Bleeding Fish

[MicLee]

Who here bleeds their fish? I never used to, then started doing it for awhile, but it created such a mess in the livewell that I no longer do it. The cleaning stations have sinks nowadays so I just soak them and clean them as thoroughly as I can in the cold water before bagging the filets.

 

[SupressYourself]

IMO, it's the only way to do it. Get all that blood out of the meat. What mess? Some blood in the water? Cut them about 10 minutes before you pack up and run the pump the entire time.

 

[shorthairsrus]

depends on how cold the water temps. Anything above 65 -- no bleed. Your hurting your fllet to bes if its to warm.

 

[Jigaman]

I've started doing it and it makes a huge difference in both the quality of the fillet and also when you go to clean them you dont have a half filleted fish flopping and flinging blood all over the place. Best way I've found is about 10 minutes before I load the boat I take the fish out of the livewell and either throw them on the floor or in the net. I then make the quick cut and throw them into the full livewell. I don't run my pump once they are in there because my my livewell pump sprays the fresh water down into the bloody water and makes a foamy mess (anybody else experience this). I give them a couple minutes to bleed then drain the live well. If I happen to have a bucket in the boat I will take a scoop of water out of the lake and pour it in there for a rinse.

 

[Jigaman]

depends on how cold the water temps. Anything above 65 -- no bleed. Your hurting your fllet to bes if its to warm.

Can you explain this a little more? I feel like if you do it only a couple minutes before cleaning it's no issue at all. I wouldn't do it an hour before and then just let them sit in the warm water. In that scenario they would spoil

 

[johnr]

I haven't for a few seasons now, but it sure does make the cleaning station a fancier experience.
My livewell on the Lund is not part of the bait well, so when I was doing it I would just run the pump until the boat was loaded on the trailer.

 

[Josh Havelka]

I do not have a live well. I just take an old cooler and a bag of ice. Bleed them out and throw them in the cooler.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I usually do when pike fishing on the ice, when I catch the fish I slit a few gills and throw them out on the ice, clean them about 30 minutes later, or whenever I get around to it....

 

[shorthairsrus]

Can you explain this a little more? I feel like if you do it only a couple minutes before cleaning it's no issue at all. I wouldn't do it an hour before and then just let them sit in the warm water. In that scenario they would spoil

Everybody has a different mentality. Once they are in my live well -- i dont f with em. Fall or spring i will snip em if i feel like it to bleed. You can bleed em live at the f cleaning station too -- sure the first two you might have blood in the lines. The rest are cleared. I dont want piss warm algaed up water on any exposed cut --- same with my hands.

 

[dschaible]

I don't bleed walleye, It would be one thing if it improved the fishy flavor but walleye doesn't taste fishy or taste like anything other then the seasoning you put on the meat. If anything you probably clean fillets better since you have a better bloody slime reference of what you need to clean up before packaging.

 

[SupressYourself]

Tip: get a heavy duty scissors / shears and use that, not a filet knife. Much faster and lower risk of stabbing yourself.

 

[wjschmaltz]

I grew up with my Grandpa as the only person that I fished with. He always bled his fish. He lived next to the Hazelton boat ramp and would just drive them home in the livewell and as he took them out one-by-one he cut their gills and put them into a bucket with the water hose in it. Kept water moving through the gills and constant new water made it a clean process. I understand that laws have changed since then, but I would probably still find a way to bleed fish. I've been to the cleaning tables several times across from guys that don't bleed and the color of the fillets is very noticeable.

Probably depends on the type of fish as far as how much it matters. For salmon it's not even a question that bleeding fish has a very noticeable impact. With those I just reach my hand into the gills and rip a couple out from each side with the old booger hunters before putting the fish on the stringer. Everything is usually a chaotic mess anyways.

 

[guywhofishes]

I never bleed them.

Whack em with the fish whacker and cover them with ice when I get to the ramp.

Clean em whenever I get around to it - when they’re chilled/stiff.

 

[johnr]

I never bleed them.

Whack em with the fish whacker and cover them with ice when I get to the ramp.

Clean em whenever I get around to it - when they’re chilled/stiff.

I prefer to get it done at the ramp, leave the stink and shit there rather than home. Now on the ice they get thrown out the door and cleaned at home when they are all slimy, its quite icky.

 

[Victory]

I've started doing it and it makes a huge difference in both the quality of the fillet and also when you go to clean them you dont have a half filleted fish flopping and flinging blood all over the place. Best way I've found is about 10 minutes before I load the boat I take the fish out of the livewell and either throw them on the floor or in the net. I then make the quick cut and throw them into the full livewell. I don't run my pump once they are in there because my my livewell pump sprays the fresh water down into the bloody water and makes a foamy mess (anybody else experience this). I give them a couple minutes to bleed then drain the live well. If I happen to have a bucket in the boat I will take a scoop of water out of the lake and pour it in there for a rinse.

I get that foamy mess too. I started cutting them right before I head into the ramp and not running the livewell and rinsing the livewell out at the cabin or at the cleaning station.

 

[guywhofishes]

I have a system at home that’s convenient. Guts go out back (I live outside big city).
I often clean the next morning if I arrive home in evening.

 

[jdinny]

correct on the shears only way to do it.
i do it right before i load stop and let my boys fish one last spot as i bleed the fish i pull the live well plug at that time , and by the time your back to the ramp usually a mile or so theres no blood or mess at all. as soon as you kill a fish the meat will start to breakdown so regardless if you bleed them or not i would let them live as long as they can until you can either get them on ice or clean them there nothing worse than late summer day dead fish in the livewell for hours ...yummy.......

 

[Wall-eyes]

Dad taught me same thing I soon as bleed them meat does break down. I dont and dont have problem with taste put I do zipper them and take out mud line which most dont who bleed them. So i dont get it

 

[tikkalover]

In the boat I bleed them. The 5 I caught from shore this morning and put in a bucket, I did not.

 

[JayKay]

I shore fish a lot, so the fish go on a stringer. About 20 minutes before I'm going to leave, I snip the red gill things under the gill-plates, with a scissors. in 10 minutes they're dead and when I clean the fish a little later, the meat is white. Easy Peasy.