My dad usually bleeds out walleye caught from rivers. Not sure of the advantage, but I've seen him do it many times. Can't say I'm keen on trout out this way, we had a rainbow stocked pond on our place when I was a kid, they never tasted too screaming hell to me. Pike caught through the ice I really enjoy, had some a couple weeks back, and the one thing that I noticed was that day I whacked 'em right after landing and filleted them the skin comes off the fillets much easier. Usually I'd just land, bonk, and set aside. I found them easier to handle when frozen a bit. Same in summer, (for the rare times someone else wants one..) I find the skin harder to remove if they've sat a bit. Never eaten a fresh caught brookie, looks pretty tasty Taco..