Keep your fish dead or alive????

[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...