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

[ironbuck]

 Rip the gills and it goes on ice. No bonk want it to pump out .

[Bullkllr]

Depends on the situation.

Trout, salmon, steelhead in the boat, bonk, bleed, ice asap.

Moving/bank fishing and it's warm I bonk, bleed or even clean then get to shade and the cooler as soon as convenient.

I was a little weirded out by the salmon on stringers idea you see on rivers these days. But I believe it does have advantages in certain situations. You have to be stationed pretty much in 1 place. Doesn't do much good if you can't keep the fish alive in the water. But as hot as it is, the only other option to me is an immediate trip to the cooler. Our last few trips we stringered, bonked and gutted when we finished and got fresh killed fish on ice in probably 5 minutes. A king would be worth the walk to the truck, but several humpies seems easier to take care of it at the end.

Kinda like panfish. Ever since I was a kid we always put crappie, perch, bluegill, etc. In a live basket. Keeps 'em fresh with little fuss for sure. Trout die to quickly in a basket in my experience.

[wildweeds]

I stick em between the fins and nick the heart by plunging the bait knife in ,once flopped out dead which is a minute or so,out of the fishbox and on ice.No bonkin.Humpys get gutted and belly packed with ice and then on ice and covered with ice so as to keep the rag factor away.

[Encore 280]

When you thump 'em on the noggin you just want to stun them not kill them. You want the heart still pumping when you bleed 'em.

[wheels]

whack bleed cooler

[j_h_nimrod]

DO:
-light bonk only if necessary
-pull or cut at least 2 gill arches, back into the water on a stringer to bleed out, following bleeding and depending on air temp or water temp I pick the lesser of two evils unless I have a cooler, gutted after stone dead and iced if possible, try to fillet or process before rigor sets in or after to reduce gaping.

DON'T:

-throw on shore to flop around and bruise flesh
-cut heart, it has to beat to pump blood
-bonk and let set without bleeding
-beat (not bonk) the fish so it is a mangled and bruised fish pâté
-leave at water temp for more than absolutely necessary, UNLESS air temp is warmer and a cooler is not available
-straighten out a fish in rigor, great way to make the fillet look like a washboard

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

I used this or one similar. Get the blood out at all costs for the best product!

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

When you thump 'em on the noggin you just want to stun them not kill them. You want the heart still pumping when you bleed 'em.

 

[MtnMuley]

Bonk, bleed, then submerged in a cooler half full of ice.

[Gobble Doc]

Made the mistake one time of leaving the pinks on a stringer in the river.  Even though it was only for a short time it was the last and only time.  Now it is as everyone else says using a combination of bleeding and ice. 

[lokidog]

Depens on the fish...

Salmon - Light bonk, stringer over the side, bleed out, then toss on ice.  Yesterday just had cold ocean water, they were fine.

Lake fish/rockfish/ling - I've never bled them, rockfish/lings go in the cooler if I have one, otherwise in and out of the water as needed to keep them alive and move the boat, lake fish have always been kept live until getting home.  If not staying on lake, then they go on ice until home.

Not sure why the urgency to gut fish out to "cool them down" unless you are catching tuna or fishing in really warm water since the fish are the same temp as the water....   

[L-ofalab]

Depens on the fish...

Salmon - Light bonk, stringer over the side, bleed out, then toss on ice.  Yesterday just had cold ocean water, they were fine.

Lake fish/rockfish/ling - I've never bled them, rockfish/lings go in the cooler if I have one, otherwise in and out of the water as needed to keep them alive and move the boat, lake fish have always been kept live until getting home.  If not staying on lake, then they go on ice until home.

Not sure why the urgency to gut fish out to "cool them down" unless you are catching tuna or fishing in really warm water since the fish are the same temp as the water....   

Your rockfish and ling will look and taste better if they are bled too.

[WSU]

In the summer, I'd get them in the cooler ASAP.  Sitting in semi-warm water with a hot air temp and sun isn't going to make for the best quality fish. 

