PICKERAL and PIKE

[new on the ice]

I have not caught one yet but hope to real soon.
 Does anyone eat these pickeral? If so, Whats then best way?
Are they real boney like a pike? I have tried a few times to eat pike. I am not the best with a knife,but i found they are hard to felet.

Any takers on this matter?

[ice-phanatic]

Pickerel are in the Pike family so they are very close. They are extremely bony fish. One season I saved all my large pickerel and filleted them as normal and removed the skin. They were still full of bones but I then put the fillets in a grinder/food processor and ground it up running it through a few times over. This made a fine consistency and ground up the bones. Then I made fish patties out of the meat and it turned out great. Pickerel are found in basically every lake in PA and love minnows so good luck.

[flagup#1]

Go on You Tube and do a search on "filleting pike with no bones".  It is easy once you see how to do it and you end up with 5 fillets off each fish that are boneless.  As a rule it works best with pickerel that are over 22 inches.

[Jack Hunter]

Flagup is correct.  the 5 fillet method leaves no bones.  cut the fillets into nuggets, dip them in any commercial or homemade batter and cook them in a turkey fryer for best results.  I would put a pike against most other fish cooked this way.

[RAU]

I like to pickle them. The vinegar dissolves bones completely

[johnny sakko]

check out youtube there are about a million videos on how to filet any kind of fish you can imagine. 

[chez]

Go on You Tube and do a search on "filleting pike with no bones".  It is easy once you see how to do it and you end up with 5 fillets off each fish that are boneless.  As a rule it works best with pickerel that are over 22 inches.

yo flagup. i seen that video and it is easy once you get the hang of it.the meat is sweet    LIKE CRAB  i think. i always pickle some every year too.

[Hellbender]

Try the video "No Bones About it" How to filet any fish boneless.

[jolie]

....Pickerel are found in basically every lake in PA and love minnows so good luck.

not true.   they are not native to the alleghany river watershed  (much of the west part of the state).  I'm not sure but don't think their are in lake erie either.  (I've heard of one small exception in the Erie area).

I TOTALLY would love to catch one.  they sound real scrappy.  On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want to keep it.  I've tried pike and while I can get some boneless fish out of a larger pike, it don't have the knack for it. 

[Rebelfisher]

I like to pickle them. The vinegar dissolves bones completely

Same here....like mentioned, if the pickerel is large enough you can fillet them like a northern

[ExRaided]

In my opinion Pickerel taste much better than pike, tastes sweeter. Also in my experience an 18 inch pickerel will fight harder than a 26 inch pike.

[bearbow]

do not know about pike but we can trout  when you use it  take out back bone the rest are soft makes good cakes

[Ski Hunter]

not true.   they are not native to the alleghany river watershed  (much of the west part of the state).  I'm not sure but don't think their are in lake erie either.  (I've heard of one small exception in the Erie area).

I TOTALLY would love to catch one.  they sound real scrappy.  On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want to keep it.  I've tried pike and while I can get some boneless fish out of a larger pike, it don't have the knack for it.

Anytime I fish out in western PA for pike or musky I usually end up bringing up picks and am amazed at the # of fishermen out there who'd never caught one. Out here in the eastern part of the state they are in damn near every puddle where pike are the rarity, only being in 2 or 3 bodies of water.

[ExRaided]

I'm in Somerset county and just about every lake I've fished has pike in it. Seems more difficult to find lakes without pike. But I do love fishing for them so I don't mind.

[ritqb5]

if you want to catch pike...and i say you should want to....your should tryp yellow creek lake by indiana pa...use tip up and shinners and you will have fun chasing flags all day long

[flagup#1]

Hey ski hunter,
Other than Lily lake is there any other public lakes in NEPA with northerns in it?

[A14]

Where is the closest place to pittsburgh you can catch pickerel?

[Ski Hunter]

Hey ski hunter,
Other than Lily lake is there any other public lakes in NEPA with northerns in it?

theres not a whole lotta options out here in NEPA      I can understand the logic behind not wanting them in the Delaware River watershed but they are already an established species in the Susky so I see no reason they don't stock them in more than just Lily (which I doubt they even are after having a chat with a WCO on the subject)

[Rebelfisher]

I've only ever caught two from Lily...a few other lakes in NEPA have musky, but not many pike. There's a few private lakes here that stock pike and they are a blast to catch.

