The author prefers to eat small- to medium-sized pike because their flesh is firmer. It's also best to release
large fish for other anglers to enjoy. Pike like the one shown here are delicious to eat.
1. Begin by making a
downward cut behind the
head until you feel your
knife touch the spine,
then turn the knife and
follow the spine until you
reach the dorsal fin.
2. Once you have removed
the top fillet you can see
the Y-bones in the center
of each side fillet. In this
photo, the tip of the knife
points to the Y-bones.
The Y-bones are the small
intricate bones that cause
many anglers to disregard
pike as a good eating fish.
As you can see, they are
easy to identify and work
around.
54 Nebraskaland • November 2019
Cleaning a Pike to Remove Y-bones