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| Which would you rather eat. Poll strictly for taste preference. Not to include ease of cleaning, abundance, etc....
Got in a discussion with a co worker on what fish tastes better. Ive had both fresh side by side and no doubt , i prefer one over the other.
As did the group i was with. |
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Location: Illinois | Pike. |
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Location: Alex or Alek? | Pike is great but I love my eyes. If Pike get pulled out of really warm water the meat can get mushy, maybe its my mind playing tricks on me. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Pike. We take a couple trips to North Dakota every year to fish pike just because we like to eat 'em. |
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Posts: 1209
| Pike caught winter through spring in nd, Steve where about do you fish in nd? |
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Posts: 8719
| Pike. Hands down. We'll take some walleyes here and there, but I'd rather eat pike. Added bonus is there are a lot of lakes that are overrun with them so you don't have to feel bad about harvesting them. Bad part is I suck at getting the Y bones out of 'em. 
Edited by esoxaddict 8/10/2016 10:29 AM
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Location: Metro | I am a little surprised that so many people would rather have pike. I always thought that walleye was the fish to have on your plate if you were going to eat fish. Is the big deterrent the fact that they are a more difficult fish to cut? |
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Location: Alex or Alek? | Musky952 - 8/10/2016 10:27 AM
Is the big deterrent the fact that they are a more difficult fish to cut?
If you don't know what you're doing you'll be eating bones. Or taking 10 minutes a fillet.
Pike have a another set of bones (Y-bones) that you don't have to worry about in most other fish. |
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Posts: 186
Location: West Chicago, IL | 100% pike......never even thought of pike as a good fish to eat and then one day someone had me do the "Pepsi Challenge" with Pike vs Walleye and I definitely preferred the pike......by a lot. Has a great sweet flavor where the walleye is more bland |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Pike for sure... get the bones out, chunk them up and fry them up... nothing better.. we ate some last week in Canada and we ate walleyes too... I'll take pike over walleye any day up there! soooo goooood
Edited by BNelson 8/10/2016 11:07 AM
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Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | There was no option for "I don't like fish"! I'll take the bone-in Ribeye! |
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| No question, pike. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | North Dakota Pike fishing is unreal, and tip up ice fishing absolutely off the charts.
Devils and some lakes South of there. |
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Posts: 612
| I like them both, but given a choice I will take walleye. |
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Location: Smith Creek | If the choice is between eating a pike or walleye that's been cooking in its own slime in a 100 degree livewell all day, I'll take the walleye. Same if it was cleaned and frozen.
Fresh, well cared for? Pike.
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | Given that for a choice ill take pike. I was shown by a resort owner how to take the Y boons out when i was around 12 years old after that my dad made me the fish cleaner. |
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| Stumbled on it by accident. Had one die on me and decided I'd give it a try. These days a lot of them die on me. |
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| I guess I prefer a walleye. Either way if u plan to keep some to eat the best way to keep them fresh is to bonk them and put them on ice till you get to the cleaning table. They are a lot easier to clean than when they a parboiled in the deadwell all afternoon. |
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Location: North St. Paul, MN | Pike - bigger, meatier
Watch the YouTube videos on how to take out the Y bones...then, practice! 25-28 inchers are my wheel house. Under that, and getting the Y bones is a little trickier and I end up butchering the "good meat." I don't like keeping them over that.
Lac Seul has a strict "catch and kill" policy on fish you're keeping. So, for years we've been bonking them and putting them on ice. Best thing for fresh tasting fish...get em' on ice!!! Stayed at a lodge on Eagle and the resort employees thought we were nuts when we brought our fish in dead/on ice. |
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Location: Minnesota. | I'm the odd-man-out here but unless they're sunnies to me (and likely me only) fish are good for two things, puttin' back an' pushin' up tomatoes...
Okay, I'll defer from that a tad -- on our family vacations when I'll eat a pike or two and/or a few walleyes but - if there's a burger nearby all bets are off!
I know, I'm odd. |
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Location: Alex or Alek? | Jeremy - 8/10/2016 2:35 PM
I'm the odd-man-out here but unless they're sunnies to me (and likely me only) fish are good for two things, puttin' back an' pushin' up tomatoes...
