The lowly pike

[lodge lounger]

It always puzzles me that pike don't seem to hold a place of much esteem among fishermen. Unless of course they shell out big bucks to do a Canadian fly-in for 20 pound plus fish. But in my neck of the woods, guys don't seem to fish 'em much, and I don't see much discussion about 'em on the boards I frequent. In the past few weeks, I've exchanged fishing reports with boats I've passed while trolling on Gull, in SW MI. Invariably, the guys pitching plugs for bass, or the downrigger guys targeting trout, shake their heads in disgust and mutter stuff like "Nothin' but pike.", or "Can't keep the damn pike off the line." I see more posts about relatively inedible (at least to me) species like carp and sheephead than pike.

Well I'm here to tell ya that I really get off on pike. Spirited fighters on light tackle, with the chance of a trophy lurking around every weedbed. Willing to hit all manner of hardware, at all times of the day. Absolutely top drawer on the table if you know how to fillet 'em, which isn't all that difficult. (By the way, forget about all those "how to" articles that tell you to cut down behind the head, follow the spine to the dorsal, take the chunk out of the back, etc. Fillet 'em just like you would any other fish, and learn how to cut out the y-bones. If you fly-in to a Canadian pike camp, they'll show you how.)

Last night, my girlfriend Sharon and I went out for a relaxing after-work troll on Gull. In two and a half hours, we had 14 pike on and boated 12, including a 34 incher pushing 10 pounds. Put two 25's on the stringer and shortly thereafter laid crispy golden fillets alongside herbed tarter sauce, fried taters and caesar salad. How can you beat that?

So anyways, is it my imagination or are northerns one of the great under-valued species of our time?

[gmalicoat]

Well said. Stop posting these stories though or you'll let everyone in on the secret. Pretty soon we will be battling for space like river steelheaders.

[dtg]

I absolutley love pike. Although I just can't seem to catch any around where I live. i know they are there, it's just that the tactics that fill a boat with them in Ontario, have not produced for me here.

Heck, we only keep 28" or bigger up in Ontario, makes picking out the bones easier. we've always just filleted them the same as all the other species and dealt with the bones. I rank the "lowley" Pike right up there with Walleye as far as taste is concerned, the only difference in my eyes is having to deal with all those darn Y bones. Still makes it worth it though.

[motcityman]

along with Walleye..there is nothing better to eat...and you made my mouth water just thinking about it..stop it..it's raining and I am still at work..:lol: :lol: ..but if I get a PIKE..it's table food for me..the kids love it also..dont let everyone know just how good it is!!!! there won't be any for US!!! great story and with the gal..sounds like she is a keeper;) fishing and all...:dizzy:

[GMONEY]

Nothing Wrong With Pike, Hell I'll Fish For Sheephead If Their Biting.

[RichP]

:corkysm55 yummy

3 qts. water
1 med. onion
Salt
1/2 c. lemon juice
3 stalks celery
3 lbs. Northern pike, cut in 2 inch pieces
1/2 lb. butter
Garlic salt
Paprika

Place water, onion, salt, lemon juice and celery into a 4 quart pan and bring to a boil. Add pike and reboil 3 minutes longer.

Drain and place fish on cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt and paprika and broil 2 minutes. Serve with melted butter.

[RJB]

:) just love to fish for them .great to eat

[redneckman]

I always pike/bass fish. I usually throw bass crankbaits on a 7' M action spinning rod with 8lb line targeting pike. Last year a buddy and I caught a 33inch, 31inch, 29inch, 27inch, two 25inchers, and 12 other smaller pike all on bass gear in a few hrs. Just yesterday i was using the new Chatterbait and I watched a larger pike case it to the boat and smoked it. It ended up being a 29incher.
For fathers day we had a family fish fry...all pike... boy can my grandma cook. Pike are always fun to catch. Even the small pike hit like trains sometimes.

