My lovely wife said since I drive her bonkers and it was my Birthday ............................. this is what I got. Turned out of Yew wood by a local guy, nice heft and 20 inches long ................ should put some fishes to sleep. Hope I don't damage the boat or my foot !!
Cheers:
Todd
Don't let the wife know where you keep it if you value your noggin.
that's an awesome looking fish bonker. tell your wife, good job! nicely done.
Looks great!
Yew is super tough, should last a long time. Bring it to Cedros next year so you can boink the Mook!
The Man
The Mook might not even feel it !! He used to kick box and has a hard noggin !!
Cheers:
Todd
;D Over here ,we call then Priest ...
Quote from: MarkT on November 06, 2018, 09:55:12 PM
Don't let the wife know where you keep it if you value your noggin.
:) His bonker looks bigger than a rolling pin. ::)
I told my wife that was a sleeping aid for fish... The look on her face when I explained it was well worth it ;D
Now that's a man size bonker !!
That yew wood is very hard wood and probably wasn't easy to make. I'm sure you'll put it to good use fishing, or hunting grizzlies :D :D
Ted
If my SWMBO walked up with that and said "I've got something for you"...I would not have the presence of mind to take pictures! That looks awesome and really fine workmanship!
Great wife, good gift toddy boy.... like a popular song once , you get what you need, knot what you want. Thanks for sharing.
That's destined to become a family heirloom.....not sure if it's because it put you to sleep or lots of fish.... ::) Bill
Nice healthy fish bonker!
Mine is kiln dried oak carved in the Northwest Coast Indian style as a Seal...because seals kill salmon. It has lots of mojo.
So much so I felt the urge to retire and replace it.
Mine and the ambitious carving job to replace it.
can someone school me on why the need for a fish bonker for smaller fish like salmon?
on my waters you only need it for sharks and sometimes for really big and "green" YT
Alex: here in BC we have always "bonked" our fish to quickly kill them (prevents bruising) and stop them from flopping around. it is not for safety except for halibut and maybe big ling cod as they can cause damage if they get wild in the boat. I bonk my fish, bleed them and then keep them cool. Many dress them right away after bleeding. I also think that some people bonk them to kill them quickly so they don't "suffer". I always wonder why some guys catch a fish and then just throw it in a cooler where they flop around for a while. I think the killing and bleeding gives you a good quality fish to eat.................................... my two cents.
Cheers:
Todd
Alex I,d rather show , but when salmon are caught from shore, or from a boat they always flop around, sometimes enough to really tangle suff up. The barb (yes ;)) of the hook always gets pulled thru the landing net. Thats a pain to remove. anyway mr fish keeps it up, that floppin part, blood is flung everywhere, and you still got to remove the hook out of the fish. Its more humane to bonk it and then it gets to be counted as dinner, immediately bleed it and clean it as soon you get your gear down.
Ice firms the flesh and immediately retards spoilage.
I,m sure you were kidding us? Heck you ever put a live fish in a cooler and close the lid on a warm sunny day? Its easier to buy a new cooler and the fish dies eventually, Leaving you a new paint job inside >:(
All fish in my opinion should be bled as soon as possible. Good fishing.
While typing this I noticed that Mr. Hardyboy said something similar, Butt I still pressed send post button.
All the miles I've drifted on the small coastal streams of southern Oregon,
Each drift boat had an oak bonker stick under the guide seat,
and after catching fish, rather than using the oak bonker stick,
we often used a rock from the stream bed,
when we bonked the salmon or steelhead on its head, we called it a "GRANITE SHOWER!!!!"
Get it! Granite Shower!!!!
I'm back to work.
Wayne
thanks guys, so everyday you learn something new.
most local fish are white meat fish, not oily or bloody as salmon, skiptunas, tunas, YT and few others, so I was taught (by a commercial fisherman) that there was no need to bleed a corvina, croackers, snapper and other of the Bass family and smaller groupers, with the exeption of Sierras (spanish macks) if they come too green to the boat you kill them with the bait knife by a cut in the gills but an actual Bonker tool to kill them is not normally used, now if you go 2 or 3hrs more south from my town to fish you can find during the season, Yellowtail, monster Spanish macks and bigger groupers which Im pretty sure its good idea to start bleeding them before going to the iced storage area of the boat.
