PB Pickerel

[Big Mike]

Hit St Mary’s Lake today for a couple hours. On my third or fourth cast with a black Senko I felt the familiar single thunk that tells me a big fish just inhaled the bait. Set the hook and rod bent like snagged. After a sporting fight I had a 25” pickerel in the boat.





I don’t know how folks always get the whole fish on the board in photos, a minor reason I don’t fish tournaments. I ended up the day with a trifecta of bass, crappie, and pickerel. I’ll long remember this fish.


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[Mark]

Very nice catch Mike.

Long arms is the secret to photographing the big ones.

[dsaavedra]

Awesome pickerel! Bigger than any I've ever seen come out of St. Marys Lake.

Photographing long fish in a kayak is tough. I have a RAM X-grip phone holder that I use to hold my phone and take a picture using a 5 second timer. But in my new Hobie it sits too low on the gunwale and the angle makes it tricky to get a good picture. I'm thinking of mounting a RAM ball on a PVC pipe and sticking it in the Hobie sail mast hole so the camera is directly ahead and at chest height.

[Mark]

Actually, many of my pickerel photos are one armed shots. One arm to hold the camera high and one to hold the pickerel on the Hawg Trough. They rarely cooperate for a photo by laying still.

[DanMarino]

Hog alert! I didn't realize pickerel go for senkos.

[Big Mike]

Hog alert! I didn't realize pickerel go for senkos.

I’ve been targeting them this year with Senko’s. The bite is not unlike a bass, usually just a heaviness on the line. So far they haven’t slammed the lure. They’ve really liked the black with gold fleck, or maybe that’s what I caught the first one on and I’ve been stubborn on that color.

[J. Rentch]

Nice going Mike, so glad we have these guys around in the winter or it would be a very boring/long period.

[rugbyfish]

That’s a beast, nicely done!

[ronaultmtd]

Hit St Mary’s Lake today for a couple hours. On my third or fourth cast with a black Senko I felt the familiar single thunk that tells me a big fish just inhaled the bait. Set the hook and rod bent like snagged. After a sporting fight I had a 25” pickerel in the boat.





I don’t know how folks always get the whole fish on the board in photos, a minor reason I don’t fish tournaments. I ended up the day with a trifecta of bass, crappie, and pickerel. I’ll long remember this fish.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a horrible time photographing big fish...especially big catfish that exceed 32 inches...never get the fish in perspective

[Mark]

Hog alert! I didn't realize pickerel go for senkos.

I think it's difficult to find a fly or lure that a pickerel won't bite.

I've caught them on various streamer flies and fly rod poppers. I've even caught them on a small foam floating spider while fly fishing for bluegills. Last year one one hit a tiny bluegill dropper fly suspended under a popper. That one straightened the hook.

With conventional tackle, I've caught them on jig spinners, Mr. Twisters, weedless paddltails, X-Raps, Rat-L-Traps, Pop-Rs and I bet some lures I've forgotten.

But...I've never caught a 25 incher. That's impressive, Mike.

They're eating machines. And as John Rentch noted they're the best game in town throughout the winter. They're my favorite fish to pursue in a kayak.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice catch Mike. You are doing spring training for all the stripers and trout you will catch during the warmer weather.

I am fortunate to have long arms that come in handy when trying to lean back far enough to get a long fish on the Hawg trough fully in the photo. I was stymied on Monday when I tried to photograph a 34" snook I caught from my kayak. I successfully leaned back far enough to get the entire fish in the view. But the fish must have splashed a water drop on the lens, blurring the photo.

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