Hm... I've been present when people were going fishing and I've put a worm on a hook, but I think I've only seen fish after they were killed (or before, in a bucket). I've definitely never seen one gutted or cleaned in person, only on TV. I grew up far away from the coast, where only freshwater fish was really eaten regularly by locals, but we weren't locals.

My mom made a few seafood dishes, mostly shrimp, but she didn't really do fish. She grew up poor in the Midwest in the 60s, and her grandparents farmed, so SHE definitely had seen chickens slaughtered and dressed - I think only chickens - but most of her childhood was in towns, lots of canned food and cheap cuts of meat, but all from the grocery store.