Correct way of bleeding a fish?

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Darth-Vang

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Never heard of bleeding a fish before till I watched sum youtube about it, it supposedly made the fish taste better, what’s the correct way of bleeding a fish? Going to give a try to see if it taste better or not. Pictures or videos will help tremendously. Thanks! 😁
 

Ready_fire_aim

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I usually bleed bigger fish. Especially catfish. I think it helps the meat stay cleaner. Also I believe it helps things stay more fresh, in situations where you’re going to keep the fish in a cooler on ice for a while before fully cleaning.

Again, I typically only do it on bigger fish. I’m not going bleed a mess of small crappie for example. Smaller/cleaner tasting fish just don’t need it in my experience.

It’s super easy, take a knife right to their throat. That point where the gills join into the body on the bottom of the fish. Cut hard and deep. It helps to use a sturdy knife (not your fillet knife). You’ll know you got it when it starts bleeding like crazy. Then I toss them back in the water on a stringer and let them swim around and bleed out. As soon as they’re dead they go on ice.

Some people bleed by cutting the tail off. That works too. But I go for the gills. Seems to kill them faster.
 

retrieverman

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I trust very little I see on the internet especially utube. My Dad fished his whole life and even fished tournaments and guided for a few years, and to my knowledge, he never “bled” a fish. My paternal Grandfather was a serious trotliner and caught some big cats out of Toledo Bend, and to my knowledge, he never bled a fish either.
I follow their examples.
 

Darth-Vang

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Caught some catfish, a sheepshead, and a tiny bluegill lol Both the sheepshead and the bluegill had the hook in the belly unfortunately, I was told that sheepshead tasted bad? Is that true? How would one cook a sheepshead?
 

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Ready_fire_aim

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Sheepshead/drum are just fine to eat fried. White meat. Especially small ones like what you have there.

I’ve cooked plenty of them in the mix with whitebass/crappie and no one complains about the drum

Use that bluegill as cut bait for your next catfishing session
 

dennishoddy

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Drum is fine to eat. We have had a lot of it. They live off crawfish and other bugs around rocky areas. I think they get the do not eat from their mouth that looks like a carp.
Haven't had bluegill on the menu for a while, but we used to scale them, gut them, cut off the head and deep fry, The skin is amazing.
For bleeding, I'm not sure how much advantage that is. I've cut a gill on some and cut the tail on others.
We always soak our fish in saltwater for a couple of days before bagging, changing out the bloody water, so not sure which method removes the most.
I do know cleaning them results in less blood when they have been bled out at the cleaning station.
 

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