There was a post about someone here that bleed there fish right after catching them. Does anybody remember which post it was?
The easy way to bleed them is to cut through the gills.
-DallanC
Either cut the gills with a knife, or pull them out with your finger. Be warned though, big trout have teeth along the inside of their gills that will scratch your fingers pretty deep.
run them over with the truck or shoot them with a 12 gauge, that usually works [:p]
Sounds like a recipe for something Gollum might sing about -
squishy fish, squishy fish, oh yum yum yum.
It can be more of a deal with bigger game fish, or certain species that may spoil especially quickly. I usually just pack em on ice, and fillet when I get home. Probably wouldn’t hurt to bleed 'em first, just don’t wanna get “caught” rinsing off a bloody perch by some curious musky!
One of my fish-catch-n-prep books talks about either keeping them alive, or killing them quick. Seems some fish might produce off flavors from being stressed. I can look up the reference if you want.
One quick way to put down a fish is brain em - either a bat/mallet above the eyes, or stick a knife in, and twist. Tougher on big fish, like a fat cat! But they won’t twitch around much in the cooler after that.
I’m curious as to what the advantage is to draining blood?
With catfish I’ve done it both ways, bled them many times, and for me the fillets seem to taste pretty much the same either way. Before I ever started bleeding fish often times I’d store them in the fridge over night and fillet them the next day. One morning my wife opened the fridge and one of them old cats was still alive and flopped around a little, scared her pretty good. Thats when I started looking into ways to kill them before I bring them home (so I would be allowed to bring them home) and cutting the gills is the best way. I’ve taken bats to catfish only to have them still alive hours later even with a bashed in head. Anyway, so that’s one advantage to bleeding them, the other is that you don’t have blood all over your fillet board. Some have also argued that with certain species bleeding them helps with the taste, sort of the same concept as bleeding your deer or antalope. When I do bleed fish I usually keep them alive on a stringer until 20 min. before I’m going to leave and then bleed them and keep them cool. Either way it’s best if you can clean them somewhere before you head home so you don’t have to deal with the leftovers at your house.
best way to bleed fish is to break there necks, not easy on catfish.It kills fish instantly and it is humane.
Bleeding a fish helps the flavor some say. In AK we bled all fish, because the fish are large and the blood tends to pool against the spine, and belly area. Really found that the meat is softer and not as firm on a fish that has not been bled.
Here in UT I mostly only do it with large fish with white meat, like cat fish, and wipers. This is for presentation, as I mentioned before the blood tends to pool in the spinal area, which can leave a dark blood area in the middle of the fillet. If your food looks good . . . it tastes good. [;)]
If you fillet your catch, bleed then you do not have as much blood when you fillet them and the fillets are much cleaner and in some fish even taste better…
Good point Bassrods
Bleeding out fish is not as popular here as in Europe. In Finland, all the commercial fishers (and I mean ALL of them) bleed out whitefish immediately after they are caught. It helps with the quality of the meat. Blood (bruises) impart an “off” flavor to the fish as does a build up of acids if they are kept in a livewell. I prefer to call mine a “death well” since I put the fish in there, on ice immediately after catching them. Bleeding them is also high on my list. I have bled out Bonneville WF from Bear Lake and compared my fillets to a friend who also caught a limit and did not bleed out his fish. His fish had bruises in the meat along the sides of the fillet and mine did not. This alone, convinced me of the value of bleeding out the fish. I use a small knife and sever the gill arch and they will bleed like a pig. Plus it kills them quickly.
I posted a video a while back that had that guy from hells kitchen. He was noodling with some guys down south and they cut off the tails too bleed them out. But I cant find my old posts. But it was on you tube.
Oh I found it
This video contains some bad words but its Gordon Ramsey AKA Hells Kitchen and a couply of down south good ole redneck noodlers who know how to get the red out of the meat its simple and it works great See for yourself. Let me know if it works for you
what a nice video, only problem is now i want some freakin blackened cajun catfish!! or some of tubedudes smoked catfish..
When possible I bleed the fish I plan on keeping.