I totally understand the humanity part of "put the fish to sleep" with a bonker and to prevent bruising.
Yep, it was spelled out clearly, BONK,BLEED,ICE.
I go one step more before icing the fish and that is practicing Ike Jime ( pronounced ee-kay jee-may). Japanese technique for best method of preserving the meat of the fish. It means "close the book" as in ...this is the fish's last chapter of life and now we close the book on that fish. As opposed to "killing" it. Many Orientals may be Shinto or Buddhist in their belief system and are opposed to killing things.
Basically, brain spike the fish and run a steel wire down its spinal cord. No latent nervous system messages sent out and no lactic acid build up. Bleeding removes the blood ( duhh...) which is a main catalyst for spoilage when the fish dies and is not promptly iced down.
I can tell a difference is the quality of the flesh and taste of fish that have been treated with - bonk. bleed, ike jime, ice.
The bonker starts the process with the least amount of damage to the meat.
Alex all the pangeros in baja use a fish bonker.
Steve-O I tried the Ike Jime thing but I could not get the wire down the spine. I read the whole process and I think I was doing it correctly but it did not work for me. Any tips? Dominick
Alex: I do it on all fish including our white grouper like fish (rockfish). I would do the bonk, bleed and ice on all of your fish; try it,you may be surprised. On a side note many of our commercial fishermen do not bonk or bleed their commercial catch either (due to time and volume) but most bonk and bleed the fish they are going to eat themselves.
Going to Ixtapa next week and I will have all my fish "put to sleep" and bled and then I will take my cervasa off of the ice to make room for the fish !! ;D
Cheers:
Todd
Quote from: Dominick on November 08, 2018, 08:05:09 PM
Alex all the pangeros in baja use a fish bonker.
with Baja, you mean Cabos, la paz and near zones, right?
you better off be prepared with a bonker, knife, etc for any monster fish
Quote from: Hardy Boy on November 08, 2018, 09:08:28 PM
Alex: I do it on all fish including our white grouper like fish (rockfish). I would do the bonk, bleed and ice on all of your fish; try it,you may be surprised. On a side note many of our commercial fishermen do not bonk or bleed their commercial catch either (due to time and volume) but most bonk and bleed the fish they are going to eat themselves.
Going to Ixtapa next week and I will have all my fish "put to sleep" and bled and then I will take my cervasa off of the ice to make room for the fish !! ;D
Cheers:
Todd
well, that kind of explain it all, the person that got me fishing as a hobby (few years ago) was a local commercial fisherman, he knows nothing about sportfishing at all, we actually fished the old way with a wood and thick line (cuban yoyo) and her "free days" during the fishing season, I actually went fishing with him on a normal working day for fishing for shrimp and corvina as a deckhand or worker with big nets few times, he told me that he had some really old rods and reels that need a clean up but could still work, so, I started to search info for fishing with rods and reels and how to clean them .. then I found At.com ;D ;D
I say to many friends that I still feel as a novice in fishing, there is always something to learn
I will do my best to remember to put the fish to sleep, bleeding, Im totally convinced the quiality of the meat would be a lot better
Well Todd, one belt on the foot with that club, would really wake you up, ay, cheers Don.
Quote from: steelfish on November 08, 2018, 09:33:27 PM
Quote from: Dominick on November 08, 2018, 08:05:09 PM
Alex all the pangeros in baja use a fish bonker.
with Baja, you mean Cabos, la paz and near zones, right?
you better off be prepared with a bonker, knife, etc for any monster fish
Yes Amigo, Alex I meant Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas and Loreto. I never fished La Paz.
Quote from: Dominick on November 08, 2018, 08:05:09 PM
Alex all the pangeros in baja use a fish bonker.
