The Last Fish

It was a small rainbow trout. As I held her, her iridescent skin glistened in the light. She was cold, slimy and beautiful. I looked up at my father, knowing that this was a moment I should be proud of. He pulled the hook out of her bleeding lip, so that my small fingers would be spared the chance of catching on the hook’s barb. I remember wanting to throw her back… perhaps I’ve added that detail to my memory as wishful thinking. Either way, although smaller than we would normally keep, she was too badly hurt to return to the water.

Even then she was still fighting as she suffocated in the air so we brought her life to an end, unceremoniously, her head against a nearby rock. We added her body onto the string we were carrying with a number of other fish that had been caught and killed. The string was threaded through her mouth and out one of her gills, now motionless. As we began to walk back to the car my cousin held the line of fish, swinging it as she went. It was all part of the “game”. But the gills of my small fish could not handle the motion and tore open, sending her flying from the line back into the water, where her body quickly disappeared with the current. I was saved from eating her.

I hated eating the fish we caught. I hated the sight of my father slitting their bellies open and watching their organs spill out. Hated their eyes looking up at me from my plate. These and the crabs that we played with and then boiled alive are the only animals I ever watched die before me.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Terry V.

7:46AM PDT on Jun 4, 2013

noted

June 4
send a green star

Virginia B.

7:22PM PDT on Jun 2, 2013

Tyvm for this article...

June 2
send a green star

Walter J.

3:33AM PDT on May 27, 2013

Your story about the last fish was disscusting! You have taken an means of supplying food, plus a family unity oportunity to enjoy nature and turned it into a horror story. Lest you forget, the bible states man shall rule over all animals and fish! A LOT of people enjoy eating fish, so why try to amke them feel guilty? Why not do an in depth swayed story about birt or surgery? that would be real gory. let people make there choices, and enjoy nature, or eat it, if legal!

May 27
send a green star

Teresa W.

10:33AM PDT on May 23, 2013

Killing should never be a sport or a hobby.

May 23
send a green star

10:31AM PDT on May 23, 2013

thank you

Laurel R.

9:33AM PDT on Mar 31, 2013

Thank you for this article.

March 31
send a green star

Bryna P.

9:41PM PDT on Mar 26, 2013

I loved my grandfather dearly, but I could not fish because I knew it hurt them and that they suffered. Of course, he said it didn't hurt them, but I never believed him, and to this day, I find eating meat to be difficult. Consequently, I have decided to check into becoming a vegetarian.