Spinnerbait time

[Skidsteer]

I caught a pickerel this morning on a silver spinnerbait with a white twister-tail trailer.

Feels like summer is almost here.

Now we just need some white perch!

[J. Rentch]

I agree, I got a couple of picks in Manresa the other day. They weren't big, but felt good to get them in the yak.

[perchy]

What size spinnerbaits do you use for pickerel?

[Skidsteer]

I use jig spinners with a small round jig head attached so I can vary the weight and trailing bait. I do not use a skirt on the jig head. Usually use a twister tail of some kind. I use the 2" gulp allot but this year I am going to try some small 2" paddle-tails when the perch come in.

[J.A. Veil]

The tidewater pickerel are not a common late spring/early summer catch in the Severn vicinity. They are easy to find during the winter until they start spawning in early April. It appears from reports by Skidsteer and a few other local anglers, that they are biting again. White perch are found in large numbers in the same shallow water habitats as the pickerel all summer long. Once they move in (and it should be any day now), finding warm weather tidal pickerel will become much more challenging.

I throw small 1/8-oz spinnerbaits all summer and fall in the Severn and catch hundreds of perch, a few small stripers, and an occasional pickerel. I started a few years ago by using the famous "Woody's feather jigs" made by Maryland Tackle. After Woody moved away and reduced production, I have been using similar spinners by others. I have had very good success using the spinnerbaits made by snaggedline member Bignose. Other snaggedline members Sparky 1234 and Grady Black also make fine looking and productive small spinner lures.

Once I became familiar with these small safety-pin style spinners, I began using the inline spinners like Mepps less often.

The small spinnerbaits also catch well on freshwater fish. I plan to use them in a Delaware pond later this week.

[whenican]

Hey Skidsteer,
Nice pickerel catch! I also caught one yesterday from shore @ Tuckahoe . It bit a flutter spoon.
That was my 1st pickerel this year & the 1 st I ever caught in May.

[Skidsteer]

Thanks whenican,

I have been blessed with great pickerel habitat out my back door. My percentage is low, but most of the time that I do catch them is when I need a fishing fix and go out back to throw a few casts. I admire you guys that can go after them on a regular basis and be successful. Seems to me that conditions have to be just right or they're not interested.

I also catch a few each year when the white perch first come in while I'm casting for perch.

[YakCapn]

I need to expand my horizons and fish for some perch....maybe folks will be kind enough to post a few pics of lures you use? Sounds like you use pretty light tackle...maybe I'll bring along my trout rod next time I'm out with 6 lb line. Is that too light?

[Mark]

These have worked. You can see they're a little beat up:

A.jpg

These I recently tied and I am waiting for the perch to arrive to test them:

B.jpg

Yes, light spinning tackle is good and so are light to medium weight fly rods.

[YakCapn]

Perfect, thanks Mark! Maybe I'll try to tie some up myself. I believe I have all the right materials. What size hooks do you use? Wet or nymph hooks I assume.

[M1A4ME]

Do pickerel have the same "personality" as northern pike?

If so, we used mepps spinners and daredevils. Red and white daredevils and big (#4 spinners). Pickerel, being smaller, might need mepps 2's or 3's and the smaller daredevils.

I've only caught one down here, several years ago on a snowy, sleeting day at Buggs Island Lake. Caught it on a 3" silver/metal flake grub rigged like a worm and fished like a worm.

[J.A. Veil]

Check out my post from last August about perch lures http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...ght=micro-king.

[Mark]

The newly tied ones are on Mustad 9672, size 4. I wrapped the shanks with lead wire to make them sink faster.

The Clousers and Crystal Buggers are Mustad 3366, size 6 with medium lead eyes.

Mustad 3366 in size 4 is kind of a crossover size that will work for stripers and white perch. But mainly use size 1 and size 2 hooks for my Clousers for stripers.

[YakCapn]

Thanks Mark, yeah I have some lead wire still from my shad darts. I should still have some size 4 hooks too. Have you ever trolled a clouser for stripers??!! I hadn't even thought about trolling using something I tied up.

John, great thread link on lures, thanks!

[Mark]

I have not trolled them.

I suppose they could be used as stinger hooks in some applications.