Bleeding fish

Thinking about bleeding fish that I plan to keep.Any tips or advice for doing this

Buy a good stainless steel tin snips… makes it a breeze… cut the gills, put fish in livewell, let it bleed out, put fish in cooler on ice, let livewell flush out. I cannot believe how much nicer the fish are to clean and how much better they taste.

X2

My routine varies a bit depending on which one of my boats I am using. Space is the determining factor.
(A) small one man hunting boat I use for early spring fishing, no live well and no room for a cooler: I’ll put fish on a stringer (gills intact). About ten minutes before I’m ready to head in, I’ll cut the gills on all the fish. (I use a small one handed garden pruners) Once they are done bleeding (about 5-10 minutes) I’ll head back in, load up and drive home which is only 6 blocks away. I can get by with out any ice as the weather is still cool and I’m home in 15 minutes tops.

(B) larger boat with live well and fishing further from home: I’ll throw fish in the live well as I catch them (gills intact) Ten minutes before heading in I’ll go thru and cut the gills. Turn the live well pump to constant “fill” and flush the water till their done bleeding and the water is clear. Head back to the truck where I’ll transfer the fish to a cooler with ice or the trip home.

I have bled fish out twice now, and agree with the above. The fillets look almost white, and almost no blood while cleaning them.
I use a pair or garden pruners, and they do an excellent job.

I bleed everything except panfish. Makes the meat much cleaner and it lasts much longer in the fridge. I used to snip them with a cheap pair of side cutters, but now I find it easier to hook a finger through the gills and tear them out. They spend a couple of minutes on a stringer over the side then go into a cooler of ice.

I have only been bleeding fish for the past few years and do things very similar to Dave. A cheap pair of gardening sheers work great but if I don’t have them with a knife or scissors can also work fine. Sometimes when river fishing in the winter we just put the fish in a cooler with some water to bleed out because we don’t want to put any water in the live well so nothing freezes up. You can also use the fish well bags down the hole in the winter for ice fishing.

I use a cheap pair of kitchen shears that the FW picked up at TJ Maxx for 5 bucks. Makes a WORLD of difference.

Makes a difference.

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I will never not do it again. Been doing it for about 3-4 years and it’s amazing the difference. I simply put the fish in the livewell until I am ready to head for shore. I pull them out, cut the throat with a knife and put them back in the livewell to bleed out. By the time I hit shore they are ready to clean. Pull the plug on the livewell and repeat.

I’ve been bleeding mine for many years. As others have noted, can use a cheap kitchen shears etc. I have a nice pair of “game shears” I can also use when cleaning pheasants etc., but I’ve even used tins snips/shears in a pinch. If you’re looking to suggest a Father’s Day present, however, the game shears option ain’t a bad idea. I think mine came from Gander, but pretty sure Cabelas or Scheels would carry them, too.

first determine how many fish you are willing to keep that day. if all i get is 1 or 2, i’ll probably release them. but if i’m like i’ll keep at least 2, then the first fish goes in the well without snipping. once i catch that second fish and it goes in the well, it gets snipped and i fish out the 1st fish and snip it too.

i use old tin snips.

i leave the livewell on auto or on all the time.

Cameron white wrote:

Makes a difference.

When I was is still guiding i would be asked why I was bleeding the fish. I would tell them you will see why when I clean your fish. . I am sure I made a lot of Believers for bleeding when they would see the difference. . . rrr

Cameron white wrote:

Makes a difference.

How did you bleed 1/2 a fish? That takes talent.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Cameron white wrote:</div>
Makes a difference.

How did you bleed 1/2 a fish? That takes talent.

Just cut one gill

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Cameron white wrote:</div>
Makes a difference.

How did you bleed 1/2 a fish? That takes talent.

Lol. That was two greenbacks. One bled, one not.

I use a pruning shears and cut the main artery between the gills. No need to rip the gills out. I have really found out what makes the difference in favor of bleeding fish. My Canada trips my fish are frozen before I leave and go directly in the freezer at home. Before I bled my fish they tended to have more of a fishy taste and before cooking would soak them in buttermilk to get rid out most of that taste.
Once I started bleeding fish I noticed that there was no fishy taste after being in the freezer. I do that on all my fish now. Just be careful on bigger fish, that snip could give you or your boat a squirt of blood if the fish is not facing down!

DTW wrote:

I use a pruning shears and cut the main artery between the gills. No need to rip the gills out. I have really found out what makes the difference in favor of bleeding fish. My Canada trips my fish are frozen before I leave and go directly in the freezer at home. Before I bled my fish they tended to have more of a fishy taste and before cooking would soak them in buttermilk to get rid out most of that taste.
Once I started bleeding fish I noticed that there was no fishy taste after being in the freezer. I do that on all my fish now. Just be careful on bigger fish, that snip could give you or your boat a squirt of blood if the fish is not facing down!

And no more need for buttermilk to kill the flavor.