If crappies was a option, I'd be changing my vote. |
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Posts: 157
Location: Lincoln, NE | Never had pike and I hear it's great but if done right hands down flathead catfish over walleye all day every day. |
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| I get plenty of walleye to eat every year, so I picked Pike, which I don't get to eat very often. Pike is really good if prepared and cooked properly. Cut the gills to bleed them out, and put them on ice immediately. Get JoMusky to make his Blackened Pike and dirty rice for supper! Best Pike recipe ever!
Edited by Shep 8/10/2016 4:12 PM
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Location: St. Lawrence River | I am so surprised with you Midwesterners.. I thought I would be in the minority here. Definitely pike! We fish for pike in the winter a lot, I truly prefer them over walleyes. Nothing against eating walleye.
If anyone has trouble dealing with the sliminess you get sometimes with northerns, try this.. Wring a newspaper down the pike from top to bottom. It will stick right to the fish and take so much gunk off the thing its not even funny. Works great.
Edited by JakeStCroixSkis 8/10/2016 5:17 PM
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Location: SE WISCONSIN | Pike |
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Location: The desert | Pike. It's not close. |
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| Sooo, okay...
Lots of guys love pike. Let's talk about preparation!
Never thought of gilling them or packing them in ice, because all but one or two were still alive when filleted and found their way into shore lunch and butter within 30 minutes of meeting their maker.
What do you guys do with the occasional pike that may not get eaten for 12 hours or more? |
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Posts: 1168
| Pike is by far my favorite freshwater fish to eat. The only thing that comes remotely close would be perch. Walleyes? Blech...just don't care for them. I'd trade a freezer full of walleyes for 3 or 4 decent pike.
I don't bleed mine out and I don't wipe the slime off before cleaning them. Never ever had an issue with funky tasting meat off of a pike but with any freshwater fish I try to avoid eating ones taken out of excessively warm water.
Baked, broiled, deep fried, grilled, pan fried, boiled...it's all good. If I had to pick one way to make it I'd have to go with boiling it up as poor man's lobster. Pike meat is so much more versatile than many other kinds of freshwater fish and the flavor is incredible. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I found Wabigoon pike to be the best I have ever had, with Devils Lake shrimp fed pike a close second. The meat from DL pike is orange from them eating tons of shrimp.Best boiled pike ever.
That said, we went to a numbers lake a put a couple meals of crappies in the fridge. I am looking forward to that... |
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Location: North St. Paul, MN | Tell us about boiling, please. Interested in this. What do you do after boiling? I have some vacuum packed, in the freezer from last month needing to get eaten! I usually just batter em up lightly and fry them. |
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| Let's rendezvous,,,ill trade ya two pounds of pike for every pound of walleye,,here in the metro we can limit on pike in no time. |
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| I don't think metro fish qualifies as food...Sticky icky |
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| Pike boil. Get a big pot put in water & salt bring to boil put in cut into chunks potatoes, carrots , onion & boil till fork tender. Float chunks of pike fillets on top till done about 3 minutes. Remove cover with melted butter and eat.
Google pike boil for videos |
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Location: Alex or Alek? | Fish cakes are also a great way to make any fish. |
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Location: Fifield | I'll take either. Bonk them, pack them on ice and cut the gills so they bleed out. |
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| muskyroller - 8/10/2016 10:56 PM Tell us about boiling, please. Interested in this. What do you do after boiling? I have some vacuum packed, in the freezer from last month needing to get eaten! I usually just batter em up lightly and fry them. boil them in sprite for a couple of minutes until they looked cooked. awesome |
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Location: North St. Paul, MN | Anybody do a "lobster pasta" after boiling the snot rockets? Sounds good, but who knows.... |
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Location: MN | I prefer pike but I don't like to clean them. I can do the Y bone but don't like to deal with the slime. An old Asian lady told me an easy trick to take the slime off that I've been meaning to try. I'd take cats (out of clean water), perch, crappies or gills over both of them any day. I think a lot of people like walleye because they are tasteless. Same with Halibut. |
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Location: minocqua, wi. | Pike by a landslide ... |
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| muskyroller - 8/10/2016 11:56 PM
Tell us about boiling, please. Interested in this. What do you do after boiling? I have some vacuum packed, in the freezer from last month needing to get eaten! I usually just batter em up lightly and fry them.
