Filleting Stories

[Muskrat]

When we were camping one summer, my father was filleting a northern pike. He likes to refridgerate the slabs after he takes them off and takes the skin off so they firm up a bit and it makes it easier to take the bones out. Anyway, five or so hours later, he takes these slabs out when some buddies come over so he can show them how to de-bone a jack fillet. The one fillet started to twitch on the table. You couldn't actually see it move up and down or anything, but if you felt the fillet, you could feel a twitch, and each person that felt it could feel it so it wasn't a pulse from my hand or anything lol. I don't know how that is possible five hours later and not being connected to any nervous system or anything.
Just a few days ago when we were filleting whitefish, one had waterbeetles in its stomach that were still alive and moving around. I wonder how long those things can live inside a stomach for lol. Dad also found a hook inside a northern pike stomach once. I thought it would have got caught up in the mouth or throat before it made it that far.
Anyone else find interesting things or have wierd things happen when filleting a fish?

[hali-man]

Last month I was cleaning a 19" brookie from a small local lake. There was a rock slightly smaller than a golf ball in its stomach. Weird... 

[Muskrat]

Must have been hard times and the fish was hungry lol.

[bigredonice]

my buddy and I filleted out a carp on Tuesday, and the head was still 'breathing' a good 15 minutes after it was decapitated

[Muskrat]

Maybe fish are related to chickens or something lol, they both seem to be more active after they are decapitated then they were before.

[beerduck]

ive caught trout like that i think they eat rocks to hold them down in current

[esox slayer]

I brought in a nice 10 pound northern the other day, 10 minutes after I had it laying on the ice I noticed it's belly moving, turns out it had a still alive 6 inch sunfish in theer, must have eaten that right before it slammed my minnow....first time I'd seen anything like that in my 40 years on the ice....

[marcus]

Usually we put our days catch in the sink to thaw. One day the wife and I had 40 or so perch and a fewe sunnies once they thawed there was fish flopping all over Do these fiksh come back to life or was it some sort of reflex? I have noticed this happen more than once after that episode... it was strange the fish were long dead by then... I thought

[Redbeard1]

Usually we put our days catch in the sink to thaw. One day the wife and I had 40 or so perch and a fewe sunnies once they thawed there was fish flopping all over Do these fiksh come back to life or was it some sort of reflex? I have noticed this happen more than once after that episode... it was strange the fish were long dead by then... I thought

I cull all my perch that way, Just let them freeze on the ice and stick them back in a different hole.  Saves bait!!  After a couple seconds of being back in the water,they're off swimming!

[pray for the fish]

When I was a kid about 35 years ago, my dad brought home a n. pike, maybe 4 or 5 lbs. He had speared it about 4 hours earlier. He opened it up and in the stomach was a bullhead about 4 inches long, still alive. Us kids put in a 2 gallon jar full of water. It lived for a year, before it died.