Do you cut the Gills

[sjb]

:confused:Just a quick question that I realized during the summer when I catch a fish that we intend on keeping we cut the gills immediately. I do not do this during hard water season and wonder if I should. Do any of you cut the gills to preserve the meat?
As always thanks for the advise in advance.

[MountainTi]

Sure do, summer and winter.

[redranger15]

Yes,always.lot less blood when cleaning.

[The Fisherman Guy]

It is recommended to bleed any fish immediately after the kill, as their meat has a much higher percentage of water, and the blood can taint the meats taste if left to sit.

I always bleed, and gut my keeper fish as soon as possible and lay them belly down to drain the remainder out of the thick back meat.

[slingshotz]

The best way to get them to fully bleed and preserve the meat is to make a ice slurry (obviously easier in the winter than summer). When I can, I drill a bunch of foot deep holes attached together (clean out half the ice) and one hole all the way to the water near the edge. Then I break the ice between the big ice hole and the water to make a little trench to let the water pour into the big hole. The water and ice make a perfect slurry, then I cut the gills, spike the brain and put the fish in the slurry to bleed out. When you spike the brain, it keeps the heart pumping but the body stops moving, the slurry keeps the blood from clotting and it pumps most of the blood out naturally.

The slurry works really well for keeping the fish from freezing solid in cold weather or cold in warm weather.

[Dust1n]

you have to bleed the fish properly so doing so is a great way it makess it somewht better

[Alberta Bigbore]

never bled a fish in my life

[hockey1099]

never bled a fish in my life

x2

But im interested to learn more, does it really help the taste? I always try to keep the fish alive as long as possible. If they die right before i leave the lake im happy. Im always worried the fish caught early will spoil eventhough they are always kept in a cooler with ice.

[Tofinofish]

I Always do...Every species

[Dust1n]

the meat tastes was better when blead keep 2 whites and compare

[aulrich]

Alive and cool as close as possible to dinner, sounds like the old wifes tale of bleeding deer. May be for long term storage but for me if it is in the freezer for longer than a month you should not have killed it in the first place.

[Dust1n]

Alive and cool as close as possible to dinner, sounds like the old wifes tale of bleeding deer. May be for long term storage but for me if it is in the freezer for longer than a month you should not have killed it in the first place.
when u bleed a deer its so the meat dont taste bloddy when the heart stops working it cust the circalation and everything started to deterate

[coyotekiller]

i usually dont in summer cause i have a live well

[slingshotz]

x2

But im interested to learn more, does it really help the taste? I always try to keep the fish alive as long as possible. If they die right before i leave the lake im happy. Im always worried the fish caught early will spoil eventhough they are always kept in a cooler with ice.

I was always curious too if it really made a difference and tested it this winter. I had seven whites which I spiked and bled in the ice slurry but I missed one which I only spiked but not bled.

After taking them home to gut I could easily see the difference in the meat color, the non bled one was slightly greyish before cooking. I cooked them both up the same time in the same method and the bled one had beautiful bright white flaky meat and the non-bled one had a little muddy taste to it and the meat wasn't pearly white. It might have been the actual fish itself, but I bled 6 whites all caught at the same time and they were all as good so chances are the bleeding was the difference.

I've also tested it on stocked rainbows and there was a difference too but not as noticeable. Now I'm not saying that not bleeding fish makes them unedible as I've done it dozens of times not even gutting or bleeding the fish for hours. If I get a chance next time, I'm gonna test it out again sashimi style.

How can you tell I'm a foodie :lol:.....

[GummyMonster]

Evening guys,
Lots of good info here, but I need a little more.How exactly are you "cutting the gills"? I haven't seen this before, always just killed them with a good bonk, and cooled them quickly. If this makes the meat better, I am all for learning.
Thanx in advance
Ken

[hayseed]

Im with Bigbore...never done it, or even heard of it....for that matter...

Hmmm....anyone else ??

[Dust1n]

the best way to bleed it quickkly and effiantly in my 2 cents are putting your thumb in its mouth (perch ,whitefish only and small trout) and pull your thumb all the way back to snap its neck off then put it on ice....and kinda sort make a leveryour index fingure but u can adjust it anyway u want and commit to it cause if u dont it streases the fish and like deer im pretty sure it tenses the meat thats why u want a clean shot

[horsetrader]

Im with Bigbore...never done it, or even heard of it....for that matter...

Hmmm....anyone else ??

Fished for more years then I want to admit NEVER bled a fish in my life.
And don't believe my fish can taste any better then they do

[MountainTi]

Evening guys,
Lots of good info here, but I need a little more.How exactly are you "cutting the gills"? I haven't seen this before, always just killed them with a good bonk, and cooled them quickly. If this makes the meat better, I am all for learning.
Thanx in advance
Ken

Stick your fillet knife in the gills and slice, it's amazing how much they will bleed out. Makes quite a difference in the quality of the meat.

[The Fisherman Guy]

The best way to get them to fully bleed and preserve the meat is to make a ice slurry (obviously easier in the winter than summer). When I can, I drill a bunch of foot deep holes attached together (clean out half the ice) and one hole all the way to the water near the edge. Then I break the ice between the big ice hole and the water to make a little trench to let the water pour into the big hole. The water and ice make a perfect slurry, then I cut the gills, spike the brain and put the fish in the slurry to bleed out. When you spike the brain, it keeps the heart pumping but the body stops moving, the slurry keeps the blood from clotting and it pumps most of the blood out naturally.

