By R. Karl
..."I really love
northern pike... I just hate all the
bones I always have to pick out of the meat." I never knew how simple
it is to remove those nasty y-bones. On my very first trip to
Lake Kabetogama in northern
Minnesota it took four days to catch our first fish: a small northern
pike. With a bit of coaching from the resort owner, I cleaned it for
dinner… But since I didn’t yet know how to remove the y-bones, dinner
was not fun; trying to pick the y-bones out of a cooked northern pike is
simply a royal pain. Every bite seems to have a bone in it, just
waiting to choke you.
Years later, a dock boy showed me
how easily the task could be accomplished. Once learned, the extra bit
of filleting time will make eating this fish even more fun than catching
it! As always, a sharp knife is extremely important; a
Henckels knife is at the top of the list when it comes to filleting
fish. There are less expensive knives to be had; they just don’t hold
an edge the way a Henckels blade does.
Any size northern will do. The
first step is to make an incision – starting just behind the head –
along the belly of the fish...
Some guys like to go around these
fins or cut a V-shaped notch to remove them first... I believe that it
is just personal preference and I prefer to remove them later. The
first cut is illustrated in Figure 1.
If you would like the entire step-by-step instructions
on Removing Y-Bones, it can be purchased and downloaded for $2.99!
Buy Now
Also available, step-by-step instructions on filleting
all four of the most popular freshwater gamefish (northern pike,
walleye, smallmouth bass and
bluegill) bundled as one
downloadable .zip file for only $5.99! Buy Now
Comments
from readers who have used these instructions:
"That is the best step by step 'How to' for a
Pike I have seen..."(P.B.)
"After watching my buddy show me how to remove
y-bones from a northern and ending up with 'sushi' I figured there's got to be a
better method. Thank you. The fish actually look like fillets
now..." (P.H.)
"The only better instruction you could get
is if you had another person next to you showing you step by step..." (T.B.)
"I've always loved Northern Pike meat. Now
I can enjoy it with no bones. Thank You!" (T.P.)
"I had read several articles on the subject and
was some what disappointed until I read yours. I found it to be
informative and the pictures were very helpful..." (M.B.)
On the Lake featured
in Anchorage Daily News:
"No small fry when it
comes to pike"
Click here to read the article.
