Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

286 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFT;longitudinal slit half the length of the body, peelthe skin back at the neck until you get a good hold,and then strip it off.Another way is to rub the tail under your footuntil the skin splits, or nail the eel up by the tail,cut through the skin around the body just forwardof the tail and work its edges loose, thendraw the skin off over the head ; this takes outall of the fin bones, and strips off the skin entire.To Keep Fish.— It is very bad practice tostring fish together through the gills and keepthem in water till you start for home. It makesthem lose blood and torments them till they dieof suffocation. Why sicken your fish before youeat them? If you must use a stringer, push itspoint through the fish's lower jaw. Then it canbreathe freely. A single fish on a good length ofline, strung in this way, can fight off turtles tillyou notice the commotion.If you are not fishing from a boat, with livebox or net, then by all means kill your fish asfast as you catch them. Some do this by givingthe thing's head a quick jerk backward, breakingits neck ; others hit it a smart rap on the back ofthe head with the handle of a sheath-knife (manyEnglish fishermen carry a " priest," which is aminiature bludgeon, for this very purpose). It isbetter to break the fish's throat-latch (the cordthat joins head to body on the under side), becausethat not only kills the fish but bleeds it, and one'sfinger does thr. trick in a second.The reason for killing fish at once is two-foldfirst, it is humane ; second, it keeps the meat firm,as it should be for the pan, and it will not spoilso soon as if the fish smothered to death.Fish spoil from exposure to sun and moisture,especially the latter. They keep much better ifwiped dry before carrying away. Never use fishthat have been lying in the sun or that have begunto soften. Ptomaines work in a mysterious buteffectual way.