Pickerel or Walleye….

They are called by either name depending on what side of the border you are on.  Canadians call them Pickerel.   Americans call them Walleye.  I call them DEE-LISH on my plate.  With a squeeze of lemon for good measure.

They are a freshwater fish with firm, white flesh and have been made famous by many a fishing show shorelunch excursion.  Italo…eat your heart out.

Catching a stringer full of pickerel is THE BOMB.

Yummy.  Yummy.  In my Tummy.

Depending on what lakes you visit in Ontario, there are limits as to how many you can catch/have in your possession at any point in time, and also the size of the ones you can keep.  Click here for an Ontario Zone Map to find out what you can catch/keep wherever you go fishing.  

Where our cottage is located (Lake Nipissing-Zone 11), we are allowed the following:

Limit 4 per person (with Sport Fishing Licence) at any time and none between 40 cm and 60 cm (15.748 in. to 23.622 in.) in length.  These are the breeding size and one 18″ female pickerel can carry approx. 62,000 eggs in her lifetime.  That is a lot of caviar.

For eating, hubs and I love the ones in the (30.48 cm to 38.1 cm) 12 in. to 15 in. size range.   We don’t like the larger ones as they take too long to cook and are not as tender.

To cook up these freshwater beauties, we use my husband’s grandmother’s recipe that has been around for oh….about 50 yrs now, maybe even longer, maybe even 150 yrs.  We bake them as opposed to frying, so health-wise, they are much better for you. 

Now that I have introduced you to this exceptional freshwater dinner menu item.  Get out there and catch your own shorelunch and experience Ontario’s bounty.   You may possibly even run into Italo.  If you do, tell him I said hello and that my fish were DEE-LISH.

2 thoughts on “Pickerel or Walleye….

  1. mmm my mouth is watering. Italo? The dude with his wife, Barb, seriously? THat guy drives me batty. Now Darryl Cronzey, we do loves him.

    • That’s the guy…remember his old fishing show with Henry Waszchuk (ex-CFL Tigercat)? Then Henry got into some trouble with the law and Italo went on to do the show with his better half. I have to google Darryl Cronzey….never heard of him! 🙂

Leave a Reply to western cannuck Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *