Are Pickerel good to eat?

[whitecap]

Been catching a few pickerel this year at honeoye lake. I was wondering if anyone eats them? If you do how do you fillet them? Do they have y bones in them like pike do?

[Raquettedacker]

Very good to eat..   Yes they have Y bones like pike and there are a lot of videos on you tube on how to remove them...   But my favorite is pickerel patties...  Even my wife and son love them...

[ChiefCatchemall]

I'm with Dacker on this one. Patties are great. I keep a few here and there just to make patties. I hate seeing the guys throw them on the ice! Ridiculous!!!!

[hardwater diehard]

Great pickeled ....need a good cracker best ive found is Wasa....very good its a process but well worth it

[RIVERRAT2]

I'm with Dacker on this one. Patties are great. I keep a few here and there just to make patties. I hate seeing the guys throw them on the ice! Ridiculous!!!!

RIGHT ON. how about pickling them,i love to eat pickled ones also
 
RAT

[deadsmelthead]

You will be really surprised at how good they are.. As far as taste they are just as good a eyes perch crappies.. I just started recently taking the bigger ones home regularly...I don't do the patty thing.. Ive been doing the back strap piece on some and the side fillet cutting out the Y bone.. IMO fish under 22 inches aren't worth taking home... I've also been finding that if you fillet the tail quarter of the fish especially the bigger ones you get a really nice fillet with little to no bones..  I used to despise the little snot rockets... Now anything over 22" goes home I got a couple 25+ inchers this year awesome cuts off them...

[sobozj]

i have been catching some monster pickerel this year- 25, 26.5 and 27.5 inches. I fillet them just like a northern, taking the back first, then the two rib fillets and the tail fillets. it takes some practice, but watch a few videos on youtube and its not too bad. And yeah they are great battered and fried.

[blizzardfisher]

absolutely delicious! a friend of mine in Canada took me ice fishing and hipped me to this cooking some while we're on the ice and I loved it

[loneranger]

I like to fillet the fish only leaving the y bone now I will bake them in the oven and let cool now the y bones are all in a row and ussually easy enough to pick rite out and mix in some hellmans sweet pickles chopped up and maybe some onion and celary and you have a great sandwich   once there baked and bonless I vacuum seal and freeze 

[tve]

Love to pickle em. If you like store bought pickled herring then you will like pickled pike and pickerel. It's a process but pretty easy.

[Shane young]

We do it like a sunny. Pull the pajamas off. Dip in egg wash. Then seasoned flour. Fry in butter. The meat pulls right off the bones. It's awesome Sunday morning breakfast with fried tomatoes.

[Pickeralpicker91]

Through the ice they can be pretty good but I've had some just plain bad ones during the middle of the summer lol.

[trapper2000]

they  gotta  be  good  sea gulls  love  em

[Huntyeraws]

Delicious! Those little buggers taste better than pike!   I find it funny that people think pickerel are trash yet keep northerns left and right.  They are cousins.

Patties are awesome!  However, try fileting some, dip them in pancake mix mixed with some beer and then drop them into some deep, hot oil until golden brown - remove from oil, let excess oil drain off and serve hot with ketchup!  Oh yeah!

[Hardwaternubie53]

I make a stuffing of clams, scallops, bread crumbs & butter. Stuff them, tie them together & bake 'em. YUM!

[bcons]

Wrap them in enough bacon & yum!  But then again wrap an old sock in enough bacon and its edible too!

Although picks are good if fileted right.  As said watch the vids and give them a try.
A dozen or so have met the knife this season.
I too keep the big ones.  Found it odd, its the only large fish I keep the bigger ones

[Joe Snag]

Fillet them,,under 18" are the Best--every year Here I show how to properly fillet a pickerel,,you won't get 1 bone....fillet,cross cut soak in milk breadcrums and fry---------

[greensider]

if you keep the ones that are just legal size the bones are small and will all most disapear when the fellets are fried

[Longlegg]

I caught a couple big ones last year at Henderson and filleted them and cut out the Y bones. Fried them up with crappie, perch, and walleye and my wife selected the pickerel as her favoite in a blind taste test. Truth be told they were all delicious!

[sodussut]

not summer ones, they taste like mud!did it once.

[trapper2000]

people  toss  them on the  ice  when  the  populations  get  high  and  your  losing  10  jigs  a  day on the  ice , when I  was  young  big bay (Oneida)  had a lot of  decent pike  now   it's  swarms  of  pickerel  ....  i'm glad  people are  keeping them!  they are a  good  eating  fish  and adds weight to the  bucket ,  fillet like a  northern or  make  paddies I  don't recommend  keeping  small ones and  frying the  y bones  because  that's  bs and a  kid will  end  up choking to death  ...... 

[can_of_worms]

Pickerel are a very fine eating fish. The cleaning process scares most people away. I don't know of too many places that fellow fisherman question how often you keep them also. We keep several a season and grind for patties or fish sticks for the younger kids, once rolled in Panko and  fried or broiled in the oven they are just like fish sticks from the store only WAY better. It is a good fish to keep in check as they can get out of control quickly.

[snakemaistre]

They are horrible table fair! Throw them all in a pile and let me know where they're at, I'll come pick them up and take care of the nasty things for you! Yum,Yum

[DeadEyez]

I had them pickled a few years back. Snaggers buddy Glen made them up. Put a piece on a cracker and enjoy! It was absolutely delicious

[trapper2000]

They are horrible table fair! Throw them all in a pile and let me know where they're at, I'll come pick them up and take care of the nasty things for you! Yum,Yum

 

[NatefishNY]

They are horrible table fair! Throw them all in a pile and let me know where they're at, I'll come pick them up and take care of the nasty things for you! Yum,Yum

where are you located? how far will you travel?   

[Huntyeraws]

not summer ones, they taste like mud!did it once.

A lot of fish taste horrible (muddy and/or weedy flaveor) taken from really warm waters in the heat of summer - bass, pike, pickeral, bluegill, bullhead, walleye and even crappie.  Cool and or/ice cold water like during the hard water season seems to make them all taste oh so much better.   You hardly ever see guys trying for  limits of 50 bluegills in the heat of summer yet guys go crazy for them in the dead of winter - I wonder why?  ;-)

[Loudmouth879]

You hardly ever see guys trying for  limits of 50 bluegills in the heat of summer

I try to get a limit of gills in the summer.... gotta get crab trap bait somehow