I would like to know what technique to use in order to completely bleed a salmon. I have always just used a knife to slash all the gills, but that has never gotten all the blood out. Just a couple weeks ago, when I was filleting a silver, as I got to the spine, I severed a major vein and spillt blood on the meat. This never happened before and apparently I had not completely bled the fish. So my question is, where is the best spot to make the cut and get all the blood out of the salmon?

The main trick I've learned is to gut the gills immediately after bonking the fish and the fishs hart will pump most of the blood out. If you wait too long then cutting the gills doesn't do much.
Also learned last year with pinks to cut them back in front of the tail, all the way through the bone and lots of blood comes out there as well. Hope this helps.

I just give 'em a bonk or two and then slit the gills.

You don't want to wait to long after you land them because their hearts will stop pumping You want the heart pumping so it pumps most of the blood out.

I've also seen guys, like Kramer said, cut a slit or piece out of the fish, I think right below the anal fin. They said it was the best way to bleed a fish.

Anyone that uses this practice care to enlighten us that don't know much about it? Like if you think it does a more effective job of bleeding the fish out.

If you can, DO NOT bonk the fish. Just cut the gills, all of them, put the fish on a rope/stringer, tie it to somthing solid, and put it back in the water. It will continue to bleed and get virtually all of the blood out.

The fish might continue to splash around (especially coho), and build up lactic acid in the muscle tissue, but once the fish is in the water, it usually settles down. Before long, it will die of blood loss. I prefer that method than beating it's brains out with a stick, or worse, a rock......

Sorry to go against tradition, but I never bonk my fish. I just bleed'em out.

I like to bonk

Brings out the cave man in me...

I will give just bleeding them out a try though. Sounds like a good idea.

Wood shampoo then condition the gills accordingly

I've always just sliced the gills and hung them from a cleat in the water UNTIL....a $%^# Sealion ripped one right off the rope this week!!! Right next to the motor. Pretty bold. Watch em like a hawk when your bleeding them.

I like to cut the gills and hang them over the side too...

When you bonk 'em, don't beat their brains out. Just a tap on top of the head will stop the thrashing, but keep that heart beating.

I had a kid aboard and asked him to bonk the fish for me. Quick as a flash, he had pulverized the head like Ichiro on a fast ball. When I hung him (the fish) over the edge to bleed, his heart had stopped and he didn't bleed out.

Lightly shampoo the fish with wood and cut a few gills, lather rinse repeat. If I'm on the beach I usually try to lay them on a slope head down to let gravity help out.

I think when people say they cut the "gills" they are really cutting that strip of skin on the "neck" of the fish (and then somne might compleatly remove the gills).

Slice that strip of skin until you see lots of blood, usually 1-3 inches. This cuts the jugualr (sp) vein and will bleed the fish out in 5 minuts.

Don't wack the fish, you want the blood to pump out. If a fish is dead it will not pump.

I never bonk a fish. I cut one of the gills and either rope it and toss overboard (my boat) or just leave it on the floor (others boat). Hey isn't that what the fancy washdown system is for?

OK,..I know this may sound a little morbid,..but it was shown to me by another guide a long time ago (For all those that think cut the gills rather than clubbing them & maken' em', "Run to the light" first)

....doesn't need to be done. Try clubbing one of yer fish then cut the heart out and let it sit for a bit and watch it. The heart will continue to contract even out of the fish for a good 10 minutes or so.

Had a guy last year yell over to me that I wasn't properly bleeding my fish. Clubbed the next one, cut its heart out and threw it over to him and told him to watch it for a while. He was amazed out how long it kept beating.

I tear the gills rather than cut them. (after there clubbed and "Running for the light"),...Seem to bleed a little longer than a cut & the blood doesn't coagulate as quickly.

I never have this problem. Everyone is right. As soon as you get them in club and cut through the gills. My boat has the stern sitting lower and the front up higher, i.e., the fishwells are lower in the back than front. I make sure the fishes head is toward the back or down hill. To do a thorough job of bleeding halibut, cut their gills and one across the tail just in front of the tail fin. deep. For rockcod and seabass, you have to puncture through the aeorta. It is behind the gills. You pull open the gill cover and stick your knife through the skin through the skin right behind the gills. now slash around. Rock cod don't bleed out with the gills cut. I dont know why. Hope this helps.

I always leave the fish alive as much as possible until I am ready to leave for two reasons, the later being I believe the fish is fresher than sitting dead all day on the bank or water in the sun etc; I rarely cut the gills I just reach inside the gill plate and hook my index finger in the notch of the outer gill and give a quick jerk which severs a major artery. A bit morbid but if you get it at the right spot it will shoot out with every heart beat. I then let the fish bleed itself for several minutes until I no longer see a steady stream of blood. I then gut and remove the blood line from the spine prior to packing them out.

Just grab the a gills with your fingers and yank them out. I rip both sides out and let them bleed to death in the water.
A secret Ninja move that may take years to master.

I personally don't like giving the fish a headache so I just take the knife to their gills every time. Then I hold the fish upside down in the water and when blood stops coming out I start flexing the fish like the way it would swim so as to pump more blood out. Then finally I squeeze the fills between my thumb and index finger trying to get out every last gram of blood. I know I've done all that I can when the gills look light red/pink to white. After all that in the cooler it goes. Usually I will end up with some blood seeping out on the way home.

Awesome! Plenty of ideas to play with. I'll have to try all the different techniques you all have suggested and see which one really does get all the blood out, esp the spinal blood. I especially like the really savage methods, particularly ripping the gills out with your fingers. I like my bloody satisfaction. Got another question, do your guys' egg skeins still have blood in them after you bleed the fish?

I have a friend that used to work for a charter business that I fish with every once in a while. Last summer during the humpy run he bleed this pink out with one of his tricks. I didnt see exactley how it was done, because he did it so fast, but that fish was shooting squirts of blood at least four or five feet out. Pretty neat to watch. After he did it he looked up and just gave me a smile. Tomorrow were going out in the sound/morning, then on the snoho in evening. If he does it again, I will pass on the knowledge.

Sometimes. Usually a lot less than if I did not bleed out the fish.

Even if they do, use the edge of some scissors and push the blood out of the veins.

14 pint jars curing up in the fridge now! Ooooo!

I usually jam my fingers into its eyes then rip the gills out with my teeth! If that doesn't work I will go psycho killer on it & stab it 49 times with my hook sharpener.


Has anyone grabbed the throat with their left hand & sliced up from the anal vent towards the throat (gutting the fish), then cut the kidney (back blood) while its still alive?? I wonder how it would bleed out if you eviscerated it like that & cut the gills.

I have a buddy that likes to use scissors on the gills. Says it bleeds better. I use whatever tool is handy.