Redneckman

[shametamer]

gee Rich..we always done them with taters and onions in tin foil right in the campfire;)

[steelers fan]

pike are my favorite fish to target with walleye not far behind, they are a blast to catch and are found in about every lake. they are good on the table and not all that hard to catch..

[ESOX]

I love fishing for pike, as a kid they were the first fish other than panfish I learned to target. I just don't catch nearly as many pike as I used to, since the introduction of zebra mussels my home lake has more muskie than pike in it. Such problems.:evilsmile

[RichP]

gee Rich..we always done them with taters and onions in tin foil right in the campfire;)

that would work too :) I'm very hungry all of a sudden...

[shametamer]

that would work too :) I'm very hungry all of a sudden...
ah yes, but its the freezer tonite or the local fish market..a little too nasty to venture out for FRESH CAUGHT!

[Brown duck]

I have a difficult time tasting the difference between pike and 'eyes. Now, about that slime...

[icefishermanmark]

I love pike, but there are two problems with them. 1, they destroy your lures. 2. Even with spreaders it's tough to get the hooks out. There's not better fighting fish, and they can get pretty big. I like catching them. It's just disappointing when you think you have a lunker bass on and it's a 24" pike. I'm not one for the taste but I don't eat most of my fish anyways.

[fire-tiger]

Someone tell me if I am wrong but I believe that Northern Pike are the most widely distributed freshwater fish in the world, living in the lakes and rivers of the entire northern third of the northern hemisphere.

At one time they may have been the most consumed freshwater fish also.

They have always been hands down the best tasting (sweet meat) fish for me whether deep fried, baked or broiled. Those who complain about the bones just do not know how to clean them.

They are especially tasty out of winter water, yet I like the fight on a good rod other times of the year. It is probably an overall advantage to them that they are at the top of the food chain. They do accumulate all the poisons, but that keeps me from eating too many of them.

[CubanFisherman]

I love fishing for them. I can always tell that I have a pike on by that savage strike. There's nothing else like it.

And they smell like flowers, too.:evil:

[Dedicated Sportsman]

Love to fish pike all year round! And i really like cleaning 1 25" pike compared to a mess of bluegills for the same amount of meat. If you dont know how to clean them look in MY PICS and there is a step by step thingy that will help you clean pike with no bones at all!

Tim

[lostinthebush21]

i would love to catch a nice pike, don't eat many but i like to fish for them, but the biggest one i ever cought was 24" seems the only thing i can catch them on is spinners and green mister twisters, was wondering what are some good baits and tactics for some bigger fish, i am fishing walled lake, (and inland lake) thanks tim

[redneckman]

Tim try using large rapalas or other minnow baits. Ratt-L-Traps work well for pike too. You could try using live suckers as well. I catch pike on anything and everything so just mess around with all your lures.

Redneckman

[rscm5]

30-32" best to clean and eat. Great smoked also. Problem is our lake has a ton of hammer handles and finding the bigger fish is a job but one I would rather work than where I have to go in a an hour our so.
That's a 35" through the January ice. Me an the boy!

[lodge lounger]

Being pretty lazy when it comes to fishing, I favor trolling. Depending on where the fish are hanging out, a variety of cranks will put your offer where you want it to be. Where good weedbeds exist along drops leading to deep water has been my most consistent producer. In Gull this time of year, I target 18-22 fow, and watch the sonar to stay in the right water. My best lures have been reef runners and the smaller little rippers. Conventional wisdom suggests big lures for big fish. That hasn't been my experience. The little rippers take as many hits as the big reef runners, and seem to produce larger fish, including the 34" fish I mentioned in my first post.

Gull could afford to have more pike fishing, and a reduced pike population. I'm pretty sure that would have a positive impact on the trout planting, which hasn't been terribly successful in recent years. However, I'd like to see slot limits in force. If we thinned out some of those 18-24" fish, and limited the number of 24 and above fish that could be kept, as they do in many Canadian lakes, I believe we'd have a more balanced population, with more of the larger pike in the mix.