The slurry works really well for keeping the fish from freezing solid in cold weather or cold in warm weather.


Brilliant advice on a technique that is unique but effective! I will definitely be trying this on my next kept fish before the ice is off.

Main arteries run to the heart from the gills, through the lower jaw portion of where the gills meet the body on the underside of the fish. If you insert your knife in the gills and snip downward, as soon as possible once you are able to euthanize your fish, your fish will bleed out and taste better.

[Nationwide]

never bled a fish in my life Have to agree with the man .

Althogh while on a vaction in florida a few years back i did see some fisherman bleed out bluefish they were catching when i asked why all i got was they taste better :confused: i guess if it works for you do it.

[sjb]

Thanks everyone for your insight. I posed the question as a good friend told me of this years ago and I said that I had never done it and his reply (which is the same as alot on this forum) was "read your regulations under cleaning and transporting fish". As we were fishing I read them and sure enough it was in there. 2010 regs on page 21 onlys says to remove gills to preserve meat, but if I recall previous years did mention it in more detail.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Im a firm believer on the crappy taste is from where you catch the fish... A trout from Mornville Game Pond is gonna taste like a mud trout, where a trout from Carson is going to taste yummy.

When Ice fishing... the fish is on the ice... getting frozen, preserved as you will. Half the time you have to thaw the damn thing out before filleting at home. And I wouldnt know about the difference in whitefish as stated to try above in a earlier post.... As when I bring whitefish home... they get boiled.. deboned... minced, and mixed with mushed up potatoes... formed into patties and fried..... Served with onions that have been soaking in vinegar for a hour, and home made tartar sauce.

As for Summer... half the time you cant catch a legal fish in this province to take home anyways so whats the problem LOL. Go slit the gills on whoever poorly managed the Alberta fisheries for god knows how long instead. HAHA

[sheepguide]

Im with Bigbore...never done it, or even heard of it....for that matter...

Hmmm....anyone else ??

Same, never even heard of it.
SG

[marlin1]

never done it , have removed the gills before but never bled a fish ? maybe I'll try it and see if it makes a difference . Only bleed out mammals .

[Alberta Bigbore]

Only bleed out mammals .

Never done that either...... Bleed out enough from the initial wound from weapon of choice followed by field dressing.

[marlin1]

Never done that either...... Bleed out enough from the initial wound from weapon of choice followed by field dressing.

well yeah that's kind of what I meant , I don't specifically make any cuts to bleed out . Besides my chef buddy says blood is flavour:)

[Alberta Bigbore]

well yeah that's kind of what I meant , I don't specifically make any cuts to bleed out . Besides my chef buddy says blood is flavour:)

oh sry... I thought u mean cut the throat.. seen people do that right before they gutted a deer.. useless IMHO

[JJRND]

Are there any videos on YouTube that show the method of cutting gills? And can show the difference between both a cut gill fish and a noncut gill fish? I'm not familiar with the method. I just spike the brain.

[DOGFISH]

As for the question as how to cut the gills, take a small serrated paring knife and cut in the direction of the arrow through all the gills right after you catch it on one side and lay the fish down on that side with the head lower than the tail if possible and you will have nice white flesh when you clean them and less of a mess as well.

[JJRND]

I just came across this on youtube. I think it gives a good example of cutting the gills to bleed a fish out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX682QXKFl4

[MountainTi]

Never done that either...... Bleed out enough from the initial wound from weapon of choice followed by field dressing.

That's the difference, no wound channel in a fish to bleed out. Try it sometime, you may be surprised. There's a reason salmon charters bleed out their fish, and it's not because they enjoy scrubbing the blood out of their boat.

[DLP]

Alive and cool as close as possible to dinner, sounds like the old wifes tale of bleeding deer.

x2 keep them alive until there in my kitchen ready to hit the frying pan!

[SonnyCovin]

Brilliant advice on a technique that is unique but effective! I will definitely be trying this on my next kept fish before the ice is off.

Main arteries run to the heart from the gills, through the lower jaw portion of where the gills meet the body on the underside of the fish. If you insert your knife in the gills and snip downward, as soon as possible once you are able to euthanize your fish, your fish will bleed out and taste better.

When I catch salmon or whites for that matter is cut the gills and out comes the blood. With salmon I welcome them aboard with a thump to the head and cut the gills and man do they bleed whites I just pull the gills out. That way you get nice white meat and no blood which turns white in the frying pan when cooking.
check out newhorizoncharters.ca

[Alberta Bigbore]

That's the difference, no wound channel in a fish to bleed out. Try it sometime, you may be surprised. There's a reason salmon charters bleed out their fish, and it's not because they enjoy scrubbing the blood out of their boat.

we know the difference... there were two totally separate things going on there :p


Never been on a salmon charter either. So I guess I'm S.O.L. Might be a difference... but I dont bring enough fish hoime to even justify trying it. If I lived in Manitoba again.... maybe.

[Alberta Bigbore]

That's the difference, no wound channel in a fish to bleed out. Try it sometime, you may be surprised. There's a reason salmon charters bleed out their fish, and it's not because they enjoy scrubbing the blood out of their boat.

We know the difference... there were two totally separate things going on there :p


Never been on a salmon charter either. So I guess I'm S.O.L. Might be a difference... but I don't bring enough fish home to even justify trying it. If I lived in Manitoba again.... maybe.