I love to fish, and I love to eat fresh fish as well. I’m also an advocate of a responsible harvest of fish, which means respecting the open and closed seasons, slot sizes if applicable, and common sense when it comes to deciding to keep a fish or not.
On my recent trip to Shekak Lake in north western Ontario with White River Air, we enjoyed a few fish meals, but also decided to take some fish home with us to share with family. Keeping the Walleye was a no brainer, but for some, the concept of keeping Northern Pike is foreign to them, mostly because of the challenge in cleaning them and removing the “Y” bones.
I won’t suggest that I’m an expert on fish cleaning, but my brother Chris is very good at it. We find that when you properly clean a Northern Pike of the right size (we prefer around 24 inches), and removed all the bones, they taste almost an nice as a Walleye, and they are often far easier to catch on a given lake.
When you are away with a group of anglers, you end up cleaning a lot of fish. When you think of a group of 4 to 6, and the number of meals made with fresh fish you will eat in a week (for us about 4), and then add in what you are taking out based on your license and the regulations, it can add up. Recently we added a Rapala Cordless Filet Knife to to the gear in order to help speed up the process. This can be particularly important if the bugs are out and you have been charged with the cleaning. Check out this video below where Chris cleans a Northern Pike, you’ll want to watch in in full screen to see the details. Let me know what you think by commenting below! Don’t forget, to say in touch simply sign up and have my most recent post sent right to you!
An invaluable tool for sure