Bass fishing today

Stephen1 · Reply #200 - Re: Bass fishing today

Always the challenge, cleaning pike, great eating if you get all the bones out.
I've never heard of the pressure cooker and now Caveman what is the 5 chunk method?

caveman · Reply #201 - Re: Bass fishing today

I think Barbender was the one with the five-chunk method. I suspect it involves taking a fillet and then cutting it into five pieces to work around.

barbender · Reply #202 - Re: Bass fishing today

I can't find an illustration that really does a good job of demonstrating how to do the 5 piece method. There are a lot of videos though.

I used both an electric filet knife, and a regular filet knife for the more finesse cuts. The electric filet knife works great for the initial cut behind the head and along the spine, as you are cutting through a lot of bones. What you are doing is basically cutting off the loins or backstraps. But then you are left with a "U" shaped chunk of meat with the skin on, how the heck do you filet the skin off? What I ended up doing is putting the skin down, and fileting along the spine down to the skin, and then fileting that piece of meat loose. Do both sides, and you end up with two long northern backstraps😊

Then you are left with a Pike carcass that is missing it's back. This is another job for the regular filet knife, as you need to go along the edge of the cut you made releasing the previous piece of meat, and fin the y bones. Then filet along them to release the piece of meat along the side, going back to meet the end of the previous cut at the dorsal fin.

Next, I took the electric knife and cut from the dorsal fin back to the tail, like a regular fish. If you look at some of the available diagrams online, it will show to waste a short section of meat right under the dorsal fin from this piece of meat. That is because there are y bones right there, I chose to just cut those y bones out and save some of that meat. It resulted in those filets looking like they'd been bitten by a northern pike, ironically😂 But it saved some good meat, so that's the way I did it.

Anyway, repeat on the other side, and then use the electric filet knife to filet the skin off all the resulting pieces.

It's much more difficult to write out a description than it is to actually do the process😊 I dont have it mastered either, as I missed a few bones. But I can say that northerns over 3 pounds are now in more danger of the frying pan😁

Northerns have flesh that is a bit denser and firmer than our other fish, with a slightly sweet flavor. They are excellent eating when the bones are dealt with!
Another word on Northern Pike- they are kind of the thug of the freshwater world. They are extremely aggressive, have a mouthful of teeth that are a cross between needles and razor blades, they are really slimy, and there is seemingly no good way to hold onto them. Those sharp teeth cut monofilament like scissors. In some lakes, the northerns end up with a large population of 1 pound fish. There are a lot of names like "slimers", "snakes", "hammerhandles" people use for them. They swim around like 1 pound mobile scissors, cutting the line of people fishing for walleyes when they hit their bait. But people almost prefer that to actually catching the northerns, and having them flop around the carpeted floor of their $40K boat😁

A northern's biggest enemy is other northerns. They are extremely cannibalistic, and every year you'll see a story about a huge northern that was found dead on shore- with an even bigger northern half swallowed stuck in its gullet! I'm talking about say an 8 pounder that tried to swallow a 10 pounder😬

Northerns are probably the best fighting fish we have. Nothing else has the power and ability to peel line off the drag like they do. When you set the hook on a Pike, you know what it is as soon as it makes a run. Another thing I really try to get through my wife and kid's heads- a northern always saves a burst of energy. I get them up and ready to land (I don't carry a landing net, especially in a canoe), and I wait. The fish will look like it's played out, but as soon as you reach for it, it will explode into another run. A lot of people end up getting their line snapped right there, the really unlucky ones end up jointly hooked on a treble hook of a daredevil lure with a Northern- not good.

So I let the Northern use up his second wind, and third and fourth if he is so inclined. It does not pay to frantically try to get the fish in the boat with them.

If you try to hold a Northern like you would a Largemouth, recovery would be a long time coming. I hold them by sliding my thumb inside the bottom of their gill opening to the bottom of the inside of their mouth. Their teeth are all along the outside of their jaw, and as counterintuitive as it is to put a finger inside that toothy maw, the membrane at the bottom of their mouth is a safe spot and provides the only way I've found to securely hold the toothy, slimy monsters.

A little illustration of the aggressive and fearless nature of Northerns. As my daughter and I were fishing from the canoe, I got a bite. What felt like a small fish, suddenly felt bigger. As I got it closer, I could see what I had. A really small bass, like 8", with a 3 pound Northern attached. I told my daughter, "check out this Northern, I bet it's not even hooked!" I got it up to the canoe, and sure enough, the Nirthern had the bass in its mouth sideways, with the hook in the bass' mouth. I brought it right up to the canoe, and the Northern wouldn't let go. I finally grabbed the canoe paddle and started just tapping it on the snout, after which it finally let go. Ornery beasts!