I do not catch many pike and thus do a poor job of filleting out those bones .There are 100s of videos showing the process . When I finish the job the waste is more than the keep .I am NOT into pickling or grinding so that leaves baking whole . I found one video that seems to be the real answer . The next pike will be bake whole skin on . Anyone here do that ?

Why don’t you fillet with skin on and score like we do buffalo fish out of the river did this to them in Canada in1982

Stop keeping small pike. Anything less than 4-5 lbs I throw back, too much hassle. The big ones are much easier to get the Y bone out of and you get enough off em to be worth the hassle.

You'd starve here. Tons of small pike and very few large ones.

It took me a long time and many mangled fish before I was finally able to get the Y-bones out of a northern pike. To me, the bigger ones like Bob mentioned are easier to work with. But, keep practicing on whatever size you keep and it will get easier to do.

Its not to hard to do after you get the fillet off you can fell a line of bones you have cut off. Go about 1/4 inch to the outside of the fillet and cut down the side of the fillet but not too deep and turn your knife and slide along the bones all the way to the end of the fillet. Then go back to the middle of the fillet and make a cut down the red line and as you do turn your knife and just go under the bones back to your first cut. Should be able to see the knife blade and the y bones as you cut. Good luck Larry

Easy to do.
Fillet both sides off the fish and remove the pectoral fins.
Skin the fillets.
Cut off the tail behind anus-no bones there.
Split the fillet down the laterl line.Bottom half has only rib bones-easy to fillet out.
Top half has the Y bones.If it is a big fish cut the fillet in pieces the same length as the blade on your fillet knife.
Feel along the top part of the fillet with your fingers to locate the bones.Lightly cut down along them until you feel the long bones that radiate outwards towards the top of the fillet.Turn your knife and butterfly the top along the bones,not all the way.
Flip the fillet and do the same on the other side and the Y bones will be gone.
Zero wasted meat.

I hate cooked fish with any bones in it.
When its time to eat -eat-not play with it looking for bones.

Yup. Scale 'em, cut the heads off, gut 'em. Line up two belly to belly and stuff 'em like a turkey. 375 degrees for about an hour. Easy to pick out the y-bones after baking. Whole different taste.

These were 22 inches . I eat fish am not a release guy ! I find it hard to believe the waste ,I see the Russians in the far north boil them whole minus the guts .

i fillet and skin, and remove the ribs, leave the Y bones in. fry the fillets whole. on your plate, use a fork to remove the top 3/4 inch of the fillet, and that meat is boneless. the Y bones will all be sticking out of the fillet. takes about 5 seconds to pull them from the fillet with your fingers, 5 or 6 at a time. saves alot of time cleaning them, and no waste. ive been filleting snot rockets for over 55 years, and never found an easier or faster way to handle smaller pike. also, i dont like baked fish. fish are intended to be swimming in grease and covered in salt. just my preference.

Here in MN you can't keep the larger ones in most lakes, the DNR encourages the keeping of many small ones.

Thanks for the free thinkers on this forum .The consensus is obvious ! Fillet them out .I need to conform or suck it up or bake .I wished I could post that link on here where the guy baked one .I will keep you posted after I catch one . Thanks to all ,I was surprised and pleased to read the comment by our Russian friend Tatiana . Lord Jesus may we all be one . Let there be be peace on earth and let it begin with me !

catch some of them cats they want gone. !!!

Many places in Alaska it is illegal to throw them back regardless of size.
The bigger ones are definitely easier to deal with. The best way is to make dog food out of the entire thing.

Then don’t complain about y bones, that is a juvenile fish, throw it back and let grow or pickle it.

Should I toss every thing under 10 # ?

Not at all,even small pike from cold water is good eating.Under 2 lb (hammer handles) I throw back.I also throw back bigger ones over 6 lb or so.
Not hard to fillet out the bones on smaller pike with a sharp knife and a little practice to get the "feel" of butterflying out the Y bones.

I'm with Boco on this one. Been probably 20 years since I filleted a pike but used to do every one we caught or speared (used to be able to spear pike here up into 90s)
Fillet just like a walleye or perch leave skin on, feel for y bones and make an intersecting v cut on either side. Remove skin. You get a strip of back meat, a strip of waste and a fillet off the belly.
After a few you get the hang of it.

Here in my zone in MN, we cannot keep any Pike between 22 and 26 inches which, in my opinion, are the size I would like to keep for cleaning. I like to release the bigger ones if I can so they can grow to a size that makes them exciting to catch. We can keep 2 over 26 inches and up to 10 under 22 inches which are too small for me to like to clean unless pickling. The Y bone removal is definitely easier in the larger fish. It is tough for me to go out and catch one the right size for me to be comfortable keeping. It would have to be either 26 or 27 inches, so I seldom keep any these days.
This afternoon was the exception since this 36 inch Pike completely swallowed the dual treble quick strike rig and a ten inch sucker minnow and could not be released as the whole works was out of sight in it's stomach. I regretfully had to kill and clean it. The good news is that I love to eat Pike!

I use a very light grip on the fillet knife and let the blade ride along the Y bones. I throw out the bare minimum of meat, it's mostly just the strip of bones. Takes a little more time but pike a good eating from clean, cold water.

I just cleaned a 31 incher yesterday, caught it on a small jigging rap while trying to catch a perch dinner. It was fun fighting it on 4lb line and a tiny perch pole, but I've caught much bigger fish the same way. Wish I'd drilled a bigger hole though. Lol




NC