Killing A Triggerfish

[alexrom1207]

I've shot a few of these little guys and they are a real hard to kill, plus they bite!!! One little ba$trad bit me right through my wetsuit. I've tried to ike spike them but I couldn't get it right. Any tips

[Mr. X]

I had a similar dilemma this year and asked the same question on this thread: killing fish quickly

I used my stringer as an iki spike but went up under the gill cover - safer but very boney and hard to be sure of success -- they're surprisingly docile till they try to bite you! I also strung it that way (i.e. backwards, in case it decided to come back to life) but it created a heck of a lot of drag. I wonder if cutting the throat would work? SettingSteel suggested stringing them through the eye sockets -- I usually avoid that (squeamish and I use the eyes to judge freshness later).

[alexrom1207]

Thanks Mr. X, I'll try that next time I shoot one of these guys. I usually string them through the mouth so that they can't bite but they're determined little guys and they seem to find a way. Not sure how to go about slicing the throat but if all else fails I'll give that a shot too.

[scottie3030]

me and JamesT shot a few last year and found them hard to kill james put his on his stringer he had about 5 or 6 on it and they took chunks out of him i chucked mine straight in the boat.

[irtrogdor]

http://www.danheller.com/images/Lati...ones01-big.jpg

if you look at that picture you can see that the trigger fish's spine sort of runs right through its middle, making it hard to fracture with a knife/spike. Coupled with its bony head they really are awful to deal with. I've never tried this, but perhaps you could snap a vertebrae by entering through the side? They are quite skinny...

[settingsteel]

Originally Posted by Mr. X

I had a similar dilemma this year and asked the same question on this thread: killing fish quickly

I used my stringer as an iki spike but went up under the gill cover - safer but very boney and hard to be sure of success -- they're surprisingly docile till they try to bite you! I also strung it that way (i.e. backwards, in case it decided to come back to life) but it created a heck of a lot of drag. I wonder if cutting the throat would work? SettingSteel suggested stringing them through the eye sockets -- I usually avoid that (squeamish and I use the eyes to judge freshness later).

^^^square that

[andah]

Nice skeleton pic.

Never seen one but are they really worth it?

[irtrogdor]

They are really tasty until they get big - past 20 inches they get pretty tough.