[flagup#1]

I always felt that it would be a better bang for the buck if the state stocked northerns in some of these warm water lakes As opposed to stocking trout.  I don't mean to completely replace trout but some of the lakes really are not conducive to trout.

[Rebelfisher]

Amen! Do away with the trout BS and concentrate on game fish...trout stocking IMO should stay at the fingerling levels and let them grow and adapt...Obviously only lakes and reservoirs that can sustain them year round would be stocked (as they are now with fingerlings) but you would be catching QUALITY trout.

[Jiffyjerk]

Pennsylvania fish commission disgust me with all these trout they stock already, stock other fish more often, maybe we won't have to drive to New York, Vermont, and Canada so much. The great fishing someday could be in our back yards instead of stocking fish sticks that taste like mush.

[butcher]

I agree with many of the posts on this thread.  Pike are a fantastic gamefish that are not embraced by the PA fish commission.  In general, there are basically no waterways in eastern PA with a fishable population of pike with the possible exception of the Susquehanna River and a handful of private lakes.  Thankfully, pickerel are very common in the eastern part of the state - especially the Pocono region so at least we can rely on that member of the Esox family out here.   

To my knowledge, there are almost no bodies of water in eastern PA that have a naturally reproducing population of pike.  Therefore, if you want to fish for pike, you'll need to locate the places where the commission has stocked them.  The PA fish commission webiste has a great tool for finding historical stockings of every species.  They provide state totals, county totals and totals by specific waterways.  If you are looking for a specific species of fish - like pike or any other species - simply look up the county in the drop-down menu, determine the time period and then sort by specific species.  The site will show you how many fish were stocked in that county, by waterway for the period(s) you requested.  The stocking history goes back as far as 20 years.  You can also do a general search by county and it will show you every species that was stocked in that county by waterway.  It's really a great tool and can be found by using the following link: http://pfbc.state.pa.us/pfbc_webgis/WWCWStockingDetails_historical.aspx

That's the good news...  The bad news is that STATEWIDE, the PA fish commission stocked, on average, about 6,500 pike per year over the last ten years or so.  This is across the entire state, not just any one county.  Compare that to the 18,000 American Eels they stocked in 2008...

I'm not much of a political activist, but if someone has a reasonable means to petition the PA fish commission, I'd sure like to see them stock this species in at least a few eastern lakes.  Maybe if enough of us make the request, perhaps they would consider stocking this species as well as some other less common species in the future.  Would certainly make fishing more fun for everyone...

Butcher

[Jiffyjerk]

I'm with ya Butcher, we love pike fishing and need some around here. We go to Ny, & Vermont for them and it's so much fun. Hey, atleast all the stocked trout would fatten the pike up. One good thing for the $9 trout stamp knowing the pike are getting fed.

[iceman70]

I agree, we need pike stocked in area lakes and would be more than willing to help with any pettioning needed.i also travel to NY to fish because lets face for the most part the fishing around here sucks,when ever you do get a decent lake they drain it for repairs that it don't need and ruin the lake for 10 yrs. the pike would help with the stunned growth panfish,and are a overall improvment to any lake.and for those narrow minded idiots that think pike or musky ruin there bass or panfish populations go to ny on any good pike lake and you will catch more and bigger bass and panfish that on any lake that does not have pike in it.and maybe it would stop the greedy cheeseline idiots from fighting over a 7in trout. and only stock fingerlings and put the fishing back in trout fishing

[new on the ice]

Made a run to deep creek, maryland. caught a lot of pickeral. A guy that was with us caught a 43 inch pike. It was a HOG HOG HOG. definatly the biggest fatest pike that i have seen. He fight in for about 20 min. or better. Very hard time getting it through the hole, finnally my buddy had to reach under the ice and bravely put his bare hand in his mouth to turn him straght up into the hole, needless to say there was plenty of blood. Fish was brought up, he took some pics and released the beauty down the same hole. It was a great experience.
 Anyway, my 13 yr old son kept a couple pickeral, he want to try them. Of course i had do do all the dirty work. I watched a video on how to fillet them without bones. Did not work out too good for me. We WILL NOT be keeping anymore of them.