Do you bleed out your fish?

[AppleJax]

Just curious as to how many people bleed there fish when they keep them? Ive been doing it lately and find it helps the taste of the fish. I never even thought of doing it until a good Newfie friend of mine showed me. He said he never heard of people not bleeding there fish until he moved to Alberta.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Only fish I bleed when I catch them would be burbot and whitefish and even then if I was in the boat there going in a live well.

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES

Only fish I bleed when I catch them would be burbot and whitefish and even then if I was in the boat there going in a live well.

You bleed them out in the livewell or afterwards? When I salmon fish on the coast, everything gets bleed out. If im fishing for perch I dont bleed them, there isnt much blood anyway.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

You bleed them out in the livewell or afterwards? When I salmon fish on the coast, everything gets bleed out. If im fishing for perch I dont bleed them, there isnt much blood anyway.

If there in the life well I leave them there dead of course . Keep them cool out of the sun .

[EZM]

I found that bleeding and putting a fish on ice immediately has a dramatic impact on the quality of the meat.

Learned about, and was doing it wrong for years.

No more live well for my harvested fish. If I plan on harvesting - there is a cooler with ice on the boat.

Makes a huge difference in texture (firm), taste and zero smell ...... if everyone would just try it once ............ I'm sure they would all be packing ice.

I see to many guys dragging a pike on stringer in warm summer water for hours on a hot day and then putting it a garbage bag on their way up to fish cleaning station. Makes me ill just thinking about it.

Last year a guy at the cleaning shack squeezed his 2lb jack out of his slimy garbage bag (the pike was soft and colorless) and commented on how "colorful" my pike looked ..... I just chuckled and offered him the same advice.

[CK Angler]

I bleed out every fish I keep, walleye, pike, perch, trout, you name it! The meat comes out way whiter and less "fishy" I do it in the livewell, the fishing are still pumping and bleed out completely. Just remove the plug after and pump fresh water on manual fill, clean's itselve right out.

[jackwyatt08]

I am interested, and never heard of it...
Mind if I ask how are you would do it to, say, a good size Lake'r?
Cheers

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by jackwyatt08

I am interested, and never heard of it...
Mind if I ask how are you would do it to, say, a good size Lake'r?
Cheers

I cut its main artery on the bottom side between the gills. Let the heart pump all the blood out. Maybe some other people have different or better methods. I know natives remove the gills alot of the time.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by EZM

I found that bleeding and putting a fish on ice immediately has a dramatic impact on the quality of the meat.

Learned about, and was doing it wrong for years.

No more live well for my harvested fish. If I plan on harvesting - there is a cooler with ice on the boat.

Makes a huge difference in texture (firm), taste and zero smell ...... if everyone would just try it once ............ I'm sure they would all be packing ice.

I see to many guys dragging a pike on stringer in warm summer water for hours on a hot day and then putting it a garbage bag on their way up to fish cleaning station. Makes me ill just thinking about it.

Last year a guy at the cleaning shack squeezed his 2lb jack out of his slimy garbage bag (the pike was soft and colorless) and commented on how "colorful" my pike looked ..... I just chuckled and offered him the same advice.

This!!! I don't fish for food often, but when I do, I go prepared.

[baptiste_moose]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

I cut its main artery on the bottom side between the gills. Let the heart pump all the blood out. Maybe some other people have different or better methods. I know natives remove the gills alot of the time.

Exactly. There is a hard bone plate near the front fins. You wanna be infrint of that. If you can't get through your hitting that bone plate. Should cut like butter with a sharp knife. No blood when filleting plus way better meat quality. I let them pump out in live well for 5-10 min then I also put them on ice.

[BeeGuy]

It is more important to bleed salt water fish because they keep salts in their blood.

Much less important in freshwater.

I find it much more critical to keep fish packed on ice and will bring a cooler with lots of ice if I plan a day trip where I will be harvesting fish.

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

It is more important to bleed salt water fish because they keep salts in their blood.

Much less important in freshwater.

