Do you eat Northern Pike?

[Dickbakers]

  few years ago I was asked to do a story about new NH record pike taken ice fishing from Moore Reservoir.  I called the fisherman's home and spoke with his wife.  "Will your husband have pike mounted"  She was incredulous!  They had taken several photos and shortly after she had the fillets in the fridge. She loved fried pike and wasn't about to waste it on the wall.  That sounds like my kind of wife!!
Dick

[esox_xtm]

Hey Dick, that woman got a sister? 

[ActiveTrapChecker]

few years ago I was asked to do a story about new NH record pike taken ice fishing from Moore Reservoir.  I called the fisherman's home and spoke with his wife.  "Will your husband have pike mounted"  She was incredulous!  They had taken several photos and shortly after she had the fillets in the fridge. She loved fried pike and wasn't about to waste it on the wall.  That sounds like my kind of wife!!
Dick

Question is, did he want to mount it?

[Buckshots]

One of the difficult things of cleaning pike is the confusion on the y bones. It is shaped like a y, but when you fillet it, it is now an L shape. There is only one bone on a fillet. There is no “y” on the fillet. Simply get above and below the L is all.

[bootstrap]

throw it back?

[DR.SPECKLER]

I keep pike from 27 to 30”. 24” dont have enough meat on them  and over 30 i just release them to get bigger as i think they will be not as good table fare.thick gamey/fishy tasting fillets with big mud veins past 30”.jmo

[Light liner]

The 28"-30" males are perfect eaters imo.
Canadiens taught us northerners how to filet and enjoy pike.
That was what I was taught as a kid.

[ice dawg]

Some years ago my wife caught a 10 lb Northern. I deep fried it, we ate our fill and gave the rest to a boy scout troop in the same campground. She also caught an 8lb 4oz Walleye that went on the wall.. I like Northerns best out of cold water.

[thefishingweatherman]

As has been said a mess on this thread, they are pretty good eating, not the best, but not bad either. A nice flaky white meat, without a super fishy flavor. Some downsides are that they are a pain to fillet, to remove the Y bones, and they are fairly high in mercury. I haven't caught and eaten all types of fish in Vermont, but if I had to judge the ones so far, in order of tastiness, here's how I'd do so, from most tasty to least:

1) Lake Whitefish
2) Walleye
3) Longnose Gar (yes, that's right!)
4) Brown Trout
5) Brook Trout
6) Rainbow Trout
7) Yellow Perch
8) Salmon
9) Burbot
10) Pike
11) White Perch
12) Lake Trout

Of course the waterbody you pull a fish from has an effect on it's tastiness.

[TiggerTamer]

When I catch a small legal pike (we have a 30 inch minimum size in Wyoming) I will keep one to eat. I like pike from cooler, cold water much better than walleye as the meat is much firmer and has some taste. Walleyes taste like whatever they are cooked and seasoned with (the perfect fish for those who don't like the taste of fish). I like chain pickerel even more and will keep an 18 to 20 incher (bigger pickerel are thrown back with the hopes they will get even bigger, that is if a bass fisherman doesn't catch it and throw it on the bank, unfortunately a very common sight in Tennessee). In lakes with no minimum size on pike, I like the 24 to 28 inchers to eat and will sometimes keep a couple in that size range. Any pike over 32" is released to hopefully get bigger, much bigger. It is a bucket list dream to someday catch a pickerel-pike hybrid which I'd release at any size before my cancer finishes me off. Just my 2 cents.

[the_doctor]

Good thread. Just to kick the hornet's nest... I think 4-5 lbs or under 30" or so is a good eater size for pike. In my opinion there might be bigger pike around if the regulations were a little tighter. Currently you can keep up to 5 per day and the fish can also be speared and shot when they are breeding in the shallows. I don't love to see people pulling out 5 giants per day. The largest pike are usually female and are some of the best breeders.
Try a medium size eater and you will like it if you like fish. Throw the big girls back to breed and grow into a real trophy.

[Unclegillhunter]

Good thread. Just to kick the hornet's nest... I think 4-5 lbs or under 30" or so is a good eater size for pike. In my opinion there might be bigger pike around if the regulations were a little tighter. Currently you can keep up to 5 per day and the fish can also be speared and shot when they are breeding in the shallows. I don't love to see people pulling out 5 giants per day. The largest pike are usually female and are some of the best breeders.
Try a medium size eater and you will like it if you like fish. Throw the big girls back to breed and grow into a real trophy.

First thanks for the gentle appeal for selective harvest! Second it is apparently legal to keep 5 per day, there are a lot of folks who fish for meat. That is never ever going to change, for those folks bigger is better. Do not have a problem with folks keeping a legal limit. Wish future of the resource was part of the calculation. I don’t fish for pike. My deal is panfish. I can keep 15 per outing. If I decide I am going to keep some fish anything between 7” and 9” can go home. Bigger than 9” go back down the hole. This is the way I roll. Each and every fisher person has this decision to make release the big ones into the water or the grease.
Keep it safe! JDL

[Bigunit]

Love them!  Dipped in a beer batter and fried.  Or pike nuggets.  But I prefer winter pikes than summer pikes.

https://www.minnesotamonthly.com/food-drink/make-your-own-northern-pike-nuggets-with-tartar-sauce/

[ice fiend]

I’ll eat big ones like 30+ not worth cleaning if they’re smaller then that

[esox_xtm]

Certainly larger fish are easier to slip y-bones out of but with practice down to about 24" is really just as easy. Depending on where you're at fish around 32" or larger "could" be released after the photo op. Here's the first batch of fillets out of the fryer from last Sunday night, all the fish were 24 - 27"

[FreshwaterPhil]

I’ll eat big ones like 30+ not worth cleaning if they’re smaller then that

I'll respectfully have to disagree. I can fillet them down to 22 inches / 2.5 lbs without losing much meat. The small ones taste way better, as long as you don't cook them for more than a few minutes, and I feel bad harvesting bigger fish. We'd have more trophies swimming around if more people followed suit. Up here in Quebec, I've seen old school "hook and cook" guys keeping pike over 20 lbs 

[PenguinIII]

Good thread. Just to kick the hornet's nest... I think 4-5 lbs or under 30" or so is a good eater size for pike. In my opinion there might be bigger pike around if the regulations were a little tighter. Currently you can keep up to 5 per day and the fish can also be speared and shot when they are breeding in the shallows. I don't love to see people pulling out 5 giants per day. The largest pike are usually female and are some of the best breeders.
Try a medium size eater and you will like it if you like fish. Throw the big girls back to breed and grow into a real trophy.


X2

[DR.SPECKLER]

We can only keep 2 a day here in Michigan except for a few lakes.

[skeeter456]

Boil the pike fillets in a little salt and sugar then dip it in butter....poor mans lobster!

[Raquettedacker]

I always thought they made good lobster bait....