[50incher]

How to "zipper" a walleye - totally boneless fillets - YouTube
Short video I found interesting, not much wasted meat there, lol....I like it....

 

[milanmark]

How to "zipper" a walleye - totally boneless fillets - YouTube
Short video I found interesting, not much wasted meat there, lol....I like it....

I learned to zipper a coupla years ago... Stared zippering 100% since then! Only negative is it splits a fillet into two pieces but you get used to that, makes my wife happy with no pinbones! Happy wife happy life!

 

[Old Whaler]

I think it works great. It's super easy, wastes almost nothing, and makes for better eating. Having the fillet in two pieces allows you to freeze (or fry) the like-sized pieces together so everything in the pan cooks evenly. That's a bonus if you ask me.

 

[fisherman 2]

if you fish ohio like huron for a couple days don't zipper your fish...they don't allow it till you get home...guess they can't figure out how many fish you have when their in 2 pieces.

 

[triplelunger]

Bleed em and zip em! Delicious!

 

[bluemoonrising]

I zip all the eyes we catch, but I never bleed them. Since I'm retired and fish almost everyday, I'm usually one of the first on the water and off. Usually by 11 am, the fish are in the freezer. I have never felt a need to bleed them. And--I boil up or microwave the zippers for the dog. She loves them!

 

[Sharkbait11]

Since I dont have a livewell my new process is to immediately bleed the walleye once on the boat in a 5gal bucket with water. After 10 mins remove and put in a cooler full of ice. Cleanest and best tasting fillets ever this way IMO. Big difference in how much blood when filleting if you bleed them vs not bleeding. Same for steelhead. Less mess on the fillet table and nice clean fillets.

I clean the brown fat and zipper when Im prepping my meal, otherwise the whole fillet gets frozen beforehand, if you remove the fat and zipper first it can only make it better.

 

[gatorman841]

I zip all the eyes we catch, but I never bleed them. Since I'm retired and fish almost everyday, I'm usually one of the first on the water and off. Usually by 11 am, the fish are in the freezer. I have never felt a need to bleed them. And--I boil up or microwave the zippers for the dog. She loves them!

Huge difference between a bled fish when cleaning and non bled

 

[Fishndude]

I zip all the eyes we catch, but I never bleed them.

I like the bloody mess in my livewell, instead of on my cleaning table. I just pull the plug and drain the livewell, and the mess is gone. You should give it a try. I promise you won't miss cleaning all the blood up after you're done fileting.

 

[piketroller]

I filler them when they are still lively. They taste much better than filleting dead fish bled or not. The fillets do get brined in cold water for about 20 minutes before freezing.

My favorite size to keep are the 15” to 16” fish. Fry up the fillets whole and you don’t even know the pin bones are there. The 17”-18” fish I’ll still do whole. You can tell the pin bones are there, but they still get soft enough to eat without worry.

 

[Old lund]

I do the same piketroller, have been told by many to bleed them out , but I’ve never had a bad experience filleting them while still wiggling .

 

[kisherfisher]

Slaughterhouse guys have been doing this for ages. Lead cow in , plastic bullet to head, throat slice to bleed animal , skin and butcher. Stands to reason a bled fish is more clean and palatable.For fish.. cut throat , bleed out , put on ice. Fresh !!! Fillet, skin, zipper. The bigger fillet gets divided on the lateral line.

 

[OneidaEagle]

I like the bloody mess in my livewell, instead of on my cleaning table. I just pull the plug and drain the livewell, and the mess is gone. You should give it a try. I promise you won't miss cleaning all the blood up after you're done fileting.

Same here, but one difference.

Grab pliers, rip out part of the gill plates, and leave them in the live well, let them bleed out. I have a fresh water pick up while on plane, and by the time I am back, its just fresh water.

OE

 

[WALLEYE MIKE]

I filler them when they are still lively. They taste much better than filleting dead fish bled or not. The fillets do get brined in cold water for about 20 minutes before freezing.

My favorite size to keep are the 15” to 16” fish. Fry up the fillets whole and you don’t even know the pin bones are there. The 17”-18” fish I’ll still do whole. You can tell the pin bones are there, but they still get soft enough to eat without worry.

I do the same piketroller, have been told by many to bleed them out , but I’ve never had a bad experience filleting them while still wiggling .

Me too!!

 

[KI Jim]

I zip all the eyes we catch, but I never bleed them. Since I'm retired and fish almost everyday, I'm usually one of the first on the water and off. Usually by 11 am, the fish are in the freezer. I have never felt a need to bleed them. And--I boil up or microwave the zippers for the dog. She loves them!

Bleed 'em in the livewell. Once you start doing it, you will realize what you have been missing.

 

[sureshot006]

I do the same piketroller, have been told by many to bleed them out , but I’ve never had a bad experience filleting them while still wiggling .

Unless it's early spring or late fall its hard to keep them alive. When water temps get above 60 they just don't seem to do that great in the livewell. At least not with mine even on timer cycle. So bleeding and putting on ice is the next best thing, IMO.

 

[scubajay]

I'm with Piketroller, Old Lund, & Walleye Mike on this subject... I never bleed them. The moment you kill a fish it begins to decay, and if the time between bleeding and filleting is more than a few minutes the table quality suffers.

I keep them alive in the livewell until time to fillet, then they get a good knock on the noggin so they aren't flopping around and then I fillet and zip. So for me the bottom line is that the fillet board may be a little more bloody, but the non-decayed fillet is a better choice.

 

[piketroller]

Unless it's early spring or late fall its hard to keep them alive. When water temps get above 60 they just don't seem to do that great in the livewell. At least not with mine even on timer cycle. So bleeding and putting on ice is the next best thing, IMO.

If your fish aren't doing well in the livewell with the timer running, once every hour or so do a complete water exchange where you drain the livewell and pump it back full. Stressed fish will dump a lot of ammonia into the water and just running the pump intermittently doesn't turn over the water enough to flush it out. Once the fish calm down and accept their new prison, they don't poison their water anywhere near as much as when you first put them in there.

 

[Old Whaler]

I use a 69 cent scissors from Harbor Freight to snip the artery between the gills (way safer than using a knife). Then they go in a bucket half full of water for a few minutes to bleed before they go in the cooler on blocks of ice, not soaking in ice water. I can see and SMELL the difference between a bled fillet and non-bled. YMMV, but to me it's a night and day difference.
As a side benefit, I can fit all my PFDs and rain gear and more in my live well!

 

[sureshot006]

If your fish aren't doing well in the livewell with the timer running, once every hour or so do a complete water exchange where you drain the livewell and pump it back full. Stressed fish will dump a lot of ammonia into the water and just running the pump intermittently doesn't turn over the water enough to flush it out. Once the fish calm down and accept their new prison, they don't poison their water anywhere near as much as when you first put them in there.

I can't imagine it doesn't essentially do a complete change, but maybe. I could try it.