[SgtSabre]

I've tried using the "5-fillet" method, in which you make a cut down behind the head and then take out the top meat over the spine. It didn't work so well for me. Most of the fish was bone-free, but the top chunk was simply full of tiny bones.

Fillet 'em just like you would any other fish, and learn how to cut out the y-bones. If you fly-in to a Canadian pike camp, they'll show you how

Since I prolly won't be doing that very soon, can you let me in on the secret?

[waterfoul]

Thanks to Alleyes, I got the pike bite this spring. Fun fun fun!!!

[Dedge]

I love fishing for pike, as a kid they were the first fish other than panfish I learned to target. I just don't catch nearly as many pike as I used to, since the introduction of zebra mussels my home lake has more muskie than pike in it. Such problems.:evilsmile

You poor thing.

I still have never caught a muskie. And I too love the pike. LOVE EM!

Dan

[ghostryder]

love to pike fish, good fight and hardhitters, most of mine of come on spinner baits, or is fun to troll large crank baits

[lodge lounger]

A few guys on this thread have inquired about the secret to removing y bones. Unfortunately, I haven't made it a practice to snap photos of cleaning fish, but in the spirit of helping out my fellow sportsmen, and trying my best not to totally confuse things, I'll try to put my approach into words.

First, cut off the fillet, and remove the skin and rib bones just as you would a walleye. Just above where the top of the ribs were, you will notice a line of flesh that runs laterally, 1/8-1/4" wide, that protrudes out from the fillet maybe 1/16 of an inch. This is where the "y" portion of the y bones sits, and on most fish, you'll be able to see the tips of the y bones, or feel them, sticking out of this line of flesh. The line of bones will be easier to see on the front of the fillet than back towards the tail, and will extend roughly 80% of the way back towards the tail of the fish. The tail of each y bone will angle into the flesh and up towards the top of the back.

With the tip of a sharp, thin blade, starting from the head end of the fillet, and the top of the strip of flesh holding the "y" portin of the y bones, cut gently straight down into the flesh until you feel bone. Make this shallow cut the length of the fillet, again, roughly 80% of the way back towards the tail. You want this cut to be just outside the upper fork (nearest the top of the back) of the y. Next, with a series of gentle cuts which gradually rotate towards the top of the back, follow the curve of the y bone, all the while feeling the bones with the blade of your knife. You will cut all the way through the fillet, leaving a narrow strip of boneless flesh than runs along the top of the back.

Now it's time to attack the bottom fork of the y. Again starting from the head end, make a cut just below the y-bone strip of flesh, that is, just below the bottom fork of the y. Start this cut with your knife blade almost parallel to the cutting board, and cut towards the top of the back, again making a series of gentle cuts while feeling for the bones with your knife blade. Once you've again cut through the fillet, viola! You lift out the thin strip of flesh holding the y bones, leaving the fillet, which will be an elongated v shape. On a skinny 24 incher, the section of flesh along the top of the back will be pretty puny, that's why I rarely keep any just-legal fish.

If I plan to fry or saute' the fillet, I cut it into five pieces, leaving the tail and two pieces each from the back and belly. If I'm going to broil or grill, I leave the fillet in tact, and just press the back and belly sections together, making it look like a single piece of meat.

The key to removing the y bones is making short, gentle cuts, so you can feel the bones and follow them with your knife. Once you try it a few times, it becomes second nature, and takes only a minute or so per fillet.

[SgtSabre]

So, would I be right to say that you simply kind of fillet the meat off of the y-bones after you have each main fillet off?

[lodge lounger]

It seems more to me like cutting the strip of y bones out of the fillet, but that's probably just semantics. Once you learn how the bones lay in the meat, and which direction they run, it becomes much more intuitive than the overly wordy and confusing instructions I outlined above.