when yo bleed out a fish

 everything i have been reading about salmon fishing if you lucky enough to catch one you should bleed it out as soon as it is caught. are their any other fish that this should be done with ?

Personally I bleed all my fish except rockfish and I have no good reason why? Any fish that has blood left in it when you clean it will make a bigger mess and in the case of sharks the eating quality will not be as good if they are not bled since sharks carry urea in their skin and bleeding helps to clear that out and save the ammonia smell from getting into the meat.Sturgeon,Stripers,Halibut and Lingcod will benefit from bleeding just from the stand point of firmer whiter flesh and better taste on the dinner plate

Bleeding fish makes a marked difference in some species... a more subtle difference in others. Just like proper icing, proper bleeding and gutting of a fish will help extend fish quality and longevity.

One example of a fish where bleeding makes a marked difference is our California yellowtail. By the color of the flesh, I can immediately tell if a fish has been bled and how well. The taste difference is quite noticeable as well.


The waters off our norcal coast are cold enough that we can often get away with leaving them hanging in the water.  However, every little bit will make a difference in the end product.  Spending a lot of time diving in Hawaii & Baja has caused me to take a deeper interest in proper fish handling procedures.


Ideal handling of fish on a kayak would be:

Land fish
 - Secure it with gameclip, etc.
 - Bonk or spike it to prevent brusing when thrashing.

Bleed the fish immediately
 - Even if fish is now dead, the organs will still pump for a bit.
 - Bleed by slitting gill membranes or ripping gills.
 - Let bleed out for 5 or so minutes in the water.
 - This is obviously NOT a good idea if sharks are a concern.

Immediately after bleeding, gut the fish
 - Entrails degrade at a faster rate than meat.
 - To be thorough, scrub bloodline/kidney at bottom of spine.
 - No sense burning ice on the extra 5-15% of overall weight.
 - MUCH cleaner when filleting out fish later at home.
 - Allows ice to get closer to core, cools fish down faster.

Put fish on ice
 - Regular home/store cubes are the standard, crushed is better, slush brine is best.
 - Make sure to pack cavity with ice!  Again, cooling from core lowers temps faster.
 - Fishbags are preferable.

Keep fish as straight as possible
 - When you have a bent chilled fish & straighten it manually, it tears internally & degrades fillet quality.

* It's clear that some of these are a lot more feasible than others.. just providing a rough guideline for optimal handling.






Here are two useful online resources I've come across:

Great site overall.  This particular article numerically quantifies the correlation between temperature and shelf life.
http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/pubs/spoils.htm

Very thorough PDF on handling and care of fish for sashimi-grade quality.  While a lot of it is not directly applicable to us, I found it interesting.  I've used some of the techniques before, such as the gutting method for removing all organs without opening the belly.  Even has lots of pictures for those of you that have ADHD like me. 
http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/Fishing/Sashimi_E/Sashimi.pdf

One of the BWE guys showed me how to also cut a ring around the base of the tail (caudal peduncle) in addition to cutting the gills. This allows the blood to drain completely.

Hey fuzz, can you recommend a good quality fish bag? (or anyone else who has experience good/bad w/a particular brand of fish bag?)
Lately, I've been using a soft-side cooler to store fish after bleeding them. It works ok and I keep it below deck so it doesn't take up room in my tankwell. Just open the center hatch and slide the fish into the bag. But it's only big enough to store a ~16" fish without bending/contorting it; definitely can't store a lingcod in there...and your note about straightening-out bent fish has me thinking this is a bad idea. 

Hey fuzz, can you recommend a good quality fish bag? (or anyone else who has experience good/bad w/a particular brand of fish bag?)
Lately, I've been using a soft-side cooler to store fish after bleeding them. It works ok and I keep it below deck so it doesn't take up room in my tankwell. Just open the center hatch and slide the fish into the bag. But it's only big enough to store a ~16" fish without bending/contorting it; definitely can't store a lingcod in there...and your note about straightening-out bent fish has me thinking this is a bad idea. 

The best ones I've seen have been made by Da Kine - tapered to fit in the hull, heavyduty, & dual zipper on top for easy access.  Unfortunately, it's hard to find them nowdays.  A smaller one that would be good for norcal is the Pelaj Salmon Fishbag - it's 3'x1'x1', but gusseted, so it has decent internal space.  The soft-side coolerbags are a bit scary for rockfish due to all their spines!  

Last year I started carrying kitchen shears, they work great for gill cutting/bleeding, followed up by spine snipping and gutting. The only drawback was one time I managed to snip the stringer I had the fish on, luckily it was quite beyond swimming away by then.

I use this bag. Works great and I can stuff it in hatch with no problem. Never had an issue with spines

http://www.lfsmarineoutdoor.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=522

In the bay i've got a slightly different take for halibut.  I don't bonk 'em at all- i thread a stainless cable through their gills/mouth- then dump the overboard. Those suckers will swim along like a dog on a leash all day. Live fish = fresh fish

No way i would do that where there's seals and/or the landlord.

In the bay i've got a slightly different take for halibut.  I don't bonk 'em at all- i thread a stainless cable through their gills/mouth- then dump the overboard. Those suckers will swim along like a dog on a leash all day. Live fish = fresh fish

Last summer a furbag took a nice halibut off my stringer (looped over my side ram mount). Lucky it didn't topple me in the process. I never saw the seal until after the fact.

In the bay i've got a slightly different take for halibut.  I don't bonk 'em at all- i thread a stainless cable through their gills/mouth- then dump the overboard. Those suckers will swim along like a dog on a leash all day. Live fish = fresh fish

Last summer a furbag took a nice halibut off my stringer (looped over my side ram mount). Lucky it didn't topple me in the process. I never saw the seal until after the fact.

Witnessed by me!

I only bleed tuna, yellow tail, white sea bass and dorado. I don't bleed fish on the ocean rockfishing from a kayak because I am usually fishing in sharky waters and I don't think it makes a big difference taste wise. Bleeding also makes a mess.

I bleed my bigger fish right way but havent really noticed much of a difference so who really knows.

In the bay i've got a slightly different take for halibut.  I don't bonk 'em at all- i thread a stainless cable through their gills/mouth- then dump the overboard. Those suckers will swim along like a dog on a leash all day. Live fish = fresh fish

Last summer a furbag took a nice halibut off my stringer (looped over my side ram mount). Lucky it didn't topple me in the process. I never saw the seal until after the fact.

Witnessed by me!

Yah i'm sure it'll happen sooner or later...I've been doing it for so long ( more than  dozen years), but now that most of the bags are getting bolder i'm less inclined

 I would like to thank everyone that responded what a wealth of knowable this board has . thanks again