killing trout quickly? (+ photos for fun)

[Alchase]

Why the need to bleed out, if you keep them alive until ready to clean?
Seriously cutting a trout to bleed out make no sense to me unless you are packing them on ice after the bleed I guess. But if alive when you go to clean, it take seconds to gut and gill a trout, and anything with blood in it is pulled out along with the blood vain?

[lokidog]

Why the need to bleed out, if you keep them alive until ready to clean?
Seriously cutting a trout to bleed out make no sense to me unless you are packing them on ice after the bleed I guess. But if alive when you go to clean, it take seconds to gut and gill a trout, and anything with blood in it is pulled out along with the blood vain?

Most people have dead fish when they clean them, especially trout that die when you look at them funny.  Also, from my experience, cutting live fish (at least bigger ones) is a pain in the butt.  It also seems to leave more blood (staining) in the meat.

[yakimanoob]

Thanks for all the replies.  It's helping me wrap my head around the situation. 

I guess the theory with bleeding them is you end up with less blood/meat contact?  I usually trim the ribs off when I filet, so I wouldn't have thought it mattered much if some blood got on the sides of the body cavity 

I'm weak on my knowledge of trout circulatory system anatomy, but those muscles have to get oxygen somehow.  Are there small blood vessels going to the muscles?  So maybe bleeding them removes the blood from those? 

 

[j_h_nimrod]

The theory is to remove as much blood from the flesh as possible. The blood carries bacteria, enzymes, and other bad stuff that speeds deterioration. Just cleaning does not remove this blood sufficiently for optimum quality. Proper bleeding while alive or shortly after causes collapse in the circulatory system that removes most of the blood. Additional milking of the gut walls and removal of the kidney (blood vein along the spine) help as well.

@Skillet - do you want to elaborate on bleeding a king for commercial sale?

[jackelope]

knock them on a rock and get it over with. I can't believe I am even answering this

It’s perfectly alright for new folks to ask questions. If you don’t like it, don’t respond.

[Skillet]

@Skillet - do you want to elaborate on bleeding a king for commercial sale?

You pretty much nailed it.  Kings and coho get the same treatment. I'll add that blood seems to be a primary source of the "fishy" taste in salmon, and to get the premium money trollers do for their fish we get as much out as fast as possible.  For my operation, that means:

Stunning in the water
Popping/cutting a gill
Bleeding immediatly in a seawater tank until water runs clear
Heading or gilling fish
Pressure bleeding
Gutting
And finally icing or freezing on plates

Pressure bleeding is done with low pressure seawater through a pipette inserted into the main artery along the backbone, under the kidney (what most people call the bloodline), prior to gutting.  If done right, pressure bleeding really improves the quality, shelf life and flavor of the fish.  Not practical for fish under 5-ish #, though, unless you really downsized your equipment.

The fish I catch to sell look like this within 15-20 minutes (max) of being landed.

[chiwawadan]

@Skillet - do you want to elaborate on bleeding a king for commercial sale?

You pretty much nailed it.  Kings and coho get the same treatment. I'll add that blood seems to be a primary source of the "fishy" taste in salmon, and to get the premium money trollers do for their fish we get as much out as fast as possible.  For my operation, that means:

Stunning in the water
Popping/cutting a gill
Bleeding immediatly in a seawater tank until water runs clear
Heading or gilling fish
Pressure bleeding
Gutting
And finally icing or freezing on plates

Pressure bleeding is done with low pressure seawater through a pipette inserted into the main artery along the backbone, under the kidney (what most people call the bloodline), prior to gutting.  If done right, pressure bleeding really improves the quality, shelf life and flavor of the fish.  Not practical for fish under 5-ish #, though, unless you really downsized your equipment.

The fish I catch to sell look like this within 15-20 minutes (max) of being landed.

Great response. Thanks for sharing the insight!

[yakimanoob]

knock them on a rock and get it over with. I can't believe I am even answering this

It’s perfectly alright for new folks to ask questions. If you don’t like it, don’t respond.

Haha. I don't mind. And this has me reminiscing about our thread on wolves last year.  Pretty sure skyval still thinks I'm a troll, but that's ok. 

[pianoman9701]

I use this and it's very humane. But sometimes I can't remember: Have I shot 5 trout or 6? Do you feel lucky, fish? Well, do ya?

[yakimanoob]

 

[yakimanoob]

@Skillet - do you want to elaborate on bleeding a king for commercial sale?

You pretty much nailed it.  Kings and coho get the same treatment. I'll add that blood seems to be a primary source of the "fishy" taste in salmon, and to get the premium money trollers do for their fish we get as much out as fast as possible.  For my operation, that means:

Stunning in the water
Popping/cutting a gill
Bleeding immediatly in a seawater tank until water runs clear
Heading or gilling fish
Pressure bleeding
Gutting
And finally icing or freezing on plates

Pressure bleeding is done with low pressure seawater through a pipette inserted into the main artery along the backbone, under the kidney (what most people call the bloodline), prior to gutting.  If done right, pressure bleeding really improves the quality, shelf life and flavor of the fish.  Not practical for fish under 5-ish #, though, unless you really downsized your equipment.

The fish I catch to sell look like this within 15-20 minutes (max) of being landed.

Getting back on topic...  Thanks Skillet!  This is very helpful for me.

[Alchase]

Great info Skillet!

[Alchase]

I have never noticed a flavor difference personally, but there is a difference in storage life and quality.

I agree, Trout do not have the oil Salmon do. So anything you can do to minimize the "dryout" that happens in the freezer is a good thing.

If you are eating them for dinner that night?
I would not even worry about it.

[branches]

We just let the kids bonk the head and then put in a gallon Ziploc bag with there name on it and put on ice. When we get our limits we then clean the fish and put back into the Ziploc bags on ice until we get home. For us I got the kids involved in the cleaning and the cooking of the fish. They always wanted to cook were own fish even when they were very young. We just had then put the fish in tinfoil with whatever spice and olive oil they wanted and cook it for about 15 minutes on the BBQ.

[DOUBLELUNG]

For small trout I like to bend the head back 180 degrees - pops the spine so they don't flop around and tears the gills so they bleed out fast.  Then straight onto ice.  The taste is noticeably superior than letting them die with circulatory system intact and/or kept at ambient temperature - whether dead or alive.  I suspect stress hormones may play a factor when kept alive, but all I know for sure is they taste best to me when spine is severed and they are bled out fast and iced.  Big ones that can't be killed that way get stunned with a bonk and either cut gills or sever the dorsal aorta with a slice from the bottom to the spine through the meat just forward of the tail fin - they pump out very quickly with that cut but they are a bit mutilated for photos.