Winnipeg River - Northern Pike

[Ruth]

I don't care for the jack fish that much - I find them a bit strong and oily. I went on a 3 day fly in fishing trip up to Trout Lake in the NWT a couple of years ago. Wonderful fishing although you really could not call it "sport" fishing as you pretty much got a fish with just about every cast. We only kept the pickerel up to our limit. We had native guides and they would keep quite a few of the jacks as they used them for dog food.

[Zylumn]

You cook and fillet them properly they can be very tasty but DanG is correct stating they taste better pulled from cold water.

[Doug]

We would eat some in the spring but with the abundance of walleye where I lived, why eat jacks. Make pretty good steaks for the campfire though, as long as one is very good at filleting them. Lots of bones. I use to meet a guy from Sask. at our spring trip to Reed Lake and he always brough canned pike. Was good, almost like salmon.

Seen lots of large ones in my time up north but never that big. Would not want my hand in his mouth while removing a hook. Their teeth are razor sharp and slope backwards. I have lost a few spatters of blood to a few of them from hook removal.

[fishoholic]

and I thought the 18 pound pike I caught as a kid was big!