Cleaning Northern Pike

Get The "Y" Bones Out!

Cleaning Northern Pike is easier than you think! Learn how to get the Y-bones out and have a meal second to none!

I have never been able to figure out why the Northern Pike receives such scorn from some people. Think about it. It is a great game fish. It puts up a fierce battle. It can make a slow day of fishing full of action. And by the way, if caught in cold clean water they taste as good as walleye !

When cleaning northern pike, the key to a great meal is getting the Y-bones out. If you don’t get them out they still taste great, but the bones can be inconvenient.

Cleaning Northern Pike is not as easy as walleye, but it is not that much more difficult. Pike are slippery let’s face it. Make sure your knife is sharp. You don’t want to cut into one of these bad boys with a dull knife. It will make your job that much more difficult.

There are two methods for cleaning northern pike. We discuss them both below.

Remove the Y-Bones After They are Cooked

This is a method that is so simple and quick to do, it is almost laughable. Learn this, and you will never have to worry about pike bones again. It is much less time consuming than doing it while cleaning northern pike in the in the filleting shack. More and more anglers are using this technique.

In fact it is so quick, I wish I had learned this earlier.

The catch is you must understand how a Northern Pike’s fillet is put together. Once you know this, you can get the bones out shortly after you have cooked the fillet. This is a super trick to use during a shore lunch as well as at home. All you need is a fork (and sometimes your fingers)!

Cleaning a Northern Pike is the same as cleaning a walleye. As you cut the fillets close to the back bone and “flip them back”, you will see a lateral line along the fillet. Remember that line! Make sure you remove the belly fin on each fillet. Also remove the ribs as you would do with a walleye.

Bread and season to your hearts content as you prepare the fish. Cook the pike and get ready for an excellent meal.

A fish that has been cooked well will break right along the lateral line easily with a fork. If you have undercooked your fish, the fillet will not break apart along the line. The meat will have a “shine” to it on the inside as you try to break the fillet in half. Put is back in the pan to cook it properly.

As you break the fillet down the lateral line, you will see the Y-bones. Grab them with your fork (and maybe fingers) and pull them out. The key is to look at your fillet before you dig into it to eat. Take 15 seconds before you start chowing down to remove the Y-bones. You will be glad that you did.

Cleaning Northern Pike Old School

If you would rather get the Y-Bones out while you are cleaning northern pike at the filleting shack, all the power to you. Some folks don’t like to dig into their meal to get the bones out at dinner. Here is the tried and tested method that has been used for years! It makes supper time that much easier.

This process is quite straight forward. Take your time on your first few. You will be sure to get the hang of it. In fact, you will probably find cleaning Northern Pike to be almost a pleasure - almost!

Make sure you have a sharp knife. There are too many people trying to fillet a fish with a dull knife, and it can turn into a mess. This point cannot be stressed enough.

The first step is to cut the fillets off of the fish. With the fish on its side cut on a forty five degree angle under the front side fin to the “neck”. Turn your knife and cut along the spine all the way to the tail. Stay as close to the backbone as you can, and make sure you leave the skin on the fillet.

Secondly, remove the rib bones as you would from a walleye or perch. Slide your filleting knife under the bones and cut under the ribs trying not to cut away any meat while you do it.

Now you should be able to see and feel a ridge of white bones running down the fillet. They will look like white dots. These are the Y-bones you are going to remove. They will be in the thickest part of the fillet.

Make your first cut above the white dots and cut down until you feel the bones. Lightly cut following the bones curving upwards slightly following the path of the bones. Now move to the center line of the fillet and make your cut on a forty five degree angle. Cut upwards until you feel the Y-bones. Simply work your knife along the bones just past the vent.

You can now grab the line of Y-bones. They will be held together with a thin line of flesh. Gently pull and use your knife to free them if need be. As you get better, you will be able to pull them right out of the fillet after your first two cuts.

The next step is easy enough. Remove the skin from the fillet, and you have a delicious – and boneless – northern pike fillet. This is the quickest and easiest method to remove the Y-bones from the fillet. It is also the method that wastes the least amount of fish!

Now, you have no excuses not to keep those delicious two and a half pound pike. Go get them. You will then be able to amaze people when they are eating pike that have no bones!

Cleaning Northern Pike – who would have thought it could be so easy??

Thanks for reading.

Good fishing.

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