Keep your fish dead or alive????

[The100Road]

Was talking about this with some people on the Puyallup yesterday. Whats your opinion?

[Buckmark]

The best fresh fish (salmon, but applies to most) is cleaned and on ice asap..

[h20hunter]

Net it and bonk it....put line back out. Cut gills and bleed out. Once done, ice/saltwater slurry. If in freshwater same applies...just not the slurry....straight ice.

[h2ofowlr]

Thump them, bleed them and then thrown on ice.

[The100Road]

Maybe i didnt think this all the way through. Im assuming you guys have coolers on a boat? Im more thinking of just a stringer tied up to a tree or a small boat with no cooler for ice is what im used to. But yeah, that makes sense.

[Ridgeratt]

Maybe i didnt think this all the way through. Im assuming you guys have coolers on a boat? Im more thinking of just a stringer tied up to a tree or a small boat with no cooler for ice is what im used to. But yeah, that makes sense.

Even in a small boat you can have a cooler with frozen jugs of ice in them. When I am fishing lakes I Bleed them and Ice em.

[chadrickash]

Cut the gills to bleed them out - tastes better. Then get them on ice as soon as possible.

[h20hunter]

I want to keep the fish as clean and fresh as I can. If that means a five minute walk back to the truck to ice them down I'll do it.

[The100Road]

Maybe i didnt think this all the way through. Im assuming you guys have coolers on a boat? Im more thinking of just a stringer tied up to a tree or a small boat with no cooler for ice is what im used to. But yeah, that makes sense.

Even in a small boat you can have a cooler with frozen jugs of ice in them. When I am fishing lakes I Bleed them and Ice em.

Yeah, On a small boat weve always just kept them on a stringer in the water and then but them in a cooler for the trip home. I get that it depends on weather but how long does it take for the fish to no longer taste "fresh"? I dont think ive ever had a fish that has gone bad. Or maybe all the fish ive ever ate have been bad and i didnt know it. 

[C-Money]

I whack them on the head and ice them once back to the pickup.

If in my boat, the get bonked, and then into ice in the cooler. Never been a bleeder.

[Stein]

Net it and bonk it....put line back out. Cut gills and bleed out. Once done, ice/saltwater slurry. If in freshwater same applies...just not the slurry....straight ice.

 

I usually gut them as well in order to speed cooling.  The better you care the better the table fare, you can absolutely tell the difference.

[h20hunter]

Sure.....if you have time it only helps to gut, clean out the blood line, and take out the gills even better!

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I have a friend who self markets his salmon here in Alaska and he invented a pressure bleeding system for his fish. Here's a blog he keeps about the importance of good bleeding.

http://www.gulkanaseafoods.com/blog/tag/Intravenous+pressure+bleeding

[h2ofowlr]

When I have hiked in for salmon or steelhead.  I would bleed.  Pop a gill or what I like, stick a knife blade straight in between the pectoral fins.  Hold fish while still alive on it's back and stick the knife blade straight in about 2 inches.  It will go right through the hart and pump the fish almost clean.  Sometime it will shoot out a few feet like hitting an artery.  Then I would place the fish in a burlap bag and place in a cool shaded area of the river.  Never throw up on the bank if you like good tasting fish.  Take care of the meet and the taste is excellent.  Doesn't get all fishy tasting like those that cook them up on the bank until the fish goes dry.

[bowhunterwa87]

Rip the gills mark the fish on punchcard and get back at it. It goes on ice if the icechest is on the boat and stringer if I'm bank fishing which is usually Oct Nov on the klickitat