Same way you'd boil haddock, cod, pollock, etc. Get a big pot, put water in it, add a touch of salt, and a couple of bay leaves. Some people add some sugar but I never do. Get the water to a rolling boil and toss the fish in and they will sink. When they float they are ready to eat. Pull the fish out and season with whatever trips your trigger. Lemon, pepper, etc. and dip it in melted butter.
I don't know of anyone who leaves the skin on pike but I'd imagine if you prepare it this way with the skin still attached it's going to be awful. Maybe not but I myself can't imagine it being good. |
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| True story...
I was in Canada with my family about 15-20 years ago. We got a lot of walleye, but my uncle really wanted to have northern pike. Said he had some the other week and it was delicious. So, we kept two 23 inch pike. Cleaned them up nicely, put them in the fridge with the walleye fillets and let the meat cool.
We at the pike the next night, along with walleye. Prepared them the same way as the walleyes. Fried it up the same way. We, all 7 of us, took a bite of the pike and spit it out. Awful. Dove into the walleyes, no fish left.
We threw the pike into the trash. Middle of the night raccoons hit the trash, dump it over, eat everything, dirty paper towels, Kleenex...etc. Except? You guessed it, the northern pike. Even the coons wouldn't touch that stuff.
Could be that you can't prepare pike like you do walleye. But I'll never keep one to eat. More for you guys! |
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Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | I'm calling BS on ur story Vegas
In the cold deep waters of northern Saskatchewan Pike and Walleye are both excellent tasting fish. Given the choice, I would take pike over walleye or any other fish. |
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Location: St. Lawrence River | vegas492 - 8/11/2016 3:23 PM
True story...
I was in Canada with my family about 15-20 years ago. We got a lot of walleye, but my uncle really wanted to have northern pike. Said he had some the other week and it was delicious. So, we kept two 23 inch pike. Cleaned them up nicely, put them in the fridge with the walleye fillets and let the meat cool.
We at the pike the next night, along with walleye. Prepared them the same way as the walleyes. Fried it up the same way. We, all 7 of us, took a bite of the pike and spit it out. Awful. Dove into the walleyes, no fish left.
We threw the pike into the trash. Middle of the night raccoons hit the trash, dump it over, eat everything, dirty paper towels, Kleenex...etc. Except? You guessed it, the northern pike. Even the coons wouldn't touch that stuff.
Could be that you can't prepare pike like you do walleye. But I'll never keep one to eat. More for you guys!
Let me tell you something honkey.. we cook our pike and walleye identical, deep fryed, egg wash/Italian bread crumbs.. somwtimes together. It takes an extremely keen taste to tell the difference. I've eaten loads and loads of them like this. |
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Location: Waukee, IA | Taste pretty similar to me, I fry both. Each has its own slight taste variation, but ultimately they both fall in the same category to me, "mild white freshwater fish." For argument sake I'll say pike though I'd never turn down walleye |
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Location: SE, WI. | Back In the 70's, my dad and I fished pelican in Onieda county. WE would fry a 16" eye, and a 24" pike. AFter that test, we picked the pike every Time!!! The meat was simply sweeter!!! ALso the meat was a bit orange...probably from all the crabs they fed on. Was at a party at sand bay beach about 10 years back. The party of eight all brought there catches to the fish fry. IT included gills, crappie, and my favorite PIKe. AFter everybody sampled the fish, to most surprise, the pike was gone first. MY choice's would be in order; PIke #1 Perch 2 Gills 3 WAlleye 4 JD
Edited by jdsplasher 8/11/2016 8:11 PM
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| I love pike too... the really interesting thing is muskies taste just like pike  |
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| Pike boiled in 7-UP with a side of butter. Can't be beat. |
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| In Canada the guides wouldn't eat the walleyes lol. pike are so good |
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| Sorry guys, it is a true story. Family members can attest. We tried to eat it, it was just a different consistency and it had a bad taste. Not saying that it wasn't the chef's fault (mine), as I didn't treat them any differently than we did walleye fillets.
Dad cleaned them, no bones. I took the meat, put it into a large bowl, filled with water, then lightly salted the water. Kept the pike in the salted water overnight, then dumped the water and rinsed the meat. Then put water back into the bowl with the pike fillets and put the bowl back into the refrigerator. Same drill I do on all walleye fillets. Later that night, I prepared all fillets in a flour mix, egg wash bath and final cracker seasoning. Walleyes were to die for, pike were horrible.
