bleeding fish out

[Steve Foss]

Anyone out there who bleeds the bigge fish they catch to drain them of blood before cleaning? After reading about that in In-Fisherman, I've taken to bleeding the larger pike and walleyes I catch. Supposed to keep them tasting good be getting rid of the blood before it coagulates in the flesh. I stick a knife up from underneath just behind the gills and cut back a couple inches, which bleeds them out really quick. Can't say I've noticed a taste difference. Any one else doing this, or do you figure it's just bunk?

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Steve ([email protected])

[Guest]

This is something that the old timers practice on LOW. I think BradB can attest to that. I believe everything you said it does, as far as the quality of the finished fillet is concerned, is true.

[fiskyknut]

I bleed every fish I keep, large or small. I also never let them freeze solid either.

Fisky

[Freewheeler]

Fiskyknut,
But, can you really tell the difference in
the taste of the meat? Is it as noticeable
say as fresh taste to one thats been frozen?

[fiskyknut]

Well I think I notice a difference anyways. I have done this bleed/no freeze thing for years though, can't remember the last time I ate fish in the winter that were'nt handled this way. Try it, you'll like it.

Fisky

[BradB]

Toad's correct about some of the older fellows at LOW doing this. A couple years back we did a little experiment, bleeding some and not the others. The bled fillets were much more aesthetically pleasing and, thusly, made them a bit nicer to give to folks if you are not eating them yourself. I guess a fillet is a fillet, but when I give them to friends and family I like them to look their best.

I'll have to ask my Mom if they actually taste better. I'm cursed with a insatiable desire to fish, but not the taste for fish. This doesn't make any intellectual sense, but it is an empirical fact I'm yoked with.

[Guest]

The only fish I bleed out are big catfish, chop off the tail and hang 'em for a bit...makes them taste much better!

[Freewheeler]

Thanks,
I,ll give it a try on my next trip to L O W

[nunzio]

Fisky,
How do you keep your fish from freezing, bucket of water in the house?
I can taste and see the difference if they have been frozen first. -nunzio

[Steve Foss]

Thanks for the "bleed" posts. I also don't let fish freeze. Pannies, I keep in a plastic container in my Fish Trap and put the fish in it. Since the Trap is heated, the floor stays cold but ususally above freezing. For larger fish, I toss them outside until they're just about frozen, then toss them in the Trap on the floor. Another wayt to do it is drill a an extra hole inside the shelter, but stop drilling when the tip cuts through the ice. The hole fills up with water but there's only a bitty hole through the bottom of the ice, so the fish can't get out. Keep it scooped out with a slush spoon and you're set to go. Gets a little cold, however, fishing them out at the end of the day. Also, doesn't work as well for pannies unless the ice is less than a foot deep. Really deep ice makes it tough to fish the fish out of the hole.

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Steve ([email protected])

[nunzio]

stfcatfish; thank you for the reply - nunzio

[Guest]

I've been fishing Mexico for years and we have learned to bleed every fish we catch if we are going to eat it. I started doing that to freshwater fish and it makes a really significant difference in the taste of the fish.
A little side effect is that your cleaning area stays really clean too. Now if I could just figure out what to do with that slime and the scales.

[Guest]

Fish have very little intermuscular blood in them compared to other creatures. What you are seeing is what little blood they do have mixing with other body fluids and their slime coating. It seems that they have more blood than they do. A lot of the blood is the gills.

Putting the bleeding argument aside, I suggest bad taste imparted to fish very often can be attributed to the poor and very hazardous sanitation conditions encountered at fish cleaning stations and the poor care of the meat during the filleting process. It also is how you care for the fish after you catch them. Keeping them on a stringer and struggling to survive with a rope raking their gills depriving them of oxygen does nothing for meat quality. Keep them alive in a live well if in a boat or ice em immediatly.

Keep your knife clean of slim and body secretions and the fillets out of the gunk on the tables. Bring your own plastic cutting board that you can sanitize at home. Don't toss them in a common bowl with a dash of water so one bad fillet that you got stomach contents on will taint the rest. Wash that one immediatly in cold running water.

A butcher does not roll his beef in cattle body juices. They keep their work area clean.

If you fillet your fish properly under clean conditions you should not have to even wash them.

Also extremely important to eat the smaller better tasting fish and release the larger ones to spread their genes that got them to the stage were they can be large fish.

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Kevin Neve's Devils Lake Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/kevin-neve-guiding/
e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 701-473-5411 or 701-351-4989
Minnewaukan ND