From a newbie: patio 1. Yes, well actually a slushy fish box. Then on straight ice after cooling or

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Slushbuckets/bleed buckets/caring for tuna
I am interested in what other dogs have come up with for a bleed/ slush bucket system for tuna. I am going to build a removable platform in my motorwell for bleed/slush buckets. I have space approx 23 wide and 29 long in front of my motor. I could fudge the length up to 36" if I want to do some fancy carpentry. We have been using a 20 gallon for the slush/bleed bucket. After a few fish it becomes as much blood and ice as water and ice. And it is in the way when playing fish. I have room for a second bucket once I put a platform in the motor well. 1. How many use a second bucket for bleeding and than put the bled fish into another patio bucket with slush for cooling? 2. Does it make any difference? 3. As far as bleed buckets, do you let them drain continously leaving a blood trail behind the boat, or do you dump the bleed bucket on occasion? My thought is attracting sharks could be a negative when I am trying to attract tuna. Is it even a problem? 4. Bleeding tuna. We have been using heavy scissors and cutting the gills. On the Hawgquest program they made a cut directly behind one of the pec fins. Anyone have opinions as to which is a more effective way to bleed them? With a cut behind the pec fins should you cut both sides or is one side adequate? 5. Does having water in the bleed bucket make a difference in how much blood comes out of the fish? Thanks in advance!
From a newbie: patio 1. Yes, well actually a slushy fish box. Then on straight ice after cooling or lack of space. 2. Yes, the blood melts the ice. It seems most of the blood gets on the boat before the fish gets in the bleed bucket. 3. No I don't let them drain. They get dumped when fishing is slow and there doesn't seem to be a chance patio of catching a fish at that moment. Sharks kill a bite faster than a bananna. 4. No opinion, gilling does a better job of cooling, it seems easier to teach somebody where to stick a knife than to show them how to gill. 5. Theororetically 1 foot of water = .477 # of pressure or something close to that. I don't think water in the bucket has anything to do with how much blood comes out of the fish. Water in the bucket before blood does make it easier to clean. Hopefully you can come up with your own opinion by the 1st of July.  
What I've gone to is a larger trash can and start with two blocks of ice in the bottom with rock salt added. It creates a slush bucket that is ice cold for bleeding. At the end of the day, it gets dumped. Yes, sharks are a pain in the you know what when they come around. As of the height of the water, I start at the top of the gill plate and by the end of the day it's about half full. Transfer fish from there to straight ice, and yes, it does make a difference in taste. The method I used in the show was shown to me by an old salt here on the board by cutting the lateral line behind the pec.fin. In comparison, cut two tuna differently and see how it turns out by one this method patio compared patio to the gills. There is a pretty big difference patio in the amount of blood left in that line. When cleaning the fish, you cut right at that line also, so it doesn't hinder anything from that standpoint. tc  
I don't have alot of cockpit on my boat and we do fine with a garbage patio can. Make sure you tie the lid to the can so it does not blow away. The can is a good place to store buckets, handlines, dabo sets and teasers when not in use before or after fishing. Recipe for tomato juice is 1/3 box of rock salt, 10 gallons of salt water and two blocks of ice. Add bloody fish. If you hit a triple or better on the first rodeo, add a bag of loose ice too. This gets it cold fast. Use the lid or this may happen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdg6EsdCoBc Last summer we started keeping the guts and gills on board when trolling slow or live baiting. When you run and gun pitch that stuff over then. I only drain the can when it gets more than 2/3 full. Just add more blocks as they melt every time you get slammed. It is very important to remove as much blood as possible. Don't kill the fish before you bleed it. I use the lat line cut, just below the lat line 1 inch behind the pec fin. A box knife with 1/2 inch of blade showing is the right tool for this. After 15 minutes in the can the fish is gutted patio and gilled for rapid cooling. When the can is full, 7 or 8 fish I load them into the under deck fish box, packed in ice. Cold, well bled fish = quality. With anything else your mileage will vary considerably. patio Observe filet quality at the cleaning patio station as this is very instructive. When you cut your fish it should make your hands hurt from the cold. __________________ Normally, we do not so much look at