Amazing!!

Rut2much

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Just cut the gills (sidecutters) and their heart will pump it out fairly quickly, 10 mins before you're done fishing or so.. Some do it right away and then put on a stringer for 5 mins and put fish into a cooler of ice; some bring along a 5 gallon pail to do it in and then dump the bloody h20 over.
 


WormWiggler

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i think you snip where the gills come together underneath, but would like to hear an expert chime in.
 

guywhofishes

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I have thumped my fish in the head with the same wooden fish wacker that my mom bought me in 1978 or so (for dispatching bowfished carp).

I never bother to bleed fish out.

I'd be real shocked if someone could actually tell the difference in a blind taste test.
 

JayKay

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I know that a dead fish is a dead fish, but when keeping fish, I bleed them about 10 or 15 minutes before I leave the river. I have a little scissors, for just this purpose. Hold gill cover open, and snip several of the red gills. Bigger fish may need both sides snipped. I use an ax on anything over 30".

Blood will be copious, and quick. The reason I do like doing this, is the meat is very white later, when cleaning. Very little blood left in them.
 

Pheasant 54

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Couple things:

1. On fish about 25 we leave the skin on , put them skin down on the grill, no tin foil, and put butter and garlic on them , you can tell when they are done the way they flake , amazing taste
 


fishn4fun

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There might not be much difference in taste between bleeding and not bleeding, but you won't have much blood on your fillet board afterwards. For the little time it takes to snip the gills I find it worth while.
 

scrotcaster

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Couple things:

1. On fish about 25 we leave the skin on , put them skin down on the grill, no tin foil, and put butter and garlic on them , you can tell when they are done the way they flake , amazing taste

X2 I do the same thing .. Very good and simple
 

sl1000794

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Most commercial salmon fishermen on the west coast bleed the salmon they catch, not so much for the taste but to extend the fresh shelf life of the fish in order to get it to market and sold before it needs to be frozen. The blood decays first ... less blood, less decay. That's what I was told.
 

martinslanding

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I prefer to retain the nutrients in the life blood - gives me tiger strength

ah..the blood of fish and every fish it's eaten...

tenor.gif
 


LBrandt

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Never have bled any wallys, I just make sure my fish cooler is half full of ice jugs and by the usual 1/2 hour to an hour ride home they are dead and ready for cleaning. Just put a nice icecream pail of walleye filet in the frige until morn and then vacume pack for freezer.
 

Rowdie

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There might not be much difference in taste between bleeding and not bleeding, but you won't have much blood on your fillet board afterwards. For the little time it takes to snip the gills I find it worth while.

^^^^^THIS^^^^^^
 

MSA

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How do you bleed out a Walleye? I fished with a guide a few years ago and he told me he always did that and I saw him do something with a scissors but didn't get a good look. Is that supposed to have some affect on the meat flavor?

The scissor method doesn't work as well for me. I use a short fillet knife and stab em in the throat area between the pectoral fins and where the gill covers meet, and make sure I dig the blade around in there until the blood starts flowing, then I make a slice at the base of the tail. I keep them alive as long as possible, then bleed em shortly before I pack up n head to the cleaning station. If I'm driving home to clean them I keep em on ice.

It does improve flavor, but not as much as removing all the dark meat.
 
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AR-15

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If the snowflakes read this, they are going to have a Shit Hemorrhage
 


Wildyote

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We ate a 25 incher and prob 22 incher last night grilled. Was excellent if you like mild tasting fish. Tasted no different than a 14 incher as the red meat was removed from the fillets. We have bled fish for years. I give them an Arkansas necklace with a small knife and throw them back in livewell for the ride back to the ramp.
 

Stizostedion vitreum

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Allen has a point. The bigger the fish the more mercury it has absorbed over the years. All fish absorb it. The older ones have a much higher concentration. Not just because they are bigger. Pound for pound, big fish have a much higher percentage of it in their meat. Other than that and removing an egg layer, yeah they taste just fine. I prefer the 22 inch variety. If it is over 24 it goes back. If it is 31 inches or longer, it goes to the taxidermist. Already have two 30 inchers and my son has a 30.75 incher. No more huge walleye mounts for me for a long long time probably. I want to mount a 14, an 18 and a 24 and I can be done with my year class display for the man room.
 

WormWiggler

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I have always been curious, where in the fish does the mercury end up, I assume the meat since there are many with arms waving. Wouldn't a bigger fish have more meat and more mercury so the mercury level per gram or what have you be the same? Anyone ever heard that the fillings in your teeth are 50% mercury but were called safe with no research?
 

MuleyMadness

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Don't you guys butterfly your fillets and pull out the bones with the red meat attached when you clean them? I assumed everyone did this.
 

Bfishn

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I have always been curious, where in the fish does the mercury end up, I assume the meat since there are many with arms waving. Wouldn't a bigger fish have more meat and more mercury so the mercury level per gram or what have you be the same? Anyone ever heard that the fillings in your teeth are 50% mercury but were called safe with no research?
Its the biggest oldest predatory fish that have the highest mercury because as they eat more and more baitfish with mercury in them it continues to build up inside of them. I've never heard of people getting mercury poisoning from freshwater fish, but it does happen to people who eat excessive amounts of certain seafood (Tuna, Marlin, Swordfish etc). I'm personally not worried about it, just like i'm not worried about lead poisoning from deer/pheasant meat.
 
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