Bleeding fish for a better taste...

[fish raptor]

Fish is one of my favorite things to eat and I am always on the look out for any new fish recipes to try.

I have had Flounder, Striper, Black Sea Bass and Blue, all caught not purchased.
I try to prepare each one using the same recipe as it give me a better chance to see what fish I feel has the best taste. To date the Black Sea Bass gets the nodd. I am struggling on getting my Blue fish to be as good as the others and the part that is puzzling me is that there used to be a local Deli type take out restaurant that served fried fish a couple times and week and when asked what it was I was told it was Blue fish and it was delicious, but I have not way of proving that it was Blue, it had that typical "haddock" taste.

I was forwarned by a few other fisherman that Blues are not as palatable as others and to bleed the fish immediately once caught stating it is extremely important.

I take it that bleeding the fish somehow makes them taste better ? if so how ?

Also, if this works on Blues should I being doing this across the board to all other species, (Striper, Flounder, Sea Bass, Scup) ?

Are their any other tricks I should follow to give myself the best chance of having the prepared fish come out as good as it can be.

I would assume that keeping them on ice is important.

Also, I keep hearing about this delicious Tog chowder that everyone speaks of. Does someone on this site have a special recipe that they have shared as I have googled Tog Chowder and there are bunch of them out there.

[beamie]

Bleed all fish before they hit the box. OK maybe I don't bleed flounder and smelt but blues bass cod haddock you name it.....leads to much cleaner fillets when cutting.

[niko]

cut all their throats, it effects the color of fillet quite a bit. and don't cheap out on ice. I see some guys barely bring enough to keep lunch cold I have a guy who wants to bring home a half dozen dogfish every time he fishes with me and he guts them immediately and packs the cavity with ice. says he loves them. ive got another guy who likes albies and wont bleed them - says that's how he likes it - go figure

[Guppy]

X3
Bleed m all
I run a knife up into the tog Gil's (and most all fish) and put them back in the live well

I tried the braised tog recip from this months On The Water,,, out of sight!

Another great one I just learned from Bob (got striper),,, egg wash tog fillets, cover with panko, pan fry,,,, like eating candy IMO

BLOO FISH SUCKS :-)

[Rappin Mikey]

I go cave man style and break their necks with my hands and pull back.

[FishermanTim]

bleeding fish will prevent the blood to seep into the flesh as it breaks down (better than saying decomposes). Offshore fish (macks, blues, tuna and sharks) have blood that is different from the blood of inshore fish. The offshore fish are always on the move, so their blood designed to hold more O2 and rid their muscles of lactic acid more quickly to allow them to swim longer and faster than inshore fish. Although inshore fish don't have the same type of blood you will benefit just the same by bleeding them.

[MAKAI]

Definitely bleed.
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