how to bonk a fish (and should you bleed?)

[jbv]

couple of questions from a novice who has done pretty well so far this year. had a good few days at Nootka and watching a lot of seasoned fishermen.

1. i gather everyone kills by bonking. i wish we had a bigger bonker on board for one big hit. i felt like a tool bashing a fish 3 or 4 times to kill it. is there an alternative or is the answer- hey dufus, get a proper bonker.

2. we did not bleed our fish right after killing. i saw a few who did, most don't. is it better to bleed? do you have less of a mess to deal with at the dock, much less blood inside? less along the spine? who bleeds and why? techniques?

any best practices from those in the know are much appreciated.

 

[bigbruce]

Bleeding fish was covered extensively a while ago.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum...-say-you-dont-have-to-bleed-right-away.66765/

 

[Franko Manini]

The area of "dark blood" along the spine is actually the fish's kidney. Kinda cool hey?

 

[RiverBoy]

You do not have to bonk a Chinook that hard. Ask the commercial guys that are used to gaffing salmon. I cringe when I see people take three or four home run size swings to a fish, usually hitting its "shoulders " behind the head bruising the meat. I prefer to lightly bonk the salmon while still outside the boat, in the net; and right above the eyes. It's eyes will get real big, like" what was that?!" I then take the Chinook and bleed it immediately by cutting the gills and the collar.I have an engine well in my boat so I tie the fish off thru the gills with a chunk of rope which is permanently cleated off.the salt water always washes around back there. They arterial spurt their blood out when you do this.After they are bled I move fish to my cooler where they are put on ice. I bought an expensive Patagonia shirt that I use to keep the sun off me. Thanks to the above described method it now looks like a crime scene.

 

[ericl]

Best bleeding technique i have seen is:

Turn the fish belly-up
Just in front of the tail cut down into the spine.
Where the head joins the body cut down just to the spine severing the large artery that is next to the spine.

 

[aheny]

I have a 5/10 gallon bucket I use to bleed all of my fish. Whatever size those standard white utility buckets are
When I catch a fish, I give it a single bonk, enough to knock it out but not stop it's heart.
I put a gallon of sea water in the bucket, lower the fish in head first, and then slash through it's gills on one side, cutting towards the head so I don't cut into the body.
If you grab it and give it a good shake after a few minutes you'll dislodge all of the clotted blood from the gills and keep it bleeding, after 10 minutes you'll have a bright red bucket of blood and a fish that's ready to toss in the cooler. I spray mine off with the washdown pump before they go in to keep the ice cleaner.
Dump the water, rinse and repeat. There's room for a couple in there if you're catching lots.