Thanks for this post.
Northern Pike Minnow's are a native species. They are very good eating if you know how to prepare them. The ability to prepare fish in a wide variety of styles is a skill lacking by most people in the west. Not all fish is great fried, and it doesnt need to be.
There is no need to denigrate a native species like this that can be delicious and has plenty of fight in it for a fish of its size.
It is ideas like these that has lead to the collapse of Colorado Pike Minnow populations, another cool native species.
In fact, similar sentiments were and are prevalent wrt Bull Trout/Dollies. Poor tasting and fighting.
Heck, even reminds me of a guy in Ontario wacking a musky and throwing it back because it wasnt the fish of his preference.