Fish have a heart, gills (lungs), a digestive tract, poopchute, etc., do you really want to look at or taste all that while your eating dinner? Plus there usually is a line of blood that congeals along the spine that needs flushed out. I have fished for a lot of different fish in several different environs. Now I only fish for Kokanee, at a lake a few miles from the house. I clean them immediately and put them on ice, they taste the best that way. Some people put them om a stringer and they die slowly. I don't. I catch 'em, clean 'em, ice 'em, cook 'em and eat 'em.
