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Tip for Better Fillets


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Now that we're well into the open lake season, and filling coolers I wanted to share a tip: the table quality of your fillets is greatly improved if you take a few seconds to bleed your fish before you ice them down.  I will cut my fish, throw them in the livewell to bleed out, then ice them down as soon as they're done (you can certainly bleed them right in the cooler, though it'll look like a crime scene when you're done!).  This process not only improves the quality of the meat, but makes the fillet process much cleaner - especially with Lakers.

 

These guys put together a nice video on how to do it: 

 

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You can bleed them right in the net too leaving it over the side less mess.

Edited by Sk8man
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I fished with a guy a few years ago who would cut the tails off of salmon and toss em in the livewell to bleed out. 

It was easy and fast. Anyone else do that? 

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Pacific commercial trollers have a bleeding drain box overboard on the side of their boats. Landed salmon are immediately bled out and the blood and other gurry go back into the water without contaminating fresh caught fish. The gurry comes from internal intestines. Ice is quickly used to immediately cool and preserve the fish quality. The better quality fish boats will dip the fish in fresh water and then a blast freezer unit seal  the fish in a solid ice coating. Better quality restaurants pay top dollar for fish handled this way.

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I bled some walleye while kayak fishing earlier this week, and Tommy said he didn't even have to wash his fillet board lol. Unfortunately, I used my pen knife to slit their throats, and one of them juiced all over my jacket and pants. Adds realism to the spread.

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The gurry and intestinal fluids are also unsanitary. The live well keeps your fish contaminated also. Drain the fish in a bucket separate from your catch.Put your catch in a ice filled cooler, especially during hot summer surface water temperatures. Those livewell temperatures then is like making soup out of your catch.

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My livewell temperature in the kayak today was lake temp. This time, I managed to bleed them on the outside of the boat...using heavy duty shears rather than a penknife did the trick.

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