Since I fish mostly walleye I’ve only cleaned a few northerns over the years and suck at y bone removal. My question is if I fry small northerns in oil, will the y bones cook through and through since they are small? Hoping someone has tried this and the answer is YES!
Nobody makes 10 free throws in a row the first time they try, but with practice anybody can.
Watch some videos and practice on some Pike.
To answer your question, when you miss a bone on any other fish and cook it… There’s still a bone to chew on.
Since I fish mostly walleye I’ve only cleaned a few northerns over the years and suck at y bone removal. My question is if I fry small northerns in oil, will the y bones cook through and through since they are small? Hoping someone has tried this and the answer is YES!
those little snot rockets are great for pickling………….y-bones go away!!!!!!
i grew up pulling the why bones out of fried pike so that never bothers me nor does it still. when the fish are that small i pickle them.
Stop after step 3. 3 wonderful fillets for your enjoyment. I’m not a fan of waste whatsoever, but in many bodies of water these fish are a huge problem. They need to be removed, and the new MN regulations agree.
To bad there isnt more youtube videos on removing y bones from cooked pike. It is extremely simple and you wont starve to death doing it. The tail has no bones, eat away. Lower part of the rest of the filet has no bones if the ribs are removed, eat away. Top half of what is left has y bones in it. Split that in half the long way and quickly remove the bones. Finish eating the fish.
Sort version to answer your question, yes there will still be bones to deal with.
I wish more fishermen would keep a TON of those smaller pike. I am guilty as the next person and hate the process of cleaning then. Unless its a 3-4lb + fish you might as well stop after the Backstrap and tail portion. That final step will yield vary little meat and is a lot of work on smaller fish. I don’t like to waste meat anymore than anyone else but that final step is just not worth the headache to me. I think if more fishermen keep way more smaller pike they would really help most lakes out a lot. You cant beat a pike as far as the taste. I’d rather eat a pike ( Cleaned by someone else 
) Than a walleye any day. I’d rank pike # 2 just after Perch as the best eating freshwater fish.
The 5 filet method is the best option imo. However, if you just do a regular filet of a smaller pike and make vertical cuts in the Y bone sections, so it looks like a bannister (solid rail of meat on top and bottom, and a bunch of vertical cuts down the side) a lot of the y bones will cook out while frying. It’s not a 100% but it’s an improvement, and doesn’t waste any meat.
Thanks all. I too hate wasting meat but I guess it is going to be only backstrap and tail meat for me on the 20″ snot rockets. I could handle picking out bones but the Mrs. no way!
Filet, rib & skin off like normal. Then leave the filets in a bowl of water in the fridge overnight. This firms the meat so you can see the y bones much better and makes it much better for cutting the y bones out the next day.
Fry the 2 parts with no bones, take the 2 y bone pieces and pickle them, problem solved. 
I’ll second the pickling of these snakes instead of trying to pan fry them. As glenn47 has already indicated, the pickling process just dissolves the bones away so there’s nothing to worry about.
The real problem is how did we get into this problem with so many lakes over run with small pike? The answer is we kept too many of the bigger ones. And of course, the bigger ones are the primary predator keeping the small ones under control. Yep, it was an over harvest problem which is why virtually the entire state has some kind of special regs on them.
OR lay the pike fillets flat put in microwave for about minute and a half, fish shrinks, bones pop out of meat , pick our with forceps.
The real problem is how did we get into this problem with so many lakes over run with small pike? The answer is we kept too many of the bigger ones.
Yup and large part to why that happened is bc it’s such a PIA to clean them! I’ve NEVER heard an old timer say they didn’t like northerns.
Take y bone fillets off, let em soak overnight, pickle, do this that and the lat sounds like alot of work.
Keep er simple. Keep small ones, take off 3 fillets and call it good
I have always made my pike like poor mans lobster. 1 cut to remove the bones after it is cooked and no wasted meat.
Pretty simple to pick them out of cooked filets… tinfoil, with butter and onion on the hot grill for 12 minutes, yummy.
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