Northwest Fishing Reports

so i'm gonna hit the sno real soon and have been reading reports that you should gut and bleed your fish, then put it on ice right away. Do you guys gut and bleed the fish right on the river? Do you dig a hole for the guts? i'm probably gonna keep the guts though and use it as crawfish bait. Just wanted to know.

Thanks
Viet

Where I fish on the Snake River there are boulders so no place to dig a hole. I just toss the guts into the river system because their are crawdads and catfish I know will eat them up. If I bring my crawdad trap with me I'll gut the fish and use it to catch crawdads.

I was told by my Dad to always bleed out your big trout. Its suppost to get rid of the strong fish flavor when you cook them up. I really don't know if its true or not but I always bleed out my fish. If it is a hen I will keep the eggs up and cure them for bait. The rest gets thrown in the garder for fertilizer.

I fished the Sno Sunday and slayed the pinks. If it is pinks you are fishing for you deff need to bleed them ASAP and put them on ice. If you dont the meat turns to apple sauce and doesn't taste that good. Most people just gut and bleed them right in the river (that is what we did) it all gets eaten anyway and good for the eco.(man that sounded like I am from WA..lol)

flying_soldier wrote:I fished the Sno Sunday and slayed the pinks. If it is pinks you are fishing for you deff need to bleed them ASAP and put them on ice. If you dont the meat turns to apple sauce and doesn't taste that good. Most people just gut and bleed them right in the river (that is what we did) it all gets eaten anyway and good for the eco.(man that sounded like I am from WA..lol)

yes i will be fishing for pinks. i fished for them a couple years back, but didn't gut and bleed them. i gave them to my dad and he smoked them. tasted good, but you're right the meat wasnt really firm. i will definately bleed them this year. where did you fish on the sno? what did you use? i usually use dick nyte spoons, but if someone has a recomendation that would be great.

Viet

viet wrote: where did you fish on the sno? what did you use? i usually use dick nyte spoons, but if someone has a recomendation that would be great.

Viet

nevermind i read your other posts

It makes a HUGE difference. Right when I catch the salmon I rip out some gill with the needle nose, let the fish set on the ground for 2 - 3 minutes than put the right on ice. I dont clean my fish most of the time at the water. The reason why is because most the time I only fish for an hour or 2, if I am on an all day outing and hook into a good fish in the first hour of a 10 hour trip I will clean them. But I do save all my heads/cuts for crab bait.

A good idea for bleeding them too is, smack them on the head with your pliers right when you catch the. Not too hard just enough to stun them. The rip out the gills. This way the fish is still alive and his heart is still pumping thus pumping out all the blood.

If you are in boat smack em, rip out gills, tie fish up to stringer, drag them behind the boat for 10 minutes then through them on ice

Be selective on the rivers of which ones you keep. They can be pretty nasty after sitting in that warm river water...