Pickerel on the Fly

[BarefootPetr]

Right before the end of the CCA Pickerel Tournament I took a trip out to Unicorn Lake and managed to catch a 24-inch pickerel on a rabbit fly that was big enough to win me the tournament's fly fishing division. I went back this morning and I am pretty sure I caught the same fish. It was no more than 10 yards from the spot I caught it previously, was roughly the same size--a thick female, I think. I'm certain it was a female getting ready to spawn.

Before that I threw a bigger version of the tournament-winning fly and caught a pickerel about 26 inches in open water. That fish absolutely HAMMERED the fly and gave me a great fight. Caught 3 other pickerel, 2 while fishing with a 4wt panfish rod, and lost another nice one.

It was one other canoe and me fishing most of the morning, then around the time I quit for lunch I saw more and more kayaks and boats coming out. Guess people started knocking off after lunch and took advantage of the nice weather. Should be good for the rest of the week!

[Mark]

Holy cow, that's fantastic.

I've caught a lot of picks in Unicorn on the fly over the years but never one over 21 inches there. That one was in January of this year. Twenty four inches and your 26 incher today are tremendous catches. It's encouraging to know big fish are in there. My experience at Unicorn in the recent past has been good quantities at moderate sizes. Maybe their population has finally thinned out or matured to the point to allow some to grow larger.

I should have headed east. The wind forecast today deterred me from traveling far. I went to Weems and fought a strong wind coming straight up the creek and then swirling around in the coves. I saw no follows, had no bites and of course, caught no fish.

Again, good for you. Unicorn has been very good to you.

[Big Mike]

26” is a true monster, no matter how you caught it, a fly just makes it even more impressive. Well done