Steve-O I tried the Ike Jime thing but I could not get the wire down the spine. I read the whole process and I think I was doing it correctly but it did not work for me. Any tips? Dominick
Maybe this?: The wire/mono does not go down the center of the spine, it goes down the neural canal. If you look at a cross section of the vertebrae: in addition to the center hole, you will see a tube on the top and bottom. The top tube is the neural canal. I find it difficult to find at the head end of the fish without cutting things up a bit, but not as tough from the tail side. The wire/mono has to be sized properly, and not too stiff or sharp.
There is no shortage of of scientific papers and chef taste tests on Ike Jime. There is some evidence that disabling transmission on the neural canal is useful, but no apparent difference if it is simply severed (slice down to the spine behind the head) or a running wire/mono/along the distance.
I try to get the neural canal interface by working the spike a bit along the top of the backbone when brain spiking. I am not a big fan of making any more cuts on a fish than necessary until cleaning/packing time- especially in a hot air/sea environment. A quick spike, bleed immersed in water, and into a kill bag with ice and some seawater.
A big yellowtail or dorado will sometimes come back after getting bonked and thrash around like crazy. It won't come back from a brain spiking.
-J
I think know I am taking this thread off topic- so I started another on Ike Jime :
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=26915.0 (http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=26915.0)
Dominick: The second link (how tos) has a good photo of of the neural canal getting "wired".
Alex: The first link shows the science behind Ike Jime and also bleeding- take a look at the photos and taste tests for a different viewpoint.
-J
Blunt trama :o I would rather gill a fish. IMO...........................Joe
Clubs I use to check tires on trucks. ;D
There is something satisfying about a good bonk ..................... like hitting the golf ball in the sweet part of the club ............... the sound and results are perfect. That being said I have seen some bad attempts made at thrashing fish that resulted in body hits to both fish and people. I had a client once ,years ago, that wanted to bonk his own fish and by the time he was done both clients, myself and the deck was covered in blood and the fish had yet to be hit on the head ! The best part was the guy was wearing white pants !!! ::)
Cheers:
Todd
Thanks Mr. Julo, can you give us some more details on your brain spiking technique? Do you have the fish overboard? Do you use a knife or a spike as I,m thinking ? Thanks we are here to learn ;)
Quote from: Hardy Boy on November 09, 2018, 05:14:37 PM
............that wanted to bonk his own fish and by the time he was done both clients, myself and the deck was covered in blood and the fish had yet to be hit on the head ! The best part was the guy was wearing white pants !!! ::)
Todd
I have seen this.. a lot
poor fish died on the first hit in the head but the guy was mad at something that keep hitting the fish head until eyes, mouth, brains, etc were all gone and that happened with the next fish until the captain said.. amigo, just one hit and leave it alone.
I need a "bonker" in my tackle box.
This salmon season I got a taste of rotten fish blood, eggs, and muddy water at the river bank, I can vouch that this stuff is not appetizing by any measure, :P
Bleeding fish:
if the fish is dead how will it bleed? I mean will it's heart still pump?
knock em unconscious > cut gills on both sides > cut in cooler
did I get that right?
Quote from: Gobi King on November 09, 2018, 06:02:41 PM
I need a "bonker" in my tackle box.
This salmon season I got a taste of rotten fish blood, eggs, and muddy water at the river bank, I can vouch that this stuff is not appetizing by any measure, :P
Bleeding fish:
if the fish is dead how will it bleed? I mean will it's heart still pump?
knock em unconscious > cut gills on both sides > cut in cooler
did I get that right?
That's right. They still seem to bleed out after a a knock on the noggin. I bonk and cut around the gills (or cut some gills) and put in my in floor fish box full of water and they bleed lots, after that into the cooler with ice. Halibut I bleed while hanging them off of a rope over the side...... just remember to put into the boat before taking off !! :-\ .................. don't ask how I know about water-skiing halibut.
