Cutting the Gills

[tylerdurden]

Most party boats bleed fish. Most times the gaff shot is good enough. Often the pinhead clips a gill as he staples your number to the fish and it often goes unnoticed. Spiking the brain also keeps the fish from flopping around and bruising the meat. Many party boats do this too. It works much better than a club and is instant.

The cattle boat I go on at least once a year has a kill box for the tuna/yt/dorado to sit in for about 5 minutes after they are gaffed and numbered. Then they go straight into the cold storage until fillet time. Cold fish are easier to carve up. On a PB we keep a saltwater/ice solution to dump fish into as soon as they are bled out. Kayak fish will always be slightly lesser in quality because of the lack of large amounts of ice.