Northwest Fishing Reports

Apologies if this is posted on the wrong thread.

Caught a nice six pound Coho hen this morning on the Puyallup. When I went to clean it I stupidly made the first cut behind the head and pectoral fin as if to fillet it... before I gutted it. I immediately realized what I did and proceeded to gut it. Up closer to the vital organs I noticed a dark yellow, almost brown, fluid coming out of the fish. Was this bile from its gallbladder? I've only seen greenish fish bile before. It actually stained my fingertips yellow, like iodine does but not as bad. It was hard to wipe the color off my cutting board and seemed to stain the fish's skin a little bit. I was able to cut off any flesh that came into contact with it by quickly filleting the meat off the ribs.

Sorry I didn't think to take a picture, but this perplexed me. Did I pierce the gallbladder with that erroneous first cut or could it be something else?

Thanks for any input!

Sounds like it. I've done it a few times. Although I try to avoid it, it doesn't seem to taint the flavor as the volume is pretty small. Rinse or dry off any you see.
However, if you cure any roe, don't let it come into contact with that.

Yes, gallbladder. Bile. you want to rinse it off quickly.

Thanks for your replies! I did manage to rinse it off and keep it off of the filets. Just never seen fluid like that before in salmon so it weirded me out.