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How to Y Bone a Northern Pike

ByDeeann Bylsma

How to Y Bone Northern Pike is a question often asked at the fish cleaning station by many fishermen and women.  Most release them back to the water because they struggle to fillet all the bones out.  It’s really not difficult to do, it’s just different.  Their bone structure is different than most freshwater fish.  But once you understand their structure it’s not too bad to do.  Filleting the bones out of a Northern Pike will take longer than a walleye, perch, crappie or bass.  However, one Northern Pike can provide a lot of meat.

Let’s get into the cleaning process.

The first step to cleaning one of these monsters, and they do look like monsters, is removing the sides from the fish.  It’s a cut behind the gills and along the backbone for each side.  Then removing the fillet from the skin for both fillets.  My husband does this with an electric fillet knife.

Once this is done, we’re ready to Y bone.  I do this with a very sharp manual fillet knife.  You make three cuts, 1 on top of the Y bones, the second is on the bottom of the Y bones and the third cut is to remove the thin strip of bones from the fillet.

I included a link to my Youtube video showing and explaining how to Y bone a Northern Pike.

How to Y Bone Northern Pike

Give this tutorial on How to Y Bone Northern Pike a try sometime.  You may struggle a bit on the first fish or so, but soon you’ll get the hang of it.  Just remember, 1 cut on the top of the Y bones and the second cut is just under the Y bones.

If you want a good fish batter recipe, check out this recipe for the Crispiest Fish Ever.

Happy Fishing!  I hope you have a great fish story for me!

How to Y Bone Norhtern Pike
There are two rows a bones you can feel with your fingers. Cut a line on the top bones of the fish from the head towards the tail. Stopping before the end of the fish.
Once you cut the line, run your fillet knife over the top of the Y bones going up towards the top of the fish.
Now cut a line along the second set of bones. Cut to a depth just deeper than the visible bones on the top of the fish. Do not cut completely through the fillet.
Now make a cut towards the top of the fish just under the visible bones.
How to Y Bone a Northern Pike
Run your fillet knife just under the visible bones all the way to the tail.
The bones should now be a flap and only attached near the tail.
Make the third cut disconnecting the bones from the tail. This cut should be past the last of the bones.
This is the piece of bones that is removed. At this point you should have two pieces, a boneless fillet and a strip of bones.
The boneless fillet.

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