Cleaning Pike

[City_Slicker]

Does anyone know of a good link on cleaning Northern Pike. I fish a lake with a large amount of smaller Northern in it and I have heard northern are really good just have to know how to cut the Y bones out. Thanks guys.

[river-rat4]

City-

I have the address on the back of a video I picked up 4-5 years ago. Right in Eden Prairie(Bren road area). Has, how to fillet Bass, Walleye, Panfish, & even fillet Pike without the troublesome "Y" bones. List your email in this thread an I'll shoot the address to you. The price back then was around 12 Bucks. RR4

[Bob_D]

Here is something I made up. Please forgive my drawings. Someday I'll re-do it.

Pike Fillet

[ice_shack]

Type in fillet northern pike in a Google search and you will find alot of different howto sites. Pick one that makes the most sence to you.

[Dan Thiem]

Good job Bob, I think anybody could remove the "Y" bones out of pike without any trouble. Just by using your diagrams.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Not that I would ever admit it.. but I was watching "Wisconsin Water and Woods" the other day and they had a how to that was totally different than any y-bone removal I had evver seen.. I kinda wish I had been taping it.. There were 3 cuts that the person did.. and you ended up with 3 fillets with no bones, fom 1 fish. The first cut was all back meant.. then you had 2 side cuts that were more of a side/tail cut...

[Gissert]

Dietz -

That's the way I have been cleaning pike for years. I also saw it demonstrated on an outdoors show, and liked the method so much that I started using it right away.

I end up with five pieces: The back strap, the two flank pieces near the tail, and the two side pieces on the forward part of the fish.

The Y-Bones stay on the carcass.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Gissert- do you think you could to a dig pictoral on how to do it. or even draw pictures for the FM family?

[tie flyer]

I use the same method as Bob_D. You will see a horizontal line in the fillet. The Y is upside-down so the forked part of the Y goes to just below that horizontal line. That's the most important part: remember that the Y is upside-down.

Begin your cut at the line and angle into the fillet along the bones, while cutting up toward the dorsal area. Make the second cut just below that horizontal line and cut down past the other fork of the Y, then angle back up. Use your fingers to feel the knife on the other side of the bones as you cut toward the stem of the Y.

[CFRay]

Tony Dean's (outdoor guy from SD) HSOforum has a video of about 8 minutes on cleaning pike. Look at the recipe page at the bottom of the list. Northern's can be tasty without those bones.

[Gissert]

Dietz -

Next time I get an eater pike, I'll take some digital pictures. If I get a little time here around lunch, I'll post a few paragraphs on how I do it.

[Gissert]

Ok, here is how I clean pike. I hope I can make it clear enough until I can get some photos taken.

Lay the pike on its belly, as it would appear in the water. Take your knife, and cut straight down behind the head until you hit the spine. Cut back toward the dorsal fin, keeping your kife running along the top of the spine. Let the knife exit the fish right at the leading edge of the dorsal fin. The piece you now hold in your hand is a nice boneless backstrap.

Lay the fish on its side, and fillet out the two sides from the dorsal fin back to the tail. These two flank pieces should also be completely boneless.

There will now be two remaining fillets on the fish that run from behind the gills to the entry cuts that you made for the flanks.

Lay the fish back on its belly again, just like it was for the first cut. On either side of the spine, you will see the y-bone tops running paralell to the spine. Fillet the two pieces off the fish by running your knife on the outside of the y-bone line. Once you have these last two pieces off, feel for bones in the meat. With a little practice, these will be boneless too.

[CFD200]

Here is a diagram of the previous process on page 7 of 8. It works well. http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/region2/pdfpubs/02pike.pdf

[Gissert]

Excellent! Thanks for posting that.