Well, it's winter and kind of boring. For many, many years I have seen "walleyed pike" on menus all over creation, or at least all over WI and MN. Now, I know a walleye is not a pike and a pike is certainly not a walleye. A walleye is a member of the perch family and a northern pike is a member of the pickerel family. Looks and taste are quite different

So..........does anyone know how or where this mislabeled menu item got started ?

Canada

Maybe the same guy that gives the name perch to sheephead displayed at the fish market.

Hmmm, well lets see what our Canadian members say

Whenever I ask the waitress if I'm getting walleye or getting Pike, I most often get the "doe in the headlights" look.

Also get the "not again !?" look from my wife.

You get that all the time from your better half, Vic

The walleye you get in resturants is pollock from Alaska.

Brad

Depends on the restaurant. One restaurant I go to it's definitely Pollock. But, another one I go to, it's walleye. I know cause I've caught and eaten a lot of walleye in my time on earth. Plus, the real deal is going to be more spendy.

Around here, they go by "walleye" or "pickerel" or more often misspelled as "pickeral"

I think that the use of "walleye" is due to our proximity to the US here... I mostly see "pickerel" used farther to the north.

I have never seen nor heard "walleyed pike" used anywhere (but I've sure been wrong before)

In Erie,I've heard them called "yellow pike",
not to be confused with "blue pike",
both (if there actually was a difference)were in the perch family.
I was also told there were speckled trout in a local stream,
they were brook and brown trout.Yes not all walleye at a restaurant are
created equal,but real walleye is available,
I worked at a hi-end restaurant that used real walleye.

I've never known that to be true. You order walleye in the midwest, you get walleye. I have seen places where they call pollack "Alaskan Walleye" (not in restaurants) but I doubt if there are any walleyes in Alaska, and pollack is closer to a bullhead than a walleye, they are a bottom feeder with slimy skin.

Across most of Canada, walleyes are called Pickeral and pike are called Jackfish.

Down here in the deep south "IOWA" you will see alaskan walleye more often than just plane walleye. It's that or I don't go to enough high class restaurants.

I do have one restaurant where the owner admitted the walleye on the menu was Pollock. He called it walleye something, I forget exactly what. The price with fries and toast was only $8.95. He doesn't have it anymore. Twin Pines Resort on MilleLacs lake serves a great walleye sandwich.

Pollock is a sea fish. You can taste and see the difference. It isn't as flaky as walleye and tastes salty. I like Pollock, but it can't compare to walleye.

Having been in food service business for 40 years I can shed some light on this. Alaskan pollock when first introduced was passed off as a substitute for cod for fish frys. We used walleye as advertised and there is no way anyone that's had it would not know the difference. I know that I would not eat at a restaurant that served it for walleye.

I would think they would have a problem with truth of menu or false advertising. Around here it is listed as yellow pike or walleye pike. And if it's listed as Lake Erie yellow pike it came from Canada as NY and PA have no commercial fishing for them.

I bet it was Bush's or Trumps fault.

Here we have yellow pickerel,sauger and northern pike,and grass pike.

Local names crack me up. A pike is a pike and a walleye is a walleye. My favorite is "Garpike" It's a Gar not a pike. Boco, what on earth is a grass pike?

A grass pike is a little pike that only gets about a pound or two max in size.
I think walleye is a funny name Americans have for pickerel.

Chain pickerel = grass pike.

Ahhh! Take off, ya' hoser!

Drop some northern pike off at the "PIKE FOR VETS" cleaning station and see the dirty looks you get! Them boys want WALLEYED PIKE!!!!

Colloquialisms exist everywhere. Rainbow trout/steelhead, brook trout/speckled trout, pickerel/walleye... The only universal name for any fish is its latin name. Personally based on where i live a steelhead lives in the great lakes, rainbow are "inland" (even though they're the same fish), pickerel if you live in the north, and walleye if you live in the south (again we're talking about the same species)... and so forth... Based on where someone comes from, you all understand each other, it's only complicated over the internet, when you might not know where someone is from, and therefore don't know which term to use so that you are "speaking the same language".

Years ago there were small 7 oz bottles of beer people referred to as "shorties". So, now I know of "shorty" pike

I agree, what Boco is calling a grass pike is probably a chain pickerel or maybe a grass pickerel if they are found that far north.

These are the discussions that take place when we are fortunate to have a huge surplus of calories available for us to choose from on a regular basis.

Bryce

Doesn't MN have an anti-zander law...? I thought a lot of eating places that sold "walleye" were actually using zander from Europe. At least they are almost a walleye compared to the ubiquitous "let's make everything out of it" pollock.

On a similar note, what's up with Southerner's calling bluegills bream?

In Minnesota bluegills are called Sunnies.

My guide service in Manitoba would put on a fish fry on Friday nights. After the guests ate the first tray of fish, I would ask if they had room for some walleye now. They always asked, wasn't that walleye we just ate? Pike was always served first round. we grilled a lot of pike for ourselves often.

With all the restrictions on walleyes on the lake I have a second home on, I have been fishing northern pike. I think most folks don't like northerns because of the Y bones. If you learn how to remove the Y bones, northern pike are as good to eat as walleyes. At least from our lake they are.

Around here, grass pike = Chain pickerel.

Most folks have no idea and think they are a small northern pike or muskie.

There was a time that a lot of zander was being billed as walleye in restaurants, I don't know if a specific law was passed when it was exposed.

Let's not get into all the names for crappie down south.

What the heck is "zander"? I've never heard of it.

Zander is a fish from Eastern Europe,Russian perch/walleye.
Erie has what they call "we love Erie days" and the members of the fine dining
club had stands to sell food,we sold all the available perch from our supplier
by Wed.,so Thur. through Saturday we breaded small zander,that doesn't remotely
resemble perch and sold them as Lake Erie Perch,no one noticed,we sold
over 200 pounds of it,tastes just like ours.

Does resemble a walleye.
IMHO, I prefer eating decent-sized perch to any fish including walleye.