Cheers:
Todd
I've found that bonking the salmon too hard will kill them and they don't bleed out as well without a heartbeat.
I go more for a firm "knockout" blow that keeps the heart beating. The fish may awaken a bit while bleeding, but nothing more than a couple tail slaps
I've been on charters in BC where the guide bonks the salmon before gaffing....guess they didn't like using a net. We can't legally gaff a salmon here in Washington.
Ted
Quote from: gstours on November 09, 2018, 05:37:22 PM
Thanks Mr. Julo, can you give us some more details on your brain spiking technique? Do you have the fish overboard? Do you use a knife or a spike as I,m thinking ? Thanks we are here to learn ;)
I am as far as you can get from an expert on this stuff. Since the neural canal and optic nerves go directly into the brain, the end of the lateral line and the eye sockets show you where the brain resides. Fish have pretty small brains, but it will be somewhere not too far behind and somewhere above the centerline of the eyes and past the end and slightly above the lateral line. Each fish has different access points through the hard skull. If you are catching the same species over and over again, you can dial it in.
Tuna are easy. There is a soft patch in front of the eyes on the top of the head. Just go in at a 45 degree angle toward the back.
Yellowtail also from the top, but from the tail side. Hard headed fish like groupers, snappers, rockfish, come in from the side. Same with flatter fish like dorado/mahi.
The pros can probably hit the exact spot with just a jab. For me, rather than repeated stabbings, I just swing the tip of the spike around a bit, mostly front to back to front. This also helps to scramble the brains and sever the connection to the neural canal.
I just use a sharpened screwdriver. One of my favorite captains takes a big windup and goes in with a pair of needle nose pliers, horror movie style.
Salmon go pretty easy with just a knock on the head, so not as important. A strong whack on a big yellowtail sometimes results in just a short nap- so I always spike yellowtail. Rockfish and lings can be spiked from the side. For halibut, I have no idea. I don't know if there is an easy way. A bullet or bang stick is a form of brain spiking. I don't know if you can get a spike in by hand without a hard deck underneath. It doesn't seem that there are many folks out there that put a big live halibut on their deck more than one time ;)
Jurelo, good info, thanks!
Red fish Story: I landed a 20 lb redfish in Dauphin Island, AL. The fish has swallowed my gama hook, I was going to give away but I wanted to retrieve my "lucky" gama 10/0 octo hook. The hook was all the way down to the crush plate area. I took the Lords name and stuck my hand in there only have my pinky crushed by the bit. A gentlemen from Mississippi offered to help me and took my long pliers and stuck them through the eye of the fish from 1 side and out the other. Nada, fish still kicking hard. We finally used the butt of a screw drive to keep the mouth open while he wrenched the hook out.
I tried whacking the head (top) with the butt of the screw driver, the deep thunk told me that the skull on top was just too think :o.
Its my opinion that the fish, any fish bleeds out quicker with a cut to the bone above the tail and cutting the gills or severing the artery along the spine. Butt this means its best done in the boat in a tote or fishbox. Its seeming more humane to stun the fish first as they (like we would) die slowly. Some folks are real fussy with their boats getting dirty. Everybody has different situations. I watched a salmon fisherman in a video recently sitting in a small electric powered inflatable trying to stab and kill a salmon in the net overboard his small boat. He looked like one poke from swimming! ???
Secondly I think in warm climates ans sunny daze putting the fish on iice is going to make a better product.
Getting the stomach enzymes out means cleaning the fish. Nowadaze some places have laws against cleaning on the streamside so you have to make some decisions. Enzymes , blood, guts, and heat will start to degrade you prize as soon as its dead.
Best of luck to all, and thanks Mr. Hardy for sharing your bonker post.
Lots of good input here fellas. Thanks. On the Isla they just grin, say "toma!" And smack the fish with whatever's handy.
Update:
I followed the bleeding em right away advise this year, I kept a small knife handy and cut the gills before I tossed the fish in to my 5 gal bucket. I think it made a difference, though the fish were small 2 to 3 lbs range.