How To Bleed Fish To Get Cleaner Fillets (Popular Saltwater Species)
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
- Found In: Filleting Fish, Fish Recipes, Fishing Tips, Weekly Newsletter: 5-3-20
Do you want delicious, clean, white fillets?
Then you’ve got to bleed your fish.
Why bleed fish?
Because bleeding your fish helps get all the blood out – which produces tastier fillets.
It’s amazing how much better a well-bled fish tastes over a fillet that hasn’t been bled properly.
Plus, it’s a humane way to kill fish quickly.
In this video, you’re going to learn:
- how to bleed several different species of fish (including how to bleed flounder, bluefish, mackerel, and mangrove snapper)
- when to bleed fish
- how to know if you did it wrong
- and more
Watch the video below to learn how to bleed fish.
How To Bleed Fish [VIDEO]
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If you decide you’re going to keep a fish, you want to bleed them right away.
This will ensure you get the cleanest fillets and kill the fish quickly and humanely.
To bleed them, all you need to do is cut the artery that runs along the bottom of the area between their gills.
You’ll know you cut through the artery if there is a lot of blood loss or blood on the knife.
If there’s no blood, then try again a little higher.
After you’ve cut through the artery, place them in ice.
As you can see in the video, all species of fish have this artery between their gills, even flounder.
Conclusion
If you want the cleanest, most delicious fillets possible, then you should bleed your fish.
To do that, just cut through the artery between their gills and put them on ice.
Have any questions about bleeding fish?
Or do you have a better way of doing it?
Let me know in the comments below!
And if you know someone who loves to catch and cook fish, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Great tip for a quick way to bled a fish, I have used a variance of the Ike Jime method for years and it produces some of the best tasting fish. It takes some practice but its worth it. There are multiple steps involved but I only paralyze and bleed the fish. The paralyzing minimizes stress signals virtually eliminating lactic acid and cortisol.
WHEN BLEEDING SALT WATER FISH, WHY NOT LET THEM STAY IN THE WATER FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE MESSING UP THE FISH BOX WITH LOTS OF BLOOD. SAME END RESULTS ?
GET THEM OUT BEFORE MR. SHARK CAN FEED, RIGHT ?
Yes, the shark factor is the primary reason.
Bleeding a fish is far from a humane way to kill the fish period. The fish goes into shock, hemorrhaging contractions which deplete the flesh of certain nutrients that are essential to healthy meat. Lets not say that a bloody fillet is better, it is not however, the balance of too much and not enough is in the way one cleans the fish. Normal cleaning of a fish is more then sufficient to produce enough depletion of blood and produce a great flavored stake or even a fillet. In my 53 years of fishing; I always put a sharp knife between the eye into the brain (instant kill), preventing the flesh from being shocked. It feels different, I know, and after, I proceed to just clean the fish by scaling it, cutting the fins off, and removing the guts and than cutting it as I choose, filet or stake, or both if the fish is big enough. This always worked very nice for me, maybe it is a matter of preference but, I sure can tell the difference from shocked meat, and nature intended swift, clean and above all humane death of a fish. After all, it is a life you are taking! Respect nature! This not about what is best for you or the show, this is about respect, and most of you have forgotten the old ways!!!!!!!!!!
Luke, thank you for this information; a very important video ☺️ I understand also that the more flopping a fish does, therefore the more changes occur in the muscle tissue. A thrashing fish causing a buildup of lactic acid. Lactic acid in the flesh degrades the quality and taste of the fish. The more stress signals sent from the spine lessen the taste. What, then, is the solution?? Severing the spine with a clever will stop all functions in the fish. But there’s a more labor intensive technique called Ike Jime whereby a wire is pushed through the entire spinal cord. It is said that this stops all stress signals from the spine. So a fish left flopping on the deck is not going to taste as good as it could when the time is taken to bleed the fish and stop any stress signals from being sent to the muscles.🎣❣️
Thank you!
So yeah, I’m new… If this is a stupid question I apologize…. Does sitting in the blood once they’re dead bother the meat? I mean, can I do this on the water…toss em on ice and contouro fish for hours?
As long as the fish is kept cold and the meat is not exposed to blood or exterior fish slime, the meat should be just fine.
One thing to increase the quality of the meat is to have a slurry of saltwater and ice prepared in a bucket. That way, the heart pumps out literally all of the blood, and the fillets will be as firm as possible.
Excellent! Thank you…
What if I failed to bleed red snapper before vacuum packing and freezing?
Will be fine
Humanely?
I always gut my fish on the water, and place on ice. I find they taste better.
Alan Thomas, I agree with you. In some fish the gall bladder starts to breakdown quickly after being caught. Especially porgies, the gall bladder breaks down faster than other fish. Which causes the fish to have a bitter taste 😕
Wish we could do that up here in MA – our local laws require fish be brought to the docks whole for recreational fishers. I’d prefer to do it all on the water if I could and just bring home the good stuff. Commercial can process on the water if they have a processing license.