Quote Originally Posted by Madd Matt View Post
Some of the best guys in here cut their walleye, and some don't. I have no problem with admitting that they are much "whiter" when they are cleaned.

My question is if there is a difference in taste? I am not sure that I want to come up with a system while I am running 16 lines, and bags out each side, 7 other guys on the boat...

Secondly, I don't notice much of an issue while cleaning fish? Everyone talks about how much of a mess it prevents... Seems to me that its a potential mess in the boat (although some of you have system that keep it all in the Lake). When we clean fish though, we clean them, and hose down the table. It takes less than a minute to clean the entire table. I am sure that even if I bleed them out I would still have to hose down and wash the table...

So for me, it definitely doesn't change my clean-up time, it adds to something else to do and worry about while fishing. I know the fish is white when bled out... But I don't want to do it just to change the color...

So, my question is, does it change the flavor of the fish? Is the flavor change worth it?

-Matt
I think it definitely changes the quality of the meat, like you said the meat is much whiter and that means there is much less blood in the fillet. That in turn means no soaking to remove the blood and no chance for the blood to turn rancid even while on ice in the boat. Not only does it remove the blood it also allows the fish to cool quicker once on ice. Now with that said lets take the example to the extreme, would you rather eat a chicken that had been sufficated to death and left to lay for an hour or two on ice or one that had been cleanly killed by chopping of its head and allowed to bleed out and then thrown on ice for an hour or two. I realize that neither one of the two extreme examples is very appetizing but one is definitely better than the other.