So bad the raccoons didn't even touch them. I've run into a ton of guys that really enjoy pike, just like on this board. To each their own. I'm just not one of them. However, if you ever see me around, I'll keep keeper pike for yah, happy to do it. |
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Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | Unless your dad punctured internal organs and saturated the fish, BS!!! The fact that you said the raccoons didn't touch them is proof |
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| I don't think he did. He cut the meat off of the top of the fish, then took some meat from the back 1/3 of the fish down to the tail. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, Pike Master, but it didn't taste good at all. Could be a matter of preference.
My mother, though, really liked to pickle larger pike. Dad would keep them every now and then for her. I think she even liked them served as poor man's lobster and cooked under the broiler. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | vegas492 - 8/12/2016 11:06 AM
I don't think he did. He cut the meat off of the top of the fish, then took some meat from the back 1/3 of the fish down to the tail. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, Pike Master, but it didn't taste good at all. Could be a matter of preference.
My mother, though, really liked to pickle larger pike. Dad would keep them every now and then for her. I think she even liked them served as poor man's lobster and cooked under the broiler.
Probably was full of lactic acid, which Pike and Muskies can produce during the fight under certain circumstances. I've run into that a couple times, and you are right, the meat actually tastes bad. |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I'm going with "whatever the Worralls are making". They could probably serve carp and sucker for breakfast and it would be delish. |
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Location: Elk Grove Village, IL & Phillips, WI | Oh no, it's pike! As bad as hot dogs!
Edited by KenK 8/12/2016 12:28 PM
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Location: The desert | Slamr - 8/12/2016 11:43 AM
I'm going with "whatever the Worralls are making". They could probably serve carp and sucker for breakfast and it would be delish.
Suckers are actually pretty good.
Carp suck.
I would gladly give up all other fish if I could catch piles upon piles of eelpout. |
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| Walleye,...Yellow,Blue and Sauger. |
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Location: Waukesha & Land O Lakes, WI | Walleye hands down. Only time I consider Pike is if I catch them through the ice and I cook them right away.
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Definitely pike! Either poached, boiled or fried. I like the egg wash & Italian Bread Crumbs too. SWORRALL should do a video on filleting pike & removing Y bones, he's fast......lots of practice.
PP - Grass Carp are pretty tasty!
Have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 8/16/2016 8:39 AM
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| MOJOcandy101 - 8/11/2016 7:56 AM
Fish cakes are also a great way to make any fish.
Tried making them for the first time this weekend. Cod cakes. They were simply amazing!
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| sworrall - 8/12/2016 11:21 AM
vegas492 - 8/12/2016 11:06 AM
I don't think he did. He cut the meat off of the top of the fish, then took some meat from the back 1/3 of the fish down to the tail. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, Pike Master, but it didn't taste good at all. Could be a matter of preference.
My mother, though, really liked to pickle larger pike. Dad would keep them every now and then for her. I think she even liked them served as poor man's lobster and cooked under the broiler.
Probably was full of lactic acid, which Pike and Muskies can produce during the fight under certain circumstances. I've run into that a couple times, and you are right, the meat actually tastes bad.
Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought that to be an issue if you soak the fillets in a little salt water bath, then keep them in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
You've now convinced me to try pike again with an open mind. |
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| vegas492 - 8/16/2016 8:32 AM
sworrall - 8/12/2016 11:21 AM
vegas492 - 8/12/2016 11:06 AM
I don't think he did. He cut the meat off of the top of the fish, then took some meat from the back 1/3 of the fish down to the tail. I'm sorry to hurt your feelings, Pike Master, but it didn't taste good at all. Could be a matter of preference.
My mother, though, really liked to pickle larger pike. Dad would keep them every now and then for her. I think she even liked them served as poor man's lobster and cooked under the broiler.
Probably was full of lactic acid, which Pike and Muskies can produce during the fight under certain circumstances. I've run into that a couple times, and you are right, the meat actually tastes bad.
Very interesting. I wouldn't have thought that to be an issue if you soak the fillets in a little salt water bath, then keep them in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
You've now convinced me to try pike again with an open mind.
