Ice Fishin' Northern Pike-Love 'Em or (S)Not

Fishing for Walleye and Perch? Whether you love 'em or are annoyed by them, Northern Pike are part of ice fishing. Yes, they are slimy, snotty line takers but we're here to share some ideas to make them a little more palatable.

Northern is delicious eating if you can serve it boneless. It takes some extra time, but well worth the effort especially with the larger fish. Cook it using your favorite recipe and you just may agree, it can be as good as eating fresh Walleye.

If you are a fan of Pickled Herring, you will love Pickled Pike. For this recipe, don't worry about the bones. You can even use the smaller 'snake' Northerns, as the bones 'dissolve' during the process.

Pickled Pike
Use glass, not metal ware.
5 C. water
1 C. salt
Clean fish. Cut into bite-sized chunks. Put pike into a jar of water & salt and refrigerate for 48 hours. Tip over or shake jar a couple of times. Drain, clean and rinse the jar and the fish.
Place fish back into jar. Pour clear vinegar over fish and re-refrigerate for another 48 hours. Again tip or shake the jar after every 8 hours or so.
Drain and throw away this vinegar. Rinse out the jar.
Thinly slice an onion.
Make a brine of the following ingredients and boil for 5 minutes. Cool.
2 C. vinegar
4 whole bay leaves
2 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. whole allspice
1 tsp. whole pepper
1 tsp. whole cloves
1-1/2 C. sugar
½ C. white Port Wine
Alternate fish and onion, pack in jar. Pour brine over each layer, saving some for over the top.
Can be eaten within a few days. All bones should have dissolved. To fill a gallon jar, I use 1.5x all the ingredients listed.

Enjoy the great ice fishing season.