Bleeding Fish and Hanging Off Kayak

I've been bleeding my fish immediately upon catching it and hanging them from the side of my kayak while I continue to fish. I just got a kill bag, and then put them in there after a short time (I just read that most of the blood is emptied in three minutes). All of the waters up here are pretty sharky, and some particularly so. And I imagine the scent of a newly killed Halibut would be pretty enticing to a shark...

What do others do? 

I'm thinking to bleed it, hang it off the 'yak, and then put it in the kill bag after 5 mins or so.

I have a Hobie Compass, so it doesn't have much built in storage.

Best,
Stewart

You got the right idea - pretty much my process too.  I get the fish on the stringer, remove the hook, cut gills and throat, brain spike it, and then put it back in water. Once I have it back in the water, I check my rig and start fishing again.  After a few minutes I will reel up a bit, put the rod in the holder, and transfer the fish to the bag.

I get a small bag on the way to go fishing. My fish bag is kinda big, but an 8 lb bag of ice is plenty to keep 10-20 lbs of whole fish good to go until I get home and set up to process.

I try to bleed and gut them, especially halibut, as any worms seem to go crazy once the fish is dead, and they are sometimes in the guts.

After that, I don't hang them over the side, though. The shark in the video below seemed to be attracted just from fighting the fish, even before I got around to bleeding it. But, I think sea lions are a lot more likely than sharks to cause you trouble with a dangling fish...

!!!!!!  Crazy!!!!!

But you bleed and gut it over the water and not the boat, right? You just hold it next to the boat and don’t let it hang off the boat on the stringer?

I need to learn how to gut a hali. I’ve been filleting them and working around the guts, or getting to them from filleting. I don’t know the right way to cut the stomach….time to watch some you tube videos.

Great footage 3:30+ - the fin!

Bleed them by ripping open the "neck", removing all gills in one handful - this often takes most of the entrails along with.

Bleeding doesn't need any kind of minutes - it's seconds.  The effectiveness is contingent on the gill removal, for the most part.

I love showing people how to quickly process a caught rockfish, lingcod, halibut or salmon.  The bleeding takes very little time, and the results are obvious at the fillet station. 

PS:  My advice is to never hang your stringer of fish over the side - ever.

Worry more about the furbags than I do sharks.  Heard plenty of stories of people being flipped from dangling fish in the water and a sealion comes along.  No one has had a shark come up and bite the fish off their stringer in NorCal to my knowledge, but like Mark said I've seen them after catching a halibut like the action of the fish got their attention.

Here is a post about my dangling fish:


"Well I’ve been out with Eric four times in the past, and I have another trip booked later in the summer. Eric has told me over, and over to not let the fish dangle in the water on the clip. He says keep them in the back under burlap.

Well today I didn’t take his advice, and had 1 nice ling & 2 nice rock fish in the water. My son and I were alone but Alex was off in the distance, and a group of kayaks a ways off.

I had a nasty line tangle I was dealing with when all of a sudden a sea lion grabbed my fish and instantly flipped me over. The sea lion started swimming away with my fish, and kayak.

Alex noticed me floundering in the water and headed right to me. I grabbed on to the side of his boat and then he went to retrieve my kayak.

By this time there was a swarm of kayaks ready to offer help. Alex flipped my kayak back over, and I jumped back in. Eric showed up, and untangled my rod for me.

Super grateful for all of the help to get back to fishing. I lost my net, slow pitch rod, box of jigs, knife, and pliers.

Lesson learned the hard way…..tomorrow I will be keeping my fish under burlap in the back of my kayak.
Modify message"
I will be trying out a new system in the near future.

Every fish I keep gets bled then bonked, and I really don't like the idea of blood in the water. Previously I used a 5-gallon bucket with a frozen bottle of water in it, which worked fine but left lings kinda bent.

This winter, I decided to just put an extra bin i had laying around in the back to contain any fish blood. It's been working great all this year. Bigger fish get tied to a string in case something bad happens, but so far so good. Any trash or broken rigs generated during the trip are just tossed back there as well. Bait bucket just goes on top of everything. It holds my squid and little jars of gulps.

This week, it even got tricked out with a custom rod holder (for a light rod with the sabiki rig) made of duct tape and a used water bottle. Recycle and repurpose, I say. And it's good luck to have something held together with duct tape.

Worry more about the furbags than I do sharks.  Heard plenty of stories of people being flipped from dangling fish in the water and a sealion comes along.  No one has had a shark come up and bite the fish off their stringer in NorCal to my knowledge, but like Mark said I've seen them after catching a halibut like the action of the fish got their attention.

