View Full Version : Northern Pike...
Could someone please explain how to fillet northerns without the y-bones in the fillet?
thanx
FlyBoy
02-19-2001, 07:27 PM
Just keep the smaller ones an pickle them :)
-John
Phil T.
02-19-2001, 08:32 PM
Excellent instructions can be found at http://www.mwd.com/burnett/pike2.html
Gary Roach has a good video, but he cheats and fillets a pike that looks like a 20 pounder, and they are a lot easier to clean. The y-bones are so big, a blind man could find them.
IaCraig
02-20-2001, 07:17 AM
I agree that Phil's link is very good, but I will add a couple minor things that work for me.
1. I found it is easiest if I place the Fillets flat in the refrigerator for an hour or two before I begin. It becomes stiffer and the bones are easier to feel as it cools.(don't let it dry out overnight)
2. My favorite knife for this is a flexible paring knife that isn't so sharp it cuts through the bones.
3. If the fish is under 4 or 5 lbs, save yourself a headache and cut clear through the fillet when you go under the 'Y' bones. if it is 5+ lbs there is enough meat under the 'Y' bones to keep each fillet in 1 piece.
We have been doing this for years, and at the table I enjoy a northern fillet just as much as walleye.
IaCraig
Steve(CO)
02-20-2001, 08:01 AM
I received an excellent little manual on how to clean all sorts of fish (including pike, catfish, etc.) from In-Fisherman as part of my subscription. I don't know if these are for sale or what, but you might try calling them. Pike are quite tasty and worth the effort of deboning. Can't say I like them as well as walleye, however.
WOW....what a challenge. Could anyone explain how to do this, using only printed words? I'm going to have a beer and think about this one..... one beer might not be enough. lol