Bluegill electric drum scaler

[Reggie]

Has anyone made an electric drum scaler? Any pictures that you would be willing to share? I found one on Utube, but there wasn't much info given except that it spun 60 times per minute.

[Leo Nguyen]

Suggestion though, those drum scaler tends to overly tenderize the meat. I rather do fillet method to preserve the firmness of the meat, after bleeding and chilling them before filleting.

[John Grider]

At the risk of displaying my considerable ignorance, How does one bleed a bluegill?

[Leo Nguyen]

There's no such thing is ignorance. Just misinformed, or lack of knowledge. If you want instant bleed out, go for the heart. One quick perpendicular cut (across the breast) just before the pectoral fins. You'll find that heart as the blood pours out (PG-13 version). Once the bleed out completely, which is within 15 minutes or so, cool the fish off in icy water to firm up the meat, retaining that firmness.

[Leo Nguyen]

John, you got me thinking for the past few days, and now, I have to pull out fishing priest that I retired so long ago, after seeing the scaling drum and passive thinking about meat bruising, which dawned on me about the fishes thrashing around in a 5-gal bucket filled with aerated water before I could transfer them into the icy cooler.

Resuggestion:

1. Get yourself a club/priest, either homemade from hard wood (varnish many times over and smooth out to prevent any pore from absorbing the fishy scent), or a stainless steel rod with a bulky head to knock some senselessness into the fish.

2. After catching the fish, a quick blunt force to the noggin, just above the eye, will send the fish into a subdued state. I stopped doing this because my family said I was too mean to hurt the fishes after catching them. This is why I string them for the past 12 years.

3. Insert the knife through the gill, and cut the gillplates on either side. While the fish is unconscious, the heart is still pumping. Gillplates cutting will allow the heart to pump the large volume of blood out out of the body, before the heart doesn't have enough blood left to pump out. This will take about 2 minutes. This minimize the gamey taste of any fish, aside from the mud veins. The reason why I stop this practice because my family said it's too cruel to see a bleeding fish, and the blood create too much staining at the capture site, which other anglers were not too thrill about.

However, after years of enjoying my method of direct heart bleeding method which takes a bit longer, I'm going back to the noggin-gillplates cutting method for more subdued killing method, and immediately icing them. Now, looking for that homemade priest..good grief. I may have to invest in a few miniature bats instead.

[John Grider]

Leo, Post a picture of a priest of your liking. I do wood turning and would love to make one for each of us.

John

[Leo Nguyen]

John, that's very generous of you. I had an old one looks something like this, that was about 9" long, and about 1.5" in diameter. My friend, a tinkerer and a hobbyist, turned omy broken oak bed frame into quite a few different priest's length. I chose the 9" because it was convenient and compact to carry around with me. I have a few 6" to 10" stainless steel extensions for the ratchet socket wrench that I'm thinking of turning one of them into a blunt instrument of la-la land.

If you're a tinkerer, and a woodsmith, it would be great to buy a few from you if you make them. Your design style of course. Nothing like a personality being imbued into the piece of art.

[John Grider]

Thanks, It is on the to do list.

 

[JBplusThuy]

Ah, I know those as shark bats, but I guess this is the mini-version :) I learned the term not from a fisherman, but from a friend of mine who was a Sheriff's reservist when we were young...

[Stan Jones]

Here is mine that is 20+ years old. Started rusting so it looks bad but works like a charm. Will scale about 40 at a time in 7 minutes. Not a scale left on them & does not damage skin or meat. (I guess it would if you left them too long). I would like to know how many thousands this thing has scaled over the years. I believe it is 22 RPMs per minute. Anything faster or slower does not scale properly. Had a buddy build one like this & he had to adjust his RPMs to match this one to get it to scale correctly. Sprays water through the center of the drum while turning which washes most of the scales out the holes. Each hole was individually punched with hammer & punch. The jagged edges inside scale the fish as they pass by it. Motor has a gear reduction box attached to it.

[Stan Jones]

More scaler photos.

[Reggie]

Thanks for the pictures. I knew there had to be some out there. What is the length and diameter of the drum?

Which state is this scaler located?

Reggie

[Stan Jones]

Circumference is 50 inches. Length is 24 inches. Located in central GA.