I find it much more critical to keep fish packed on ice and will bring a cooler with lots of ice if I plan a day trip where I will be harvesting fish.

Thats the beauty of ice fishing, dont have to pack it with you!

[Jamie]

Being as the catch is so important to our clients, we instituted a new procedure last year on our boats, not only are the fish bled out, we put them in a slury of sea ice.
This is beyond effective. The quality of the meat goes from good to OUTSTANDING!!!!
It makes a huge difference.

If your guide is not doing this, then you are not getting a primo product.

Jamie

[Zip-in-Z]

Only my walleye that I/we keep .... back in Mb on either Pine Fall's -Wpg River or Selkirk - Red River .... my Pro-V live well turns blood red .... !

Miss the good old days ....




Zip ....

[Mike_W]

Live wells make for poor table fare fish too warm and usually just stressed out slow to die fish go in ..... IMO throw a plug in the well and add ice if your fishing for keeps!!

[anthony5]

Done both, makes no difference to the quality of the meat. If left in the bottom of the boat in hot weather yes, if on a stringer in the water all is good. Ice fishing is the best because you can keep them cold. Can only comment on fresh water fish, don't have the experience with salt water fish.

[Kyle]

I usually only keep fish in the winter, in which case they get gutted or filleted immediately.

[Buck9]

Yes I bleed out all of the fish I keep, fillets are whiter and way cleaner when cleaning

[Zip-in-Z]

Originally Posted by Mike_W

Live wells make for poor table fare fish too warm and usually just stressed out slow to die fish go in ..... IMO throw a plug in the well and add ice if your fishing for keeps!!

MikeyW ... try fishin during deer season when it's -15C at sunrise & you has to break ice at the launch just to get your boat in the water ... we fished Nov long quite often & we weren't the only fools out on the water. One Sat afternoon we caught 75 - 80 walleye & 5 were over 9 lbs largest 12#-8oz., and one Channel Cat over 31#'s. Fall fishin on the Wpg River, ... just like my days in the military .... "No life like it"! After that, dumped gallon of washer fluid into the well to keep the pump & lines from freezing/cracking over the winter.



Zip ....

[greylynx]

How does one bleed out a fish?

[350 mag]

Most fish can be bled with a small incision underneath their head....use sharp knife and run it in lengthwise.

For Trout you can cut off the tail. Take your pics before hand.

[slingshotz]

The results of bleeding it out is incredible for the quality. The Japanese have been doing it for a long time for sushi where quality is the utmost importance. I do this method whenever I can and especially for whitefish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikejime
http://www.ikijime.com/

[Mike_W]

Originally Posted by greylynx

How does one bleed out a fish?

Simplest is to cut the gills.

[tight line]

Always do with lakers, started with whites. Can taste the difference.

[EZM]

Agreed ...... for bigger fish I cut the main artery that connects all the gills and they bleed out very quickly.

Smaller fish, like trout, slit the same artery and curl your finger through the gills and pull them right out. Feels like you will cut your finger the first time you do it - but just be deliberate and push all the way through to the other side and it goes smooth.

[Moosetalker]

Folding bag type coolers are good to pack along ice fishing fill them with ice chips from a hole better than snow.
No good for sitting on though lol.

[Pikehunter13]

I don't bleed pike because they just slime too much.

I keep them frozen alive or barely alive.

Then once in my garage I clock them on the head with a 1lb sledge hammer.

[Isopod]

I would never bleed a fish, seems cruel to slit its throat and let it bleed to death. I only keep fish in winter -- bonk on the head seconds after I land it, then either fillet or pack in ice to fillet/gut later. Works for me, fish always seems clean and fresh that way.

I never keep fish in summer -- if you can smell the water or see the algae floating in it, then you shouldn't expect much of the fish that come from that. Maybe from Cold Lake, possibly a few other lakes, but mostly yuck in the summer.

[slivers86]

I prefer to just remove the head and gut them immediately if I can. Just my preference!

[ak-71]

I usually don't, but it does make a difference for burbots.
I always tell myself to take pictures and bleed the keepers, but once I get my first bite I forget everything