Friday Fillet

Species: Northern Pike and Chain Pickerel
                                                 (A.K.A. The Slime Beasts!)

Congratulations.  Today your mind may be blown.  You're welcome.

Today is a two for one special.  I really love to pursue these two fish as much as possible.  Mostly because of the fight that is unleashed once hooking into one of these beasts, but also because of the reward that is received if you decide to keep your catch.

Northern Pike and Chain Pickerel are in the same family of fish.  The Esocidae family.  So what does that mean?  It means that they are relatives to one another and they are similar in many ways.  The most important similarity they posses to each other is their bone structure.  Both Northern Pike and Chain Pickerel are very bony fish.  If you were to take an x-ray of these to fish they would look almost identical.  In the video below you will learn how to make precision cuts to extract the most amount of meat from these two fish.

And by the way.  If you think Chain Pickerel is just a waste fish, think again!  In my opinion the meat of the Chain Pickerel is comparable, if not better than the Northern Pike.  Some people find that Chain Pickerel has a sweeter taste.  Regardless, both fish have nice white meat that you will not be disappointed in.  So give it a try sometime!