Bleeding Stripers [FAQ]

[Hotrod]

[FAQ] I've heard of "Bleeding out your Striper" Is this really necessary and what is the proper technique?

[robsrodnreel]

hmm, i dont think its neccessary, ive never done it and ive never had a bad striper.  i guess it cant hurt.  but then again, alot of people swear by bleeding out a deer, eventhough it does nothing for the meat

[Capt Craig]

I don't think you need to do it. I have tried eating Striper both ways and have not noticed a difference in the taste. I do carry a lot of ice in the fish box to ice all fish heading to the cleaning table. I will put some sea water in the box to make a brine solution. The ice along with the salt water will help keep the meet firm. I do this for all species.

As far as cleaning fish. After I clean the days catch, whatever the species I put the fillets in bags for my customers and tell them not to rinse the fish until they are ready to eat the catch. If they are going to freeze any, wrap the fish the way they like but don't rinse until you defrost the fish to eat it.

If you have a vacuum seal machine that's the best way to freeze and store fish or any food for a long period of time. I just opened a bag of Striper two nights ago that was caught back in November and it was great. I have had fish frozen for up to a year and its been fine.

[drome]

Ok, I fish every sept in Montauk, and three years agao the captains bled the fish for the first time ever and now they don't again.   I've eaten fish many times in both forms and to be honest with you I don't think it matters.  Icing the fish ASAP is a must as I believe this stops the red blood marks you get on some of the fillets.  One common technique I witness by all of the captains is that they all fill a cooler with chopped ice and before heading back they head towards the south side of the lighthouse and fill the ice cooler with fresh saltwater.  They use this saltwater to rinse the fillets.

Another trick I'll let everyone in on... If you do not own a shrink sealer... Here's another way to get the same effect without it.

Put the fillets in a zip lock bag.  Before zipping it closed fill up a small bucket with water.  Lower the shrink wrap bag slowly in the water being careful not to get the water inside of the bag.  The pressure of the water practically pushes all the air out of the bag and gets the almost shrink sealed effect.

[CAPT. JOHN K.]

The only fish I bleed are bluefish. I do this because they are usually a bit more oilier than stripers. As soon as I cut them they're put in the cooler that has iced brine. This seems to get rid of some of the "gamey taste" that people seem to object to. After filleting I remove the belly flaps and the dark stripe down the middle of the fillet. This is to remove the possibility of PCB's in the fatty tissue.
                     Capt. John K.
                     TAT-TAT TOO III

 PS: I skin to fillets.

[Luna Sea 5]

[FAQ] I've heard of "Bleeding out your Striper" Is this really necessary and what is the proper technique?

With any fish, you should bleed it.  Just Tony Soprano it from gill to gill and heavily ice it. 

[catfish hunter]

I tried it ,never noticed any thing,but I do it when the fishing is slow

[Mate Mike]

I have had stripers both ways and it didn't seem to make a difference.  But with blackfish it does - when you bleed a blackfish you can even see the difference in the meat color

[Capt. Bud]

Take two stripers, one that was bled and one that wasn't,  filet both at the same time and you will see a big difference in the color of the filet's.  The one that was bled will be much whiter in color than the one that wasn't bled.  To me, that translates to a better tasteing fish.  On the Splinter, we bleed all our stripers.

[CapBob]

I never bleed them out, but I always have an icy salt water brine in the fishbox which keeps them fresh until you get to the dock

[Capt. Bud]

Capt. Bob,
No question, the icy salt water is the only way to go.  I don't understand fisherman that don't carry ice with theml.