Ask Outdoor Dick!
Jun 14, 2005
Don't Let Your Northern Go South
dick
Dear Outdoor Dick: I'm going fishing in Manitoba this weekend for walleye and northern, but I hear northern are too tough to filet. Should I just throw them back? Chris, Awshtupa Falls, MN.

Dear Chris: Awshtupa, huh? I won my my first Barehand Rabbit Roundup up there in '93. Fond memories. Anyway, don't be throwin' northern back just 'cause they're a tad tricky to filet. They ain't called 'poor man's lobster' for nothin'! Just find the 'Y' bones that make up their spine, shave off the flesh to the left and right of the bone and get the butter boilin'. You lose a little extra meat, and you have to be careful because them 'Y' bones can unpredictably 'pop out' of the spine like shrapnel when you're fileting and embed in the skin or eye causing severe pain, loss of blood, and in some cases paralysis. Other than that, just chop up some wild chives and sprinkle in the pan first. Bon apetit!

Certainly the most easy-going member of our staff, 35-year-old Dick Baker conveys 33 years of outdoor experience in a folksy and easily understood manner. At the age of 2 Baker's parents, who were fleeing a warrant related to a botched bank robbery for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), dumped Dick off in northern Wisconsin's Chequamegon National Forest and fled to Canada. Baby Dick survived three months by eating only berries and nuts he saw squirrels and deer eat. He's never looked back. Baker hosts "Baker's Dozin' " on the Northwoods Channel and is a consultant for Hooker Fish Hooks - Catch The Big One With A Hooker!