Is it Just Me?

[skiroule]

That thinks the Northern Pike is the best tasting fish we can catch in the upper Midwest. This comes to mind because I fried up a large filet tonight and, as usual, it was excellent, light, and flakier than Walleye in my opinion. My preferred way of cooking them is pan frying in oil using a cast iron pan heated on a Webber charcoal grill.

I have fishermen friends that say: “I’m not even letting those slimy things in my boat. I’ll cut the line first.” Oh well, that much more for me.

In the Ontario region of Lake of the Woods that we fish, the Pike must be under 30” to keep but there are a lot of 27 – 29” fish in the lake. Y-boning is not that hard and you end up with some beautiful, boneless slabs of meat. We can make a meal out of one filet.

 

[euphoric1]

I would usually keep one when ice fishing and make fish chowder with it...to die for! funny about "those slimy things" as they are literally a slime factory through the ice and seem to continue even when cleaning them, what always shocked me about them Is you could literally have one freeze solid on the ice, bring home to thaw before cleaning and some would jump back to life.

 

[rp7x]

i like to use my turkey frier and yes they are the best

 

[gary_in_neenah]

You know what they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure". Eat up, we'll catch more!

 

[dfattack]

when I used to go fishing with my dad at a lodge in northern Manitoba our shore lunches would almost always be Northerns. Too small and they were bony. Too large and they were very oily. I remember the guide telling us about 8 pounds was the sweet spot. To this day the best fish I have ever eaten was an 8 pound northern on the shore of the lake. Cooked in cast iron fry pan and oil. Forgot what they used for breading but oh man was it good. I didn't want to stop eating. BTW, if we didn't catch any fish the backup was spam. Man did we fish hard all morning! hahaha

 

[skiroule]

when I used to go fishing with my dad at a lodge in northern Manitoba our shore lunches would almost always be Northerns. Too small and they were bony. Too large and they were very oily. I remember the guide telling us about 8 pounds was the sweet spot. To this day the best fish I have ever eaten was an 8 pound northern on the shore of the lake. Cooked in cast iron fry pan and oil. Forgot what they used for breading but oh man was it good. I didn't want to stop eating. BTW, if we didn't catch any fish the backup was spam. Man did we fish hard all morning! hahaha

I agree with you on the size but we can’t legally get up into the eight-pound range in our region of the lake. If I can get something in the 28 – 29” length, which is in the 6.5 pound area, I’m happy. Fortunately, there are a lot of Northerns here in that size category. A couple of years ago, a friend and I were ice fishing and we pulled in five straight 28” Northerns, Crazy.

You could do worse than Spam but I’d still shoot for a fish meal.

They are slimy devils but the reward is worth it.

 

[whitedust]

when I used to go fishing with my dad at a lodge in northern Manitoba our shore lunches would almost always be Northerns. Too small and they were bony. Too large and they were very oily. I remember the guide telling us about 8 pounds was the sweet spot. To this day the best fish I have ever eaten was an 8 pound northern on the shore of the lake. Cooked in cast iron fry pan and oil. Forgot what they used for breading but oh man was it good. I didn't want to stop eating. BTW, if we didn't catch any fish the backup was spam. Man did we fish hard all morning! hahaha

We bought some spam about a year ago when groceries were skyrocketing in price as a joke see if it was as bad as we remembered as kids. We fried it up and yes it was bad hopefully never again

 

[dfattack]

We bought some spam about a year ago when groceries were skyrocketing in price as a joke see if it was as bad as we remembered as kids. We fried it up and yes it was bad hopefully never again

hahaha. for sure. At home you can spice it up a bit with toppings. But on a lake in the middle of nowhere and we are planning on having fish so nothing extra to help the taste. We tried it once just to see. Fish was MUCH better.