling the hook down through the gills 

 and placing it backward to get it out with- 

 out injury to the fish. In catfishing the case 

 is different, their sharp spines are most dan- 

 gerous, often poisonous, and the quickest 



147 



