Grilled Northern Pike on Rosemary & Cedar

The other day I went kayak fishing on the Connecticut River and hooked into a strong Northern Pike. The fish pulled me around for about 5 minutes before coming to the surface. During the fight, I pulled my camera out but changed my mind. I didn't want to risk losing a nice fish for a good photo. 

I was surprised to land the toothy monster without a metal leader on my line (I was fishing off the bottom with nightcrawlers for perch and bass). At 5 1/2 pounds, and 32" long it was easily enough meat for a few meals, so I decided to harvest it.

gutted pike ready for filleting on a large pizza box

I'd never really cooked a pike before. I'd caught much smaller ones on the Connecticut River, but always released them (for taking a Northern on the river, the minimum length requirement is 28"). Pike and Pickerel have a pesky "Y bone," which makes filleting them a bit more tricky. Online, I discovered the website of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department , which has an instructional video how to remove the Y bones, and offers a slew of recipes, from "poor man's lobster" to a pickled pike dip. (Yeah, really.) Since Northern Pike is North Dakota's state fish, I figured they know a thing or two.

By the time I finished filleting, it was too late to cook, so I cut and submerged the fillets in ice water and let them soak overnight. I decided to freeze a lot of the fish (in water), since there was about 2 1/2 pounds of fillet. I have plenty of Aquaponic Rosemary, which is one of my favorite herbs for cooking fish.

Aquaponic Rosemary

For last night's dinner, I followed this recipe, substituting maple syrup for brown sugar: 

Cedar Planked Pike

Soak a cedar plank for at least 1 hour or longer until the wood becomes saturated. Keep plank in water until ready for use.

Pike Fillets (Rub quantities should make enough for 2 decent size fillets), 2-3 fresh sprigs of rosemary

Rub:
1/2 Tbs smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Mix rub ingredients thoroughly. Apply to fish. Set aside. Heat your grill to 350 degrees (better with charcoal than with gas but both work, you can also use your oven just be careful the wood plank will smoke). Place rosemary on soaked plank on grill for 5 minutes prior to putting fish on it. Place fish on plank overtop the rosemary and cook until tender. Do not flip fish. Serve on plank.

I started the raw fillets over indirect heat for the first 20 minutes 

I finished the fillets over direct heat for the last 15 minutes. Here they are almost done

ready to eat 

So how did it taste?

Delicious. The fish has a densely flaky texture, but wasn't too flaky. It held up well to all the spices, and the mixture of the cedar, rosemary and maple syrup really brought it to another level. A little squeeze of lemon...Boom!

If pike weren't so predacious, slimy and bony, there might not be an open season for them. I took my time filleting, but still managed to miss a few thin bones.

More Northern Pike recipes here: http://gf.nd.gov/fishing/other-fishing-information/pike/recipes