A super sharp filet knife!! Although my experience was with a horn pout, after pulling out the backbone with the meat from the skin, I was amazed as a child that the nerves were still alive. You could poke the flesh and the tail would move. Not sure if you could do that with a trout.
Also, I had a buddy who would not fish from bridge as we were kids. He thought that reeling the fish up to the bridge hurt the fish. We were white perch fishing - again it wasn't a trout. Another childhood memory was stringing up trout with the metal clips and finding the trout stiff and dead due to the poisonous claw of a crayfish or too. (I have used nylon clips since.) Today, the only time I eat trout is on an overnight fishing trips which hasn't happened since my kids were born - they soon will begin I hope. I will fillet a few salmon in the early season for a few of the family. I am quite finicky with respect to fish - being a fisherman. Through all my trips to Asia, I typically have always avoided fish. Not knowing what kind they are and knowing the water quality over there (near the cities) I didn't feel like eating Asian carp. Trout kindness - This is like my dentist saying do you want a sharp jab of Novocain or a slow drawn out one. The end result is a few days later it doesn't really matter. But I believe that true trout kindness is cutting its throat to bleed out. After all, your patrons who are feasting on the trout meat will thank you for the wonderful taste. The spirit of that trout will be thankful for your kindness. Thanks, Chappy.
