How to fillet northern pike to remove "Y" bones

1. Fillet the northern pike just as you would a walleye .

2. Place fillet on newspaper to keep it from slipping-with inside of fillet up .

3. Look for row of white "dots" which are the ends of the "Y" bones . (See Figure 1 .)
    These can be felt by running a finger over the fillet .

4. Using a sharp , short , flexible fillet knife , make cut along top of white "dots" as shown in
    Figure 2 and Figure 3 . Note that "Y" bone curves slightly , so try to follow curvature of "Y"
    bone . Cut entirely through the fillet .

5. Make second cut along bottom side of white dots as shown in Figures 2 and 3 (above)
    again following bone curvature as much as possible .

6. Make above two cuts toward the tail end of the fillet to the point where the "Y" bones
    stop . This is about to the vent of the fish .

7. Cut "Y" bone strip of flesh off the throw away .

8. Cook and eat the deboned fillet . It's finger-licking' good .

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