Ontario Northern Pike Fishing

How to fillet a pike …. one version

1. Make vertical cut behind head, down to, but NOT through the backbone.
Turn knife horizontally and cut backward along the top of backbone. You should be able to feel the blade “clicking” along the top of the “Y” bones.

2. There is a row of small bones down the center of this fillet. Remove them with a V-shaped, lengthwise cut along each side of the center bones.

3. With the backbone exposed, a series of bones will be observed running parallel to it on either side. Make a cut-down and slightly inward along the outer edge of these bones. Work down and over the ribs and remove the flank fillet. Repeat for the other side.

4. Cut fillet free from each side of dorsal fin back to the tail. There are no “Y” bones here. Skin each fillet. You now have five bone-free fillets.

This file has been reproduced courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ©1982.
Drawings and narrative originally created by Jerry Perkins, Fish Management Technician, Barron, Wisconsin.