I find it easier to filet the fish after icing them because the flesh is firmer as well.
Just thought I'd pass on something I learned on here a couple of years back, most of you folks probably know this but if your new to cleaning fish you may find this helpful. This actually works best when filleting your fish, if you will ice down your live fish for about an hour before you fillet them you will have very little if any blood to deal with. I just finished cleaning/filleting a dozen last night and ended up with less than a teaspoon of blood on my cutting board. When the fish are covered in ice there survival mode kicks in which redirects all of the blood out of non-essential body parts like the meat into there organs to try and survive. If you clean your fish at the lake or on a outside cleaning table with a water hose hose the blood doesn't matter as much but I usually clean my fish at the house in the wife's kitchen sink so this little trick can literally be a life saver!
need2befishin, ad1974 LIKED above post
I find it easier to filet the fish after icing them because the flesh is firmer as well.
End result will taste far better as well. I take a 70qt cooler slam full of ice and add about a gallon of water from lake /river/ocean wherever I am fishing to make a super cold slurry to do exactly that, if I can not keep alive till putting the knife on em. I clean fish outside though, so blood is no problem. I just like my fish kept in as good a condition as possible.
I like to put them on ice before I clean them too,seems easier that way.