"Y" Bones

[sdpikehntr]

How many have you cleaned by taking the Y bone out? It sure is harder the smaller they are, but I have had good luck with it. But you have to be comfortable with the sensitivity of you knife. I use a fillet knife with a thin and very flexable blade, and can feel the bones quite well.

[CalamityJohn]

My minimum size is 21". Anything under that I feel isn't worth the hassle for the ammount of meat you get. Every so often I resort to keeping a small one that has swallowed the hook. Yes, it is more difficult to clean the smaller ones, but it can be done fairly easily once you get some practice. I use a method similar to the one Merkman posted.

[Jackpine Rob]

How many have you cleaned by taking the Y bone out? It sure is harder the smaller they are, but I have had good luck with it. But you have to be comfortable with the sensitivity of you knife. I use a fillet knife with a thin and very flexable blade, and can feel the bones quite well.

Quite a few actually. I spent 8 years guiding up in the BWCA, cooking shore lunch for the guests every day, and we often tossed a little slimer or two into the mix. Folks would be amazed that the "bony" northern wasn't bony after all. The larger ones (over 3 lbs or so) I would slice out the y-bones completely.

If you decide to keep a smaller slimer, try the scoring method. Its fast, easy and effective.

At the resort, typically there were 3 of us cleaning fish every night. Out of curiosity one year, we kept a log of how many fish we cleaned. We hit the 10,000 mark by July 4, and abandoned the log. So I guess you could say I'm pretty comfortable with a knife.

[DonBo]

bump

[MichaelSwan]

Do a search for cleaning northern remove bones on youtube dot com. Excellent movies show you exactly how to removed them.

[MichaelSwan]

Also, I pickled northerns this year for the first time, turned out awesome and it also softens the bones so you don't need to bother removing them:)

[popriveter]

My dad had to show me y-bone removal about 5 times before I could remember how to do it but I am sure glad the lesson finally stuck. It is really simple if you aren't totally forgetful.

I eat a lot of panfish in the winter, but all summer long, I eat mostly pike. I think they are as good to eat as anything in mn lakes.

I am convinced that the only reason so many people believe walleyes make better table fare is the fact that walleyes are so simple to fillet. Take 5 more minutes to learn how to remove y-bones and you can begin using enjoyable tactics to catch fish that actually fight back!

[Spike76]

Do muskies have "y" bones, or doesn't anyone eat them?

[BobT]

This is the method I have been using for about a year... changed my life! Very easy to do, no guts, all glory! Completely bone free and delicious.

I do this method with my electric as well, takes a little time, but still easy to do.

I have to disagree with leaving that section of meat where he did. He claimed it was loaded with bones but I've never found that to be true. The Y bones pretty much ended about where he stopped cutting and the section from there to the tail is pretty much all bone free.

I also think that way seems slow and tedious but maybe with some practice one could improve on that. It doesn't seem to leave the fillets looking very nice either in my opinion. Somewhat butchered in appearance. Again, maybe this gets better with experience.

[BobT]

My minimum size is 21". Anything under that I feel isn't worth the hassle for the ammount of meat you get. Every so often I resort to keeping a small one that has swallowed the hook. Yes, it is more difficult to clean the smaller ones, but it can be done fairly easily once you get some practice. I use a method similar to the one Merkman posted.

I agree with this. I won't bother keeping a northern under about 24" nor will I keep them over about 28" or maybe 30". 26"-28" are my favorite size for the fry pan.

[Nick Kuhn]

Honestly back when my dad used to keep them he'd just leave the y bones right in the meat. Cook the fish, then with a fork you can make one cut to expose the bones. They slide right out of the cooked meat.

[BobT]

I used to do it the same way but after learning how to debone them, I won't go back.

[reinhard1]

i guess we all have our way to fillet a pike. in my opinion there was some meat wasted in this procedure. anyway, how about that head. i remove the eyes, wash the head as well as i can and simmer the head in little bit of old bay seasoning a bay leaf and when done take off the meat and dunk in butter or use the meat for fish patties. good luck.