[Big6bull]

Bleed then into iced cooler!

[BigGoonTuna]

in areas where seals aren't a concern, i've been known to string them up and leave them alive in hot weather, until i'm done fishing.  beats having the issue of them deteriorating right away.

however, most of the guys you see this time of year with live salmon on stringers do it for the purpose of "high grading", they'll cut them loose if they catch a bigger/brighter one.  illegal as hell, and it's the reason the skokomish went from a 1 fish limit to "first 2 legal and done".

[Bullkllr]

In the summer, I'd get them in the cooler ASAP.  Sitting in semi-warm water with a hot air temp and sun isn't going to make for the best quality fish.

True, unless you can keep them alive...

[MtnMuley]

Depens on the fish...

Salmon - Light bonk, stringer over the side, bleed out, then toss on ice.  Yesterday just had cold ocean water, they were fine.

Lake fish/rockfish/ling - I've never bled them, rockfish/lings go in the cooler if I have one, otherwise in and out of the water as needed to keep them alive and move the boat, lake fish have always been kept live until getting home.  If not staying on lake, then they go on ice until home.

Not sure why the urgency to gut fish out to "cool them down" unless you are catching tuna or fishing in really warm water since the fish are the same temp as the water....   

Your rockfish and ling will look and taste better if they are bled too.

I totally agree with that. I try to bleed all fish these days I plan on eating.

[WAPatriot]

Ideal way to do salmon is to cut gills do not bonk keep that blood pumping get gear back out then clean fish important step most people miss is to massage blood out of veins

[7mmfan]

Why do people insist on cutting the gills themselves? They bleed well for about 5 seconds before the blood coagulates and clots everything, stopping the flow.

Cut the jugular right in front of the heart and the heart will literally shoot blood 3 feet out. When cut that way, the heart will pump all blood out of the body in a matter of 10-15 seconds.

This also makes it so much easier to clean the fish because the gills don't come out in pieces, just one nice clump of gills.

If its cool and I have access to cold saltwater, I bleed in the saltwater (which also helps facilitate bleeding and keeps blood from coagulating), and then gut/gill as soon as possible and into an ice/saltwater mix.

If I'm in a river, I bleed on a stringer and then clean immediately and into ice in the cooler.

A properly bled fish that is cleaned and iced immediately is 1000 times the table fare that an un-bled fish laying on the beach, or even in the water is.

[j_h_nimrod]

I worked with a commercial live bleed processor in AK for a couple years. Cutting 2-3 gill arches of a stunned fish and then getting it back in the water to bleed out is very effective. Fish blood clots much more quickly in the open air. The problem with trying to hit the "jugular" is that it is a more difficult target to hit. It is very effective if done correctly but it is a lot easier to hit a few gills.

Though a topic for another thread this makes me think of bleeding big game. Don't cut the throat!  The only good that does is collapse the circulatory system and keep a lot of blood in the body. Much better to use a small blade and punch it with a little upward slice in the pit of the throat (hollow of the sternum/ribcage). If done right I have never seen a more complete bleed.

[Stein]

Why do people insist on cutting the gills themselves? They bleed well for about 5 seconds before the blood coagulates and clots everything, stopping the flow.

Cut the jugular right in front of the heart and the heart will literally shoot blood 3 feet out. When cut that way, the heart will pump all blood out of the body in a matter of 10-15 seconds.

Where do you slide the knife in?  I've always cut gills with scissors and it seems to work fine but always open to learning.

[7mmfan]

Cut inside the black circle. If you pull the gills back so you can see behind them, you can actually see the blue color of the jugular under the skin. I stick the knife in and cut down and out. You should be able to see the forward heart valve if you do it right and blood will be a pumpin! If you cut to far back, you will actually cut the heart, so its better error forward towards the gills. If you don't see it pumping blood out like crazy, cut up a little further behind the gills.

If all else fails, just stick your knife in around the midpoint behind the gills and cut down following the arch of the gills, you will cut all major veins and arteries connecting to the head/gills.