Red meat walleye

[mike rousseau]

I keep getting a red layer of meat on my walleye in the winter... More so on the larger walleye

 

Does anyone know why this is happening? And what to do about it?

[irishfield]

Real sharp knife and you cut it off the fillet. Same as the similar meat on a whitefish. Lloyds nice WIDE machette works nice for this.

[mike rousseau]

But why is it only in the winter??? I'm looking to prevent it... Not throw meat in tge trash can... There must be a way...

[trapshooter]

And what to do about it?

 

 

Ah, stop keeping large walleye?!?!

[irishfield]

Dogs grow a heavy coat in the winter (if you don't baby them in a doggy blanket and keep them inside). Guess fish do the same thing... That tough red meat tastes like crap.. all you can do is trim it off.

[irishfield]

LOL Ben.. it's not just the big ones.. we see it on the keepers on Temagami when they get close to the 18" mark.

[canadadude]

May be a difference in winter diet, in the winter fish will feed heavily on scuds, crustations and such.In the winter there metabolism slows and they don't readily chase schools of bait, thats not to say they won't grab a minnow when the oportunity presents itself.

[Fish Farmer]

Try bleeding them out as soon as they come out of the hole.

Just a thought.

I know it works other times.

[Spiel]

The "red meat" is the lateral line and is a sensory organ.

Best removed and discarded IMHO.

 

 

[irishfield]

Lateral line yes Spiel.. they also get a full layer of red heavy "flesh" between skin and the good fillet. Pretty sure this is what he's refering to. We had a few last year that Lloyd had to trim about 1/4" off the fillet thickness

[Spiel]

Lateral line yes Spiel.. they also get a full layer of red heavy "flesh" between skin and the good fillet. Pretty sure this is what he's refering to. We had a few last year that Lloyd had to trim about 1/4" off the fillet thickness

 

What I was trying to say is, the dark meat along the lateral line (a sensory organ) fat, bloodline (?), tastes like crap and perhaps is more prominent in the winter (?), remove and discard, especially oilier fish like trout, salmon and whitefish.....

[chessy]

the red meat if from the diet they are eating probaly large numbers of shad... that red meat should be removed before cooking or freezing . it makes the meat taste terrible. i see more of it in the striper bass in the states . if you dont remove it the meat taste differnt

[mpt]

The red meat is just blood. Fish have open circulatory systems. The heart pumps blood from head to the tail and the blood makes it's way to the skin and heads back to the heart. That's why bleeding out the fish makes the flesh whiter.

[mike rousseau]

I'm gunna try bleeding them out this weekend... You just cut there gills for that right?

[Roy]

Would you suggest the red wine then?

[mike rousseau]

Indeed! I would go with something not so dry... For the comfort of the fish of course... Lol

[hammercarp]

The meat is red because there is a richer blood supply to those muscles next to the skin along the flanks. . There are more blood vessels there because these muscles are in constant use by the fish. They are the cruising muscles if you wish. When a fish accelerates to escape or catch prey then the large muscles come into play. Bleeding should help. But removal is sure.

[kevin booth]

just bleed them out right away and the meat will be white and taste alot better.