Pike is often found in avid fishermen, as it is found in many freshwater rivers, lakes and reservoirs. And if you become the owner of this predatory fish, and don’t fish according to the catch-and-release principle, but want to use it for food, for example, in the form of cutlets, then you need to know how to clean the pike for cutlets.

How to clean a pike for cutlets, in the kitchen.

Let's start with the fact that the pike, although it does not have such sharp spines as those of pike perch and perch, you still need to handle it carefully, especially when dealing with its head, since it has large and very sharp teeth that are easy to get hurt.
It is best to clean the pike in the same place on the river, if you did not purchase it in a store or somewhere else, this will save you time on cleaning the kitchen, and the cost of water that you will need when cleaning.

Advice on how to clean a pike for cutlets, and at the same time not to stain everything in the kitchen with scales.

In principle, cleaning a pike is practically no different from a perch, in which we cut off sharp fins so as not to get hurt.
In all cases, in order for the scales not to scatter around the room, I use a kitchen sink, into which, having closed the drain hole with a cork, I draw water so that it hides the carcass of the fish, and I clean the fish in the water.

You can also use a deep bowl or other container.
In order to make it more convenient to clean, I use a special scraper for cleaning scales, which is sold in the store,

or you can do it by nailing metal caps from lemonade glass bottles to a small board. Although you can clean it with a knife, but for this you need to have some skill.

And so, you take the pike by the head and start cleaning from tail to head against the growth of scales, first grabbing the abdomen and back from one side. Then turning over on the other side, cleaning the places that were not cleaned.

Then, without sticking the knife hard, starting from the base of the head in the direction of the tail, cut the belly of the pike and take out the insides.
On the pike liver there is a gallbladder, yellowish or greenish in color, try not to damage it, as bile has a very bitter taste and if it gets on the meat, it can ruin it.

viscera such as the liver, with careful removal of bile,