Fishing Victoria Forum

Just trying to find out how people bleed a gummy shark when they land one. What technique/tools do you use? Also how soon after landing it?

Straight away, cut to the back of the head to the spinal cord. Give or take 50-100 mm behind the eyes.

I just head and gut them after a quick photo. Make sure to strip all the blood membrane out of the gut cavity. Legal measure is from the rear Gill slit to the base of the tail. So fisheries can still do the measurements if head is gone.
Straight into cold seawater helps flush remaining blood.
Large Esky with a couple of frozen 2 litre bottles of water. Put the carcass in, add a bucket of seawater. Fish should come out stiff.

Re-tyred is the best method.

Ignore the idiots of social media only cutting the back of the head for the photo opp at the end of the day.

Remove head, fins and tail, guts and clean the spine blood line. This leaves you with a trunk that is legal for measurement

Then hang upside down in cold sea water, if it is summer I add ice.

After about 10 minutes put on ice in esky.

Removing the tail helps the remaining blood etc leave the flesh.

brad21red wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:37 am

Just trying to find out how people bleed a gummy shark when they land one. What technique/tools do you use? Also how soon after landing it?

from a kayakers veiw - I cut there throat as soon as landed and head spike them - from there gut them and check there gut for mantis shrimp ( a good bait even second hand from a gummy gut ) and of cause clean the blood line from the gut cavity
then it's straight into the fish hatch

I keep the head and back of the head intact as I use this for a handle when skinning them as I find this the easiest way for me
others have different views on this

Frozenpod has it right... almost. Remove the tail before final wash and ice bath - by that time he's not going to flap around!!

once filleted, cut the 'scallops' on an acute angle, so you get large diameter, thin slices.
Coat in say TANDACO fish seasoning and cook in hot-shallow-oil pan....
my-god!!! I'm salivating and drooling on the keyboooooooooooaaarrrhhh..

Knife straight through the heart down from the mouth and gut straight away. Dont go cutting big chunks out of the back of the head looks crap in photo and doesn’t bleed them out properly. Blood is held in the heart and guts not the top of the head

I’ve seen one of the better known fishos, Gawaine maybe, do it that way with the knife up into the heart. A lot of blood came out so I guess it works but I haven’t caught a gummy since I saw that.

Only reason I’d cut the back of the head is to sever the spinal cord, it stops them thrashing much quicker than brain spiking them alone which is handy in the kayak where they can cause a ruckus. Next one I catch I plan on trying to sever the spine with a cut from under the jaw/gills to try and hit the heart at the same time.

4liters wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:17 pm

Only reason I’d cut the back of the head is to sever the spinal cord, it stops them thrashing much quicker than brain spiking them alone which is handy in the kayak where they can cause a ruckus.

you must be aiming wrong Ian they slow down pretty quick if you hit the spot from what I've found