Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada One time...at fishin' camp.....

My father-in-law won't let them in his boat. He is from Manitoba, and if it ain't a pickerel, it ain't a fish. My son tried to convince his Granpa to try catfish, but no luck. The lucky kid goes fishing with his Granpa in Snow Lake this spring.
We are hitting French River county in August. Muskie territory.

Do you guys have Muskies up there..??

We have both Pike and Muskies. In Chautauqua Lake just down the road from me we have a cross breed of the two we call Norlunges...If ya want a fight, I've heard that hookin' a 40 plus Norlunge is interesting....

Do we have muskies up here? There are two of the best muskie lakes in Ontario within a 20 minute drive of my house. Every year, there are muskies taken in the 48-50" range, and there have been some even larger than that taken. I think there was one or two taken that went nearly 60", but I may be wrong. I have seen the "logs" sunning themselves in the middle of the lake on many occasions. Biggest Pike I ever caught was about 24 lbs. That was plenty of fight on light tackle. My Dad caught a lot of big Pikes, and he ate every one of them. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

all this jack talk is makin' me hungry. One time in summer '04 we had company at the cabin that could feed the kids breakfast, so I told wifey she should come fishing with me early in the AM to see what its like (usually it's me and the lab...). In <2 hours we (mostly she) caught more than a dozen jacks and smallmouth... last one was a 36 1/2" jack... It was the biggest fish she'd ever seen, let alone caught herself. Needless to say, she now understands why I get up early to get a couple hours of rod time in.

We kept a couple including the big one... I filleted it boneless, and we had a couple of amazing meals... the kids devoured it. I've got a lot better at doing boneless jacks in the last 2 years, and we're eating more pike.... I like that they have some flavour... pickeral are a little bland, both on the line and in the pan IMHO.

Hey Brent, when you say filleted them boneless, how do you do that? I usually fillet them normally and then take out the ribs and "Y" bones seperately. Do you actually fillet the fish in a way that makes it boneless to begin with?

BTW, if you are frying up jacks and you find that they curl up in the pan, remember to fry the side that had the skin on it down first. That keeps them from curling up.


SS

Sorry, maybe a mis-nomer.. I do it in an extra step, after the ribs... probably same as you. It can be done in one process, sort of like de-boning a whole fish. I tried it, didn't like it so much. Seemed more tedious. I find it helpful to cut the fillets off the fish (but leave skin on). Then when you remove the Y bones, the skin helps to hold the meat together. After it's boneless I take the skin off.

good tip about the frying... I've never noticed that they curl, but I've probably been putting them "skin side down" in the pan by accident all these years. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I hadn't thought of leaving the skin on. I might have to try that one time. I usually lay them on a cookie sheet and leave them in the fridge for a couple hours to cool before I debone them. They get a little "stiff" (for lack of a better word) and it makes it easier to cut out the y bones.

I learned a way to do perch a couple years ago from my grandfather that works slick too. Cut off the dorsal fins and make sure the skin is cut along the back from head to tail. Cut down behind the head, just through the spine. Peel the skin off with your thumbnail from by this cut on the back. Hook your thumb in the gut cavity, grab the head with the other hand and pull them apart. You end up with a skinned and gutted perch. The tail and caudal fins are still attached (you can cut them off if you want) and you have all the meat on the fish still on the bone. You cook them up and then seperate the meat from the bones by running your knife on either side of the spine and lift it out by the tail. You have a perfect skeleton and no bones left in all the meat from the fish. I used to try and fillet them and it was tedious to say the least...


SS

"If you get a Pike that is in excess of 40" long, you got your hands full trying to heft them either by the eyes or the gills. Beside which, the boney edges of the orbits (eye holes) can be pretty sharp on the fingers, and the slime makes 'em a little tricky to hang onto around the neck".

Shooter, you are such a puss <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

"If you get a Pike that is in excess of 40" long, you got your hands full trying to heft them either by the eyes or the gills. Beside which, the boney edges of the orbits (eye holes) can be pretty sharp on the fingers, and the slime makes 'em a little tricky to hang onto around the neck"

Shooter, you are such a puss <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I picked up a pair of those gloves with the rubberized palms and I grab the jacks behind the head across the back. The gill plates generally flare out and kind of "hook" over your forefinger and thumb. I've lifted 40" jacks out of the water this way. The big ones are easy to grab. It's the little hammer-handles that are tough. They flip a few times and shoot out of your hand.


SS

LOL "Hammer handles" must be a canadian term... that's what they've been called in my family since I was a pup... not uncommon to chat with guys at the store and have 'em say "just a few hammer handles", so I realized it wasn't just my Dad's nickname.

I like holding 'em (hammer handles) with their tails sticking out in front... that way when they wiggle, I use the tail to give the dog a muzzle wiping before I toss 'em back.... she finds the slime tastey <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If I let her lick the pointy end, she'd probably get her tongue bit.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />"Hammer Handles" are about 4in longer than "Cigars"!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />