Whilst I agree immediately gutting a fish will improve its taste I rarely do this largely due to the fact I want to get the line back in and hopefully get another so straight into the ice slurry they go. They are cleaned as soon as practical.

The only fish I generally bleed would be tuna and salmon The snapper and queenies I have caught have tasted pretty good but your right they could possibly taste better if bled.

Matter of choice really and up to the individual. Main thing I think is that anything kept is not wasted.

I bleed all my fish & none of them look like some one has tried to cut their heads off. If you actually cut the artery up towards the top of the gill cavity internally you bleed the fish properly. Cutting the bottom of there throat is no where near as effective. Also looks a lot better in picks if they don't have flip top heads.

As colt striker said run a blade from the top of the gill cavity to about half way down

I prefer Ikijime (immediate brain spiking), Which is a cleaner method of bleeding, as the blood apparently runs to the stomach and then removed upon cleaning. But I believe only some fish benefit hugely from bleeding. Fish like Salmon, sharks and mackerel I would still bleed but not sure if its really needed if ikijime is used. Anyone know what the pros do with Mackies >

 Hey Woody, I had some Queen Snapper on Friday that we didn't bleed and it tasted bloody beautiful. Will try bleeding one next time I get one, but was very impressed with its taste and texture. Normally only bleed tuna and mackies. Each to there own I suppose. 

Chris

I use sidecutters to cut the gills and then throw them in on ice.  Seems to work fine and the fish still looks good for pics later. 

Some great techniques there guys, thanks for sharing. I'll try some next time I get onto some decent fish....one day!!

Chris - Queen Snapper will taste even better..try it next time.

If you have spiked them properly you don't need to bleed them. Just look at all the line professionally caught snapper on the market and find one that has been bled. All it does is allow an entry point for bacteria to enter and start the flesh rotting.

Queenies are the same, the brown stripe doesn't change if you spike it or bleed it, it is a different type of muscle that stands out from the rest of the flesh.

Ikijimi asap, bleed, I cut upwards from the pec fin then on ice

I witnessed a bad experience with Ikijimi a number of years ago at Jurien, which has forever put me off.

A mate from the club got a 15kg Dhu, and so did I.  Ikijimi was quite new to WA, and he swore by it...and promptly spiked his fish.  I did mine as I always have.....cut through the gills/throat and bled.

Later when we filleted them, mine was as usual beautiful and white.  His was a horrible pink and full of blood.

Now, I'm pretty sure he buggered the Ikijimi up, and that's why it didn't work, but as the saying goes....if it isnt broken, don't fix it.  I have been bleeding fish in my kill tank, then into an ice slurry for quite some years....they always turn out 100%.  I'm just not prepared to risk seeing what I did all though years ago again.

Probably most important message in here is get the fish on ice.

 Professional fishermen do not bleed diemersals, they correctly ikijimi them, the colour difference in a fillet bleed or not bleed is purely visual, once cooked they look identical. If ikijimi correctly and not bleed the fish will taste better and last longer FACT

 Brain and bleed all my fish in the water

Ok 2 trains of thought here, and each to his own.

When I worked on the boats, we only brain spiked then into the slurry, this is the best method IMO.

Some people brain spike then bleed the fish, ok if you want to bleed your fish, but you have opened a point that bacteria can enter. as you have cut a main vain, the bacteria can travel through the blood system faster than if the fish was only spiked. this is ok if the fish are on ice for the day, but on extended trips you run a risk of the fish going "off".

My least prefured method is bleeding the fish without brain spiking, this stresses the fish and the flesh is tuffer than if it was spiked.

IMO surface fish should be bleed ( in most cases ), Demersals should not.

But each to their own, just respect and look after your catch.

 Found this thread very helpful fellas, from an inexperienced WA fisho, great reading the in depth description on how to and why the different techniques, cheers.

Iki Jime reference link 

http://www.ikijime.com/fish/snapper/?adv=0#Offshore%7CSnappers%7CSnapper

We Spike (iki jime) our demersals as soon as we can and strait on the ice. No bleeding. As long as it is done "correctly" this is the best way as the blood is drawn away from the flesh while not stressing the fish .Most Plagics and some others if kept will need bleeding but for the majority of the bottom fish just a spike and ice works fine. Our crew also run a wetline boat mainly chassing goldband or rubys and thats they way it is done on there too. If it is a fish that needs to be bleeding there is no need to cut the whole way through the bottom of the gills. a quick cut towards the top of the gills as mentioned is fine.

Can you buy the iki jime spike at tackle shops or is just a case of making your own (bearing in mind I am not a handy man...)

 I made mine out of a welding rod, knocked off the flux and sharpened one end to a point, got a piece of jarrah dowel, drilled it and stuck the other end of the welding rod into it with araldite. I've also seen Phillips screwdrivers sharpened and used to good effect.

Dale