Kept Fish - Handling and Storage

[MuskieBait]

To bleed a fish, simply make a cut to the flesh connecting the two sides of the gills. There is a major artery between the gill flaps just behind the throat area. After you make that cut, the head of the fish should dangle a little bit. You can just hang the fish on the stringer in the water and let it bleed out. It usually only take a minute or two for the fish to bleed out. Once it bled out, you can put the fish on ice.

For some saltwater fish, they go to the extreme. They would bleed the fish as I described above, and after the fish bleeds out, they would remove the internal organs including the gills. They then stuff the now empty internal cavity with crushed ice and cover the whole fish with crushed ice. Even better is a saltwater/ice slurry. The salt in the water allowed the temperature to drop below 0 degrees C without freezing into water crystals, so you fish is kept below freezing temperature without having ice crystals form. This is great for keeping fish in top quality as well. It is impossible to do this in freshwater situations though...so bleed, gut/gill and stuff the cavity with crushed ice is you best bet.