They are slimy little buggers. I usually throw them back but am gonna try to figure out how to get they Y bones out this season and try some recipes I found. Who all keeps them?
Pretty decent size crack! Question for you crappie fisherman - What are your favorite lures for fishing crappies through the ice? I will be adding new line to 6+ rods we have and am going to invest in a few new lures. Here is my list so far: 1/8th oz forage minnow Lindy Frostee Spoon Demon Jig Lindy Genz Bug Kit pink teardrop #10 Diamond Jig in glow white Hali Jig
3am Sunday morning. Second the forage minnow maynards - alien grub (tungsten) wonder jigs - striper teardrop jig
You know a deep fried northern tastes just as good as walleye. Cleaning them is a bigger pain so most people don't keep them. I haven't cleaned enough of them to know how to get around that y bone either. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Taking the Y bones out of a northern if way easier than people think and definitely worth it! If you filet one side just like a normal fish an place it skin down with the top of the fish away from you the Y bones will be towards the top. What you do is run your fingers along them several times to get a feel for where they are. You can usually see the little white dots of them. take your knife and cut above the line down until you can feel the bones with your knife. Go slow with this step you dont want to cut through them. Once you have cut down to the bones all the way across, turn your blade and cut along the bones towards the top of the filet. This piece you cut off is good to eat and is like a fish stick. Next, take your knive and cut under the line of bones gently pulling up as your curve your blade towards the top of the filet. If done correctly you have removed the Y bones and nothing more. the rest of the filet is just like any other fish now. Here is a sketch that I made to clear it up, definitely not professional quality though.
There's a few fisheries in NH that offer opportunities at pike...for the most where I'll be setting up its pickerel that inhabit the waters. I've caught a few through the ice in the 18"-22" range, they aren't huge compared to a pike, but would pulling fillets of these be the same as a pike? I hear great things about the meat. I'd like to give it s try this season.
I've got a friend that for some reason loves cleaning northerns so I usually keep a few a year. I hate cleaning fish.
Stopping at Cabelas tonight... On the list: Northland Forage Minnow Spoon Northland Forage Minnow Jig Northland Forage Minnow Fry Jig Hali Sukkula Jig Pack of Demon Jigs Lindy Frostee Jig Northland Bionic Ice Fluorosilk line - Enough for 4 rods
Well, we finally got a cold snap here with no snow. We put on some heavy ice this week. Temps haven't made it above 20 for about 8 days and we had two nights in a row with wind chills dipping down to -30. I'm gonna try to get myself and my wife motivated to run some slack line smelts on tip ups at a good Brookie, rainbow, brown destination a few towns over sometime this week. I'll let yall know how we do.
Good luck jeffacarp! I'm hitting the ice I'm the early morning. Hope the walleyes are up early too. Drilled through 22" of ice this afternoon setting out the house.
Anyone else hitting the ice this weekend? I will be heading to either North Long Lake in search of Crappie/Walleye or Platte and Sullivan for Sunnies/Northern!
It's been slow for me so far...fish have been very finicky...I've marked all kinds of fish on the vex every time out...but so far haven't had much success getting them to bite. In 4 trips I have caught 3 gills, 1 crappie, and 1 perch....on 4 different lakes!
That's how it has been for the last few weeks here in central MN... After 2 straight weeks of temps under 20 degrees it's supposed to warm up to 35 degrees this weekend! Hoping the warmer temps get the fish to bite a bit more.
