what exactly am i cutting when i bleed a fish. what part of gills am i cutting?

i mostly catch surf-perch up until now.  i will catch what i can eat,  and simply pack up on leave no matter how they are biting.  i get them on ice and go home.  FAST.

i never bled them.  i may make that a common practice from now on. 

the rest of my catches are released.  (freshwater)

how do you bleed your fish?

how do you bleed your fish?

Rip the gills out and (if possible) gut them seems to be a good approach...

Bottom arch of the gills. Fresh blood from the gills goes in the top, gets pumped out the bottom. Cut and keep wet so the blood doesn’t coagulate. The video shows cutting all the way through. On bigger fish it’s hard to miss and I don’t try to cut all the way through.

For salmon I cut the gills and place them in a bucket head down with some water.  Stripers, rip the gill and poke it with a pick in the brain. I have been told the fishy flavor can come from a fish that is is left flopping with adrenaline.  Not sure how true it is. 

Bottom arch of the gills. Fresh blood from the gills goes in the top, gets pumped out the bottom. Cut and keep wet so the blood doesn’t coagulate. The video shows cutting all the way through. On bigger fish it’s hard to miss and I don’t try to cut all the way through.

thanks.  that cleared it up like CRYSTAL clear!! 

I don’t cut the whole throat like in the vid above...I used to rip gills but went through gloves pretty fast  , so now try and slice membrane between gills and body...really obvious and you will see blood start pouring out.

I go a little overboard prolly, but I like to slice that whole membrane and get as much blood out as possible...

Here’s a vid I did earlier in the summer of bleeding and braining two halibut...



You’ll notice the difference in your meat quality for sure.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I clip the gills with a pair of shears, which I think is safer than cutting them with a knife, and leave them in the water on a stringer for ten minutes or so to bleed out.  While they're on the stringer, I also gut them.  Then I put them on ice in a cooler I carry in the rear cargo area of my kayak.

If you just toss fish on top of ice in a cooler, the fish on top of the pile will be separated from the ice by the fish below, and will not be nearly as cold.  And trying to scoop ice from the bottom of the cooler to on top of the fish isn't very effective, because the ice migrates back to the bottom of the cooler.  So to keep my fish colder, I put half or more of my ice in a mesh bag, and plop the ice bag on top of my fish.

mesh ice bag is genius! I always have to stab holes in the plastic bags and they still hold water.