Pike n Pickeral Are they good eaters?

[YellowGold]

I have yet to fillet my first Pike or Pickeral...as I have always heard they have an odd bone structure.
I see many fisherman keeping them though ( Especially Pike) I wonder if they are as good as Walleyes and Yellow Perch and how to fillet them .

[Oldfart]

They are great eating, a lot better than a yellow perch. But thats my opinion......

[PeRcHsLaYeR]

Taste just like perch, and arn't that hard to clean.  They are yummmmmmy.

[fishin fool]

I have heard that they are great eating as well.  I don't know much about cleaning them, but I was told they are very bony.

[Oldfart]

I've cooked em lakeside. Onions, butter and white wine. MMMMMM. Tastes like trout.

[bigredonice]

Yes, they are delcious, but how do you make a boneless fillet?

[Oldfart]

  You dont. You just pick em out as you eat. Dont let that stop you. They taste great.

[Big Dawg]

what my mom does with the pickeral we catch is make a meatloaf but only with pickeral. first u fillet the fish then bake it and then put it through the grinder to grind up the bones and then go about like u would meatloaf.

[crappieloo]

Was night fishing 2 years ago and had a fish on but lost it. I swore i would stay till i caught it to see what it was. About 45 minutes later it was on again, finally reeled it in it was a pickeral. I refused to go home without any thing so home it came. I filleted all the y-bones out put milk on the fillets and roled them in bread crumbs, then to the pan. Are you kidding, it tasted better than walleye
My son and i made short work of them fillets.
Crappieloo

[bogeyjoker]

Here's a link to show those of you that don't know how to fillet a pike how to remove those perky y bones:

http://www.state.nd.us/gnf/ndoutdoors/issues/articles-brochures/pike-how-to-filet/

[Nanook_ette]

Um.......... Isnt Pickerel and Walleye the same thing???

Its the best fish you will ever eat.. and its very easy to clean.
1. cut off the head
2. slit from where the head was to the hole... you know what part Im talkig about
3. use your knife and follow the spine.. till you get to the tail... repeat on other side.
4. Cut off the spine so you just have the two flaps of meat.
5. take out the bones.. you will find them along the widest section to about halfway towards the tail.
6. Take the meat off of the skin,, starting at the tail. hold your knife downwards and pull the tail while wiggling it.. until you got a clean fillet... its awsome............

Did I explain this for nudding? Im sure you all knew how to do this already right?? lol

[kenelz]

Pike are very good eating, but filleting them are a pain. You have three sets of bones on each side to deal with (the rib and Y bone). It takes me a bit of time to get it done, there are some tricks, but I dont know them.

[cold_feet]

Pike are great eating and not very hard to fillet either Go to the tips section under Nothern Pike their are Pictures their to explain how to do it.

Nanook ett
Up north you call a Walleye a Pickerel Here in the US main land we have a Chain Pickerel a cousin to the Northern Pike A liitle smaller than a Northern.

Cold Feet

[JigAwhopper]

I just LOVE eating pike,  it's better than walleye or perch .  White, flaky meet and the bones are big enough that you can safely pick 'em out as you eat it.   Pickerel is another story,  it's a pain in the a$$ to eat it.  I almost choked on them little bones one too many times,  so i just let 'em go now. It tastes great, just not worth my effort to clean it.  I never tried it,  but it might be ok if you grind it up and make some fish patties out of it.                                J.

[shikepoke]

         Take an electric knife & remove both filets. Remove the skin & the run the filets through a grinder. You don't have to be careful about the bones when you remove the filets, the grinder will reduce them to nothing.
          Put on apot of water to boil & add salt & your favorite seafood seasoning. When the water boils add the ground fish & boil for approx. 8 minutes. Drain the fish & toss in a chunk of butter. When the butter melts into the fish, grab a fork, a cold beer & some of your favorite crackers & enjoy!!!