Worth it. Trust us. |
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| I'm pretty curious about this boiling method explained in a few posts...can anyone elaborate more on the boiling in sprite method? For any fish? Do you add anything to the sprite? It sounds interesting and something I'd love to try soon. |
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Location: Waukee, IA | Can't say I've boiled with sprite, but I've enjoyed pike boiled in water, lemon juice, salt and bay leaves. The recipe was called "poor man's lobster," but it just tasted like fish to me. It was very good dipped in butter, much the same as lobster. |
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Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Love boiled pike. Add cubed potatoes, fresh green beans, carrots if you like 'em, boil with the above ingredients tk mentioned, drain and butter the whole deal. Good stuff.
Boil the pike, add veggies to taste, and then put it all in 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup, and a chowder is borne. Also really good with canned Chinese veggies. |
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| sworrall - 8/18/2016 7:04 PM
Love boiled pike. Add cubed potatoes, fresh green beans, carrots if you like 'em, boil with the above ingredients tk mentioned, drain and butter the whole deal. Good stuff.
Boil the pike, add veggies to taste, and then put it all in 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup, and a chowder is borne. Also really good with canned Chinese veggies.
I'm trying this one next. Sounds delicious. |
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Location: 31 | Everything being equal, Pike is a full notch above walleye at our house… but I would never turn down a well prepared Walleye either.
Years ago I was staying on Oak Island LOW and Lauren Jr. boated over from the bunk house to pick us up and take us to Young's Bay (I was leaving my boat on a spare trailer on the island).
We had already cooked up a mess of eggs, potatoes, walleye, and northern pike for breakfast. Lauren sat down to eat and Dick said “be careful Lauren, there’s some northern pike mixed in there”. I immediately countered with; “he's just messing with you, there's no Pike”. He laughed and proceeded to fork of a large piece of northern pike into his mouth and began complementing how good fresh walleye was for breakfast. I distinctly remember him saying his sister would bake northern pike and it would stink up the house for days. He said he hated that disgusting fish and could smell it frying a mile away while he was chewing a mouthful of pike. I use cedar shingles to clean them on so they don't slip around so much, then just pitch cedar. I really like that newspaper idea for the slime and will give that a try. |
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Location: Lake Tomahawk, WI | Pike, better flavor and texture.
JS |
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| vegas492 - 8/17/2016 8:24 AM
I'm pretty curious about this boiling method explained in a few posts...can anyone elaborate more on the boiling in sprite method? For any fish? Do you add anything to the sprite? It sounds interesting and something I'd love to try soon.
Have been doing it for years. Okada showed me this one. Big pot and bring the soda to a boil and cook fish until done. That easy. Did it at a popular camp on Eagle Lake and everyone loved it. A little different from fried all the time. |
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| Seriously? It is that easy? I've been steaming cod lately, and it has been great. I'll try this method next. |
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| Neither. |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | Pike
Hand Down the Best ! |
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| Eight or nine years ago the Wisconsin DNR did a fish survey on the lake where I live, including netting, shocking and then followed up with creel surveys for the entire season. The tech who did the creel surveys has since retired but he did that work for years following his return from Vietnam. He loved fishing and eating fish. Other than trout from Upper Peninsula streams, he said his favorite fish was pike. Right after he started, he stopped by my dock and introduced himself and told me about the study. He stopped to check with me on what I had caught four times during the season and as luck would have it, three of those times I had caught and released pike of 30" or more. He chided me the first time about throwing back such good eating fish. The last time was early November and he said I was the only one fishing on the chain. I told him I had caught a musky but that it had no visible fin clips, which he always asked about. Then I told him I had caught and released a nice, fat, 33" pike while fishing for musky. He just shook his head and said "you're hopeless".
Edited by North of 8 5/20/2017 6:44 AM
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| I would say pike when comparing filet meat but walleye cheeks are by far better than any pike. |
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Location: Ames, Iowa | No one has mentioned yellow perch. They're my favorite. My wife Tammy is the best Y bone extractor on Leech lake. Her and her sister won't fish with me cause I fish muskie. They have their own boat, catch a lot of northern, so we eat a lot of northern. |
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Location: Southwest PA | djwilliams - 5/23/2017 9:32 PM
No one has mentioned yellow perch. They're my favorite. My wife Tammy is the best Y bone extractor on Leech lake. Her and her sister won't fish with me cause I fish muskie. They have their own boat, catch a lot of northern, so we eat a lot of northern.
I would second a yellow perch vote! Love me some fried perch... |
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