What's the best way to bleed a fish??

[BigJim]

Morning All,

What's the best way to bleed a salmon or steelhead, and what are the benefits to doing so? Thanks for your input.

[River Ranger]

Insert a knife into the mouth and cut through the gills on the roof of the mouth.Bleeds fish well and gets most of the blood out of the eggs.
R.R. :smile:

[BigJim]

So after cutting through the top of the gills, do you hold them upside down until they are bled out?

[River Ranger]

I usually just put them in my fish box and let them bleed.Do not hang them from a boat in the water though,this can sometimes washout the eggs.Once you cut the gills they will start bleeding anyway you hold them.If I'm on the bank Just set them off to the side.I also dispatch the fish first.Hope this helps.
R.R.

[BigJim]

Helps a bunch. Thanks

[buzzerbaby]

if you're like me I usually forget my knife, you can just reach into the gills and rip 'em in half, not nearly as neat but it works. The benefits of bleeding fish is the meat tastes better and for the hens it gets most of th blood from the skeins.

Stick your index finger into the gills and rip them in half. Put the fish head down in a bucket 1/2 full of water for about 5 minutes. Then gut and remove the gills before icing the fish down.

This gives you high quality fish to eat, not cat food quality garbage.

With Albacore you should bleed them out in ice water and put the fish in a slush bath after gutting them, so they cool down faster. Then ice them down.

[ 12-07-2003, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[SHOUGALNITE]

I argued with my uncle about this subject this year down on the trask river. He doesn't believe in bleeding fish. What do you do when you shoot large game. You clean it right away. I usualy stick a knife directly down at the base of the gill plate. Wich is about in the center of the fish right behind the round part of the gill plate. If you do it right, dark red blood gushes from the fish. I used to pull the gills but I found this to be more effective.