How To Remove Y-Bones From Northern Pike

Few things are better than a freshly cooked Northern Pike, but those Y-bones can be a challenge to remove. Luckily, you have a few methods to choose from. With a few simple tools, it won't be long before you're enjoying a delicious, boneless piece of Northern Pike. No special tools or skills are required on your part. Chances are excellent that you've already got everything you need in your house.

Things You'll Need

• Northern Pike
• Sharp boning knife
• Clean needle-nose pliers
• Cutting board

Instructions

1. Fillet your Northern Pike. To do this, slide your boning knife into the flesh just in front of one of the fins, about where you'd estimate the "neck" of the fish to be. With a firm, smooth stroke, feel where the backbone and ribs are with the tip of your knife. Slide your knife along the ribs and backbone toward the tail, staying as close to the bones as possible. When you get to the tail, remove your first fillet. Repeat on the other side of the fish.

2. Examine the fillets with both your eyes and your fingers. Use a gentle touch so as to not mangle or disturb the meat of the fillet, but gently feel along its surface. You should be able to see the tiny white Y-bones (also called pinbones) toward the middle of each fillet. If you are unable to see them, gently running your fingers along the surface will allow you to feel where they are.

3. Remove the Y-bones. To do this, use your boning knife to excise the thin strip of flesh that runs down the center of each fillet. Slice carefully and pull the strip away to reveal a boneless fillet with very little edible-fish loss. A slightly slower (but even less wasteful) method is to use a pair of clean, needle-nose pliers to pull each bone out of the fillet individually.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your boning knife is very sharp before attempting to fillet the fish. Smooth, precise cuts are needed when cutting delicate meat such as fish. Dull knives result in imprecision and can lead to ragged, aesthetically unpleasant pieces of fish. They can also lead to excessive frustration when attempting precision maneuvers, such as removing a small strip of the fillet that contains the Y-bones.

• If your Northern Pike still has its head and tail on, you can save those and the rest of the bones for later use in fish stock. Stock recipes will require more than one set of fish bones, so if you're only preparing one at a time, store the bones in your freezer until you have enough sets to make stock.

• If you choose to use needle-nose pliers to remove your Y-bones, make sure to pull with the grain of the fish, not against it. That way, you can avoid tearing big holes in an otherwise lovely fillet.

References

• Freshwater Fishing Canada: Cleaning Northern Pike