This.
I bleed freshly caught fish on the clip in the water. It doesn't take long, then I flip the whole clip back into the livewell. I know a furbag could always surprise me but so far no problems. This being said, I don't do this if fur bags are obviously around.
With regards to sharks, I think there's always something bleeding in the ocean and blood from my yak is a literal drop in the ocean. I think the whole thing about sharks being able to detect minute quantities of blood has been taken too far. It only needlessly scares people.

!!!!!!  Crazy!!!!!

But you bleed and gut it over the water and not the boat, right? You just hold it next to the boat and don’t let it hang off the boat on the stringer?

I need to learn how to gut a hali. I’ve been filleting them and working around the guts, or getting to them from filleting. I don’t know the right way to cut the stomach….time to watch some you tube videos.

Wot!?  Are you getting excited about killin' fish?  I kinda do.  It is a most important skill for quality meat.  Sharks can smell a drop of blood up to a mile away?  Fact check...hopefully there is other blood in the water from different sources or other yakkers to not necessarily have them say hey, this mumble peg guy's yak smells tasty, who knows, maybe Malibu Artist.  I'm a little spoiled with a hatch that is for fish storage. 

My order of dispatch

Gaff or net, preferably gaff.
I store my game clip open and secure fish on clip. Hold that clip like a boss.  Things can suddenly go ballistic.
Loosen spool to place rod in holder out of the way.
Center fish in my lap, look out for hook.  Remove hook.  Often I'll attach lip grippers for a different handle with leash around wrist.
Brain spike and givver a bit of spike twirl.
Run da wire up the nerve bundle(ikijime)
Cut the gills and give a look around.  With clip attached to paracord and yak, givver a dunk and allow for a few pumps of blood out.  Maybe 15 seconds.
Back on lap.
Wet burlap sack and kinda pre open because getting a fish in a burlap sack can be a little snaggy with teeth or fins.
Remove fish from clip, slip into sack and put in hatch. 
Woohoos are now in order!
If time allows I"ll guttem near to landing.  Knife up from da kine to the chin and rippum out.  On the game clip or leashed gripper of course.  Many ways to accidentally release one's catch into the sea from wherest it came.
Clean up deck and get back fishin'

I'm sure you'll find the Mumblepeg way...see ya' on da wattah'

 

Worry more about the furbags than I do sharks.  Heard plenty of stories of people being flipped from dangling fish in the water and a sealion comes along.  No one has had a shark come up and bite the fish off their stringer in NorCal to my knowledge, but like Mark said I've seen them after catching a halibut like the action of the fish got their attention.

This.
I bleed freshly caught fish on the clip in the water. It doesn't take long, then I flip the whole clip back into the livewell. I know a furbag could always surprise me but so far no problems. This being said, I don't do this if fur bags are obviously around.
With regards to sharks, I think there's always something bleeding in the ocean and blood from my yak is a literal drop in the ocean. I think the whole thing about sharks being able to detect minute quantities of blood has been taken too far. It only needlessly scares people.

About the blood...yes, I was typing this point as you posted and I appreciate the common belief plus, you being a land slayer as well. Thanks for all the trail cam pics over the years.   

I love showing people how to quickly process a caught rockfish, lingcod, halibut or salmon.  The bleeding takes very little time, and the results are obvious at the fillet station. 

I love this technique you taught me. Only takes 30-seconds to bleed and the gut cavity fills w cold water before I put it in my bag.

It was funny last outing I was fishing near your group and a large black had the gills and guts from one of our previous catches inside it!

I'm still: Brain spike, gills, guts, bleed for a couple dips so the blood doesn't coagulate, in the cooler bag. 

Have yet to try the wire!

Every fish I keep gets bled then bonked, and I really don't like the idea of blood in the water. Previously I used a 5-gallon bucket with a frozen bottle of water in it, which worked fine but left lings kinda bent.

This winter, I decided to just put an extra bin i had laying around in the back to contain any fish blood. It's been working great all this year. Bigger fish get tied to a string in case something bad happens, but so far so good. Any trash or broken rigs generated during the trip are just tossed back there as well. Bait bucket just goes on top of everything. It holds my squid and little jars of gulps.

This week, it even got tricked out with a custom rod holder (for a light rod with the sabiki rig) made of duct tape and a used water bottle. Recycle and repurpose, I say. And it's good luck to have something held together with duct tape.

Interesting.  Do you keep a couple inches of water in the bottom to help the bleeding process? 

I don’t add any water on purpose, but it winds up with maybe an inch by the time I’m done. When it’s warmer out, I toss a couple of frozen plastic water bottles and that keeps early morning fish cool long enough.