What do you do with Northern Pikeminnow?

WA Martin

WA Martin

Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
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I caught this northern pikeminnow at Palmer Lake, WA.:

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What do you do with them? If I got it from the Columbia River and had over 100 of them (at least 9 inches big) I could get bounty money for them but I don't think there is a bounty program for Palmer Lake. This one is 15" or so. A buddy was up at the same spot today catching the same in the 12" range. As far as I know they are the coyote of the lake. All they do is eat the sport fish.

Can you/should you eat them? Do you fillet them? Can't fillet them like a walleye, I tried.
 
Not sure, I've never seen one till now. If it is like a grass carp you could try smoking it. I love smoked carp.
 
My buddy at work that seems to know all about fishing just said to throw them away. Apparently taste bad and have too many little bones to bother with. Although another co-worker said to BBQ them. But will all the bones it doesn't seem worth the effort.
 
Word of Warning: don't put the carcass in your trash to stew all week. The stench was so bad this morning that I had to wash the trash can out. Fortunately I didn't have to do CPR on the trashman when he opened the lid. (I made sure I was away from home when he came by just in case...)
 
Up here "northern pikeminnow" is the new, political correct name for squawfish....I usually bonk them and toss'em to the eagles.
 
I had a lady friend once who had a first nations background. She would bake the squawfish (that's what the first nations people call them) and then flake the meat off the bones.

She then added onions, potatos, spices peppers and other ingredients and made fishcakes. Not bad tasting but alot of work to go through!

I am with you Bruce, I kill them and toss them.
 
Bruce Culberson said:
Up here "northern pikeminnow" is the new, political correct name for squawfish....I usually bonk them and toss'em to the eagles.
Click to expand...

You got it, Bruce. When someone said it kinda looked like a squawfish and I said that's one of the AKAs everyone seemed to know exactly what i was talking about. And nine out of ten people said into the trash!
 
First time I've ever seen one ? When I read the title I was thinking "Northern Pike" minnow as in baby N. Pike ! Where is this species native to ? Are they a Predator type fish with teeth or are they like asian carp & just a nusiance ?
 
Bruce Culberson said:
Up here "northern pikeminnow" is the new, political correct name for squawfish....I usually bonk them and toss'em to the eagles.
Click to expand...

was just about to post that Bruce!!!
we also will leave one on shore for the foxes that patrol for fish cleaning offal

they are fun to fish with kids in some of the shallow lakes around here that are not good for trout when it warms up.

They did studies on the columbia and found the larger squaws eat a healthy number of steelhead smolts. NOT a good trade in my opinion hence the bounty.

One angler a couple of years ago made 45 to 50,000 on the bounty system!!!!!!
 
They were once a staple food in the local tribes diet. But then most Indians ate anything they could between salmon runs. I've tried them back in my college days and they are a little on the bony side. I knew a place where a coastal stream ran between two big rocks and you could actually catch squawfish with your bare hands when they were running up it for spawning.

What is a mullet head?
 
S G a mullet head was pretty easy to identify in the late 80's/early 90's by the distinctive mississippi mudflap hairdo you know all business up front and a party in the back.Aging 5.0 liter mustang aficianados can still be seen in trailer parks nationwide with their paen to Billy Ray Cyrus proudly worn.A mullet heads answer to how was fishin' is " got my limit".You don't find mullet heads on wilderness streams with wild trout,but roadside waterways full of dough bellies courtesy of the fish and game dept are notorious haunts of the species.A mullet head will tell he ain't too good at hitting paper targets but "if it's got fur on it"he is deaths own hammer with his trusty 30/30 that he has never sighted in because "i kind of just like it to be on target when I throw 'er to my shoulder".A mullet head also tends to breathe through the mouth and not use q tips, aswell as liberally using man perfume aka cologne.These are a few ways to identify mullet heads now that the distinctive hairdo they were originally named after has become less common.
 
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