Pike are certainly more difficult to fillet than walleye and bass, but they are very good eating. 

I've been putting the knife to them since my Dad taught me how to fillet when I was around 10 years old.  My dad really didn't know how to fillet a pike, so what I learned I learned mostly from the camp owners at various Ontario fishing camps where our family vacationed while I was a kid.  There are quite a few different methods for cleaning a pike.  I don't have one "go to" method.  Some of the better advice that I was given years ago is to not worry about getting every last piece of meat off of the fish; be careful to make sure you avoid the bones even if that means sacrificing a little extra meat. 

As others have said, don't bother with keeping a pike unless it's at least a couple of pounds.  Below that weight, the amout of meat one gets for the effort exerted is not a good exchange.

- Dave

I never ate Northern anywhere until I learned the 5 fillet method.  It works really well on fish 2-5 or so pounds, once you get the hang of it.  Whatever fish we catch is the fish of the day at dinner.

A 26-28" pike is right size for 2 adults.  I'll slab either side off, like you would with a trout, keeping the knife as tight to the back as possible (I don't do the top of the back separate).  Skinning the fillets is next.  Then the boneless tail section comes off.  Then I cut the length of the fillet along the lateral line, the top strips will be boneless.  The Y-bones remain in whats left.  The technique is simply to fillet the meat off each side of the Y-bones.  Locate the top of the fillet by feeling for the row of bones that will protrude as a result of cutting through them during the primary slabbing.  Start your cut along the row of protruding bones.  You will be slicing the meat down off the row of bones with the length of the blade, rather than driving the point of the knife down through.  You will not waste much of the fish if you decide salvaging this portion is not worth the hassle, maybe 20% of the sum total.  But if you take the time to practice, acquiring the skill is rewarding enough.  So what if you butcher a few.  The scraps fry up as tasty as "elegant" looking pieces.  

-YB

Amen Paddle_Guy.  We don't fish a ton, but if a pike on the mixed stringer makes enough for a meal, then we don't mind.  Pretty darn good eating, but the bones are a hassle.

We normally eat what we catch.  I would much rather eat almost anything else, not because of the taste, but the bones.

My experiences match those of many others here.

I'd rather catch one than eat one.  And if I'm going to eat one, I want a surgeon with me to do the fileting (sp).  It is an art that I have not mastered.

PR

I admit to a love affair with Pike. I love the attitude, the look they have. I'm big, I'm bad, and I know it. There's just something about them. I personally love to eat pike. I won't mess with one unless it is decent size. A good one gives you primo back straps of nice thick firm meat. Of course you need a few folk around to warrant putting the knife to one. I hate cleaning the little ones as the bones are so thin it makes it a bit tougher to do things right. I like to just get on with it.

here is a side tale you might find amusing........somewhere earlier we were talking about talking smack and fishing. Our offshore 4 day trip is coming up and the 3 young guys on the starboard side of the boat took to calling themselves "Team Tampa" as they hail from that neck of the woods.

They in turn suggested the port side be called "Team Geriatrics"...........OUCH!!........."HMMMMMM", said I, "OK, I'll play"...........the port side is officially "Team Depends" and our motto is "we never leave the rail for anything" .

I am going to take a great deal of pleasure in kickin their tails .

Now where were we before we were so rudely interrupted. Oh yes, Esox Lucius. Even the name is cool. A good fish in my book!

pike have a bit more of a fishy taste than walleye if you dont take care of them properly. i always skin fish i clean (aside lake trout because when you bake them, the skin helps keep in the flavor) because i think it helps with the flavor and texture. also, if you leave the skin on, the breading doesnt stick as well to the fillet and falls off and burns in your oil. for pike, i cut them into fish sticks and the Y bones dissolve out when you fry them. a quick rinse in salt water helps cut the slime and fishy taste too. up in the Q i avoid pike unless they are deeply hooked (which is really rare because i use mostly single hooks on my plugs and spoons). the pike we get up there are way too big to eat anyway. plus we have never had an issue catching a meals worth of walleye, at least so far in my quetico career.

my thoughts about eating pike go beyond just the taste/hastle of cleaning them. since i was a youngin'(still am by most accounts), my father taught me about fish population sustainability. he told me to release the big ones so they could pass on their genes and make more healthy fish for years down the road. granted, this was in a smaller lake that we live on, so my efforts have more impact. up in the Q, the fish populations seem extremely healthy and vital. i release the pike because they help eliminate the weaker walleyes and help keep their populations strong and healthy. because the walleye populations are so great up there i dont feel the need to protect the walleyes at all costs like my father preached to me as a child.

db wrote on May 5^th, 2011 at 6:10am:


I would say the amount of decomposition between dying and filleting is a bigger factor in taste. 

I've had much better luck with filleting fish before they die and then hauling their fillets around for a few hours than I have had with hauling dead fish around for a few hours and then filleting.  A ziploc of fillets in a wet canvas bag and kept out of the sun works quite nicely when travelling.  At camp I'll take that same setup, put a small rock in the canvas bag, tie a rope around it, and throw it out into the deepest water I can find around camp.  Never had a problem with "fishy" tasting fillets doing things this way.

As soon as I've caught enough for dinner, the fillet knife comes out, whether or not I'm done fishing.  About the only time I violate this rule anymore is if I'm staying relatively stationary in cool water while I fish and the walleyes on the stringer are plenty lively.  As soon as I'm ready to move, though, the jig is up for my catch.

Disclaimer:
I do a website for a guy with a (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) DVD. I've never tried filleting them like he shows but I actually got a lot out of the videos. Quite a bit more than watching the hack job YouTube videos that have decimated his business.

Pike are slimy and their slime makes everything stink. If I get stuck with a bleeder, I'll do three fillets keeping as much slime off the meat as possible and I'll cut that back fillet into strips so they skin easier.

On group trips we'd often steak and poach 'em for po' mans lobster. It's pretty hard to miss a y-bone when it's intact and still attached to the spine.

I have to agree with Kleiser and would even say if you took a bass, an eye and a northern cut up in bite size pieces so as to disguise their shape differences and poached 'em, anyone would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The more they taste like fish, the more they decomposed between filleting and cooking.