Pike y bones and skinned perch .Duhhhh

Not the best fish catching trip . I have filleted fish for years but this last trip was not the greatest .Small perch so pard says skin them well i did and you do get a bit more ,the pike was so small if I cut out the y bones what would be left .I do hate waste and love fish so I muddled through it .I see you tube Russian video of them eating pike that has skin and bones in it ( looks boiled ). Any ideas on more fish flesh and less work time are welcome .My Dad 60 years ago actually scaled fish and we gobbled the skin down too and was good (scales on the walls and windows )

If you pickle the northerns you can leave the bones in them, the smaller fish are perfect for pickle.

i just remove the ribs on the smaller northerns. the Y bones are easy to pick out after its fried.

I always scale perch, cut off the head and guts and fry whole. Do that for all panfish too. Quick and easy, works for big ones and little ones and my boy loves eating with his hands and picking the meat off the bones. (And eating the crispy tails!)

See there ! I have to try the suggestions ,Thanks to you all .

See there ! I have to try the suggestions ,Thanks to you all .

What do you use to scale with ?

on the pike, fillet and skin, and fillet out the ribs. when fried, use a fork to pull off the top 1/2 inch or so of the fillet, and all the Y bones will be sticking out of the fillet. pull them from the fillet and the rest is boneless. about 3 "finger grabs" will pull the Y bones out so no time wasted there.

on the perch, fillet and skin, then cut out the whole rib cage and discard it. theres almost no meat on the rib cage so no real loss there, and the rest is boneless. if you like a fish sandwich, put the perch fillets between 2 pieces of toast, and add whatever you like, for the best fish sandwich youve ever had.

if you fry perch or smaller panfish whole, youll spend more time picking out tiny bones, than eating. i dont have the time or patience for that anymore. the skin is the best part of the fish if done this way though.

You can scale with the back of a knife, a spoon or make a scaler by attaching some beer bottle caps to a handle.

I never had a problem with bones in whole fried fish. Cut the skin down the spine on both sides before frying. To eat, gently slide your fork in along the back bone and the whole fillet will peel off leaving the bones. Then you can gently peel the whole skeleton off the bottom fillet.

If the bones are mushy and stick with the meat you overcooked it.

Simple way to filet smaller and larger pike, more filet, no bones. A guy showed myself and my buddy’s years ago in a fish house at a campground we were at. Love me some northern filets!

I was shown a trick long ago with perch (though I just fillet them still). The guy cut down the back bone on either side of the dorsal fin then slide his fingers inside the skin on both sides of the rib cage and squeeze and pull the fish out of the hide. Took about 15 seconds a fish and he had a skinless fish with out the guts, they stay in the skin. I bet there's a youtube video on it somewhere.

sure enough...