Cutting the Gills - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

tylerdurden · 08-07-2008, 12:38 PM

Tilt the head downhill too. Let gravity do the work after you slit the gills. If you slit the gills and keep the head up, the tail portions of the meat will be full of blood.

yt need to be bled.

wsb taste fine either way from my experience.

Halibut, bleed it so the damn thing will die. They don't die easy.

kurt · 08-07-2008, 01:58 PM

If you do choose to bleed a WSB, don't use your hand to pull the gills, and be very careful. Their gill rakers are extremely sharp.

SDLivin · 08-07-2008, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tylerdurden

Tilt the head downhill too. Let gravity do the work after you slit the gills. If you slit the gills and keep the head up, the tail portions of the meat will be full of blood.

yt need to be bled.

wsb taste fine either way from my experience.

Halibut, bleed it so the damn thing will die. They don't die easy.

Any experience with Albacore, Yellowfin, Bluefin, and Dorado. I don't recall on the overnight or 2 day sport charters, the fish being bled.

madscientist · 08-07-2008, 02:41 PM

Most tuna I've seen hit the deck start bleeding profusely anyway. On a private boat I bleed everything. I agree with Tyler on WSB, except that unbled fish will have more visually noticeable black blood lines in the meat.

With halibut I don't think it really matters, and even bled they'll still hop around 30 minutes later. I stopped clubbing fish years ago after realizing it doesn't make much of a difference. If you want to kill it immediately use a spike to the brain (a gaff works in a pinch).

The other advantage of bleeding OTW is the filleting process will be much cleaner.

dgax65 · 08-07-2008, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDLivin

Any experience with Albacore, Yellowfin, Bluefin, and Dorado. I don't recall on the overnight or 2 day sport charters, the fish being bled.

Many of the long range boats spike and bleed the tuna as soon as they hit the deck. A lot of the boats have also installed RSW systems and rubber mats on the aft decks. The mats prevent bruising of the meat when the tuna are thrashing around. The boats are trying to do what they can to preserve the quality of the meat that you bring home.

Spiking and bleeding are common practice with commercial boats that sell to the Japanese market.

There is some good info at this link
http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/Fishing.../Sashimi_E.htm

There are a number of things that you can do to maintain the quality of the fish that you catch. Obviously, you can't do everything suggested in that publication, but you can bleed and spike your catch and put them on ice. Even bonito and barracuda will be fine table fare if you handle them properly.

tylerdurden · 08-07-2008, 03:14 PM

Most party boats bleed fish. Most times the gaff shot is good enough. Often the pinhead clips a gill as he staples your number to the fish and it often goes unnoticed. Spiking the brain also keeps the fish from flopping around and bruising the meat. Many party boats do this too. It works much better than a club and is instant.

The cattle boat I go on at least once a year has a kill box for the tuna/yt/dorado to sit in for about 5 minutes after they are gaffed and numbered. Then they go straight into the cold storage until fillet time. Cold fish are easier to carve up. On a PB we keep a saltwater/ice solution to dump fish into as soon as they are bled out. Kayak fish will always be slightly lesser in quality because of the lack of large amounts of ice.

08-07-2008, 12:38 PM	#1
tylerdurden Bad Clone Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 874	Tilt the head downhill too. Let gravity do the work after you slit the gills. If you slit the gills and keep the head up, the tail portions of the meat will be full of blood. yt need to be bled. wsb taste fine either way from my experience. Halibut, bleed it so the damn thing will die. They don't die easy. __________________ MLPA, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem Let the Fish and Game Commission know what you think about the proposed maps. Be ready for December 9th and 10th.

08-07-2008, 02:41 PM	#4
madscientist Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,906	Most tuna I've seen hit the deck start bleeding profusely anyway. On a private boat I bleed everything. I agree with Tyler on WSB, except that unbled fish will have more visually noticeable black blood lines in the meat. With halibut I don't think it really matters, and even bled they'll still hop around 30 minutes later. I stopped clubbing fish years ago after realizing it doesn't make much of a difference. If you want to kill it immediately use a spike to the brain (a gaff works in a pinch). The other advantage of bleeding OTW is the filleting process will be much cleaner. __________________

08-07-2008, 03:14 PM	#6
tylerdurden Bad Clone Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 874	Most party boats bleed fish. Most times the gaff shot is good enough. Often the pinhead clips a gill as he staples your number to the fish and it often goes unnoticed. Spiking the brain also keeps the fish from flopping around and bruising the meat. Many party boats do this too. It works much better than a club and is instant. The cattle boat I go on at least once a year has a kill box for the tuna/yt/dorado to sit in for about 5 minutes after they are gaffed and numbered. Then they go straight into the cold storage until fillet time. Cold fish are easier to carve up. On a PB we keep a saltwater/ice solution to dump fish into as soon as they are bled out. Kayak fish will always be slightly lesser in quality because of the lack of large amounts of ice. __________________ MLPA, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem Let the Fish and Game Commission know what you think about the proposed maps. Be ready for December 9th and 10th.

08-07-2008, 01:58 PM	#2
kurt Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: 2 inches above sea level Posts: 502	If you do choose to bleed a WSB, don't use your hand to pull the gills, and be very careful. Their gill rakers are extremely sharp.