Do Anglers Need Target Different Species in the late Fall and Winter

[UnkleRob2020]

I am trying to convince my fishing partner, Arron, to try to learn to target pickerel (and possibly yellow perch) with me. I caught my first pick last year and have gotten a couple this year. Neither of us can tolerate very cold weather but there should be opportunities to fish that are within our comfort zone. I saw some nice picks in the Patapsco this year (although most of them were on the end of Scorchy's 3" Grub :--)

Arron has still been targeting bass and has gotten skunked the last few times he fished and targeted bass over the last few weeks. He seems to have reached the conclusion that fishing is over until next spring.

It seems like most of the anglers on this forum may switch to targeting pickerel during this time of year and I am hoping to join you. What I would like to know is....what happens to the bass and other freshwater panfish that clearly are not able to migrate during colder weather. They still have to eat, correct?

Are the white perch and stripers still around in the same tidal waters of the Severn and Patapsco....have they traveled or are they in deeper waters?

Like most of the questions that I have posed on this forum, I suspect that my questions is oversimplified and the answers will be more nuanced and species specific. One of my favorite things about this forum is that nobody has ever made me feel "dumb" for asking a question that most of you seem to know the answer to....people have been willing to help and my love of fishing, as well as my technique, have gotten stronger as a result.

I look forward to any responses.

Thank you,

Rob

[Mark]

Rob,

Many stripers and to my knowledge all white perch have not left the Chesapeake. However, most of them have departed the tidal creeks and the shallow portions of the rivers where we kayak anglers typically fish for them in warmer weather. White perch in particular school up in deeper waters of the Cheaspeake at this time of year. They'll return to creeks and tidal ponds to spawn in the spring.

Motor boaters are still out in the Bay proper chasing stripers. In fact, I saw striper anglers with umbrella rigs in their boats leaving a Magothy creek on Sunday.

Of course, I was in the Magothy creek kayak fishing for pickerels and believe it or not, largemouth bass. For whatever reason, the latter species have been active in the upper Magothy most of last month. Also, yellow perch, while not yet numerous are possible catches in tidal creeks now. I caught a nice one on Sunday in the Magothy on a Bendback Minnow.

Other places to go to catch picks and bass now throughout the winter are mill ponds on the Eastern Shore. I catch bass less frequently than pickerels in those waters in the winter. (In the spring that ratio reverses.) But bass and picks do remain active all winter in the ponds. In fact, the first fish I caught in 2021 was a largemouth bass in a DE pond in January.

Slow lure/fly presentations help. Also, think beyond pounding shorelines and casting tight to visible structure like you would in warmer weather. The fish may be in different locations than they would be in warmer weather.

Crappies are another fish that remain active in those mill ponds throughout the winter. Again, I don't catch them as frequently as picks, but I do hook more than handful each winter. The good news about pickerels, bass and crappies is that they each hit the same flies and lures I use right into spring. That includes streamer flies and weedless paddletails throughout the winter and then I switch over to topwater flies in the spring.

So, you're correct that stripers and white perch may be beyond reach for most kayakers. They're in waters now I would not visit in a kayak in current weather conditions. But tell your buddy that the other species I mentioned above are far from done for the year, including bass. Tidal creeks and ponds offer safer venues for coldwater kayak outings assuming you're cautious and well equipped than larger Chesapeake waters. They're often protected from the wind, and they offer good fishing now through the coldest months of winter.

[dsaavedra]

I usually switch to targeting pickerel and crappie during the winter. I've tried to catch yellow perch a few times but there seems to be a very narrow window when you have a good shot at catching them so I've mostly given up on that.

You're right that bass and other species in ponds/lakes can't migrate and do still have to eat during the winter, but their metabolism slows way down and they get sluggish. They usually move to deep water and use as little energy as possible to get through the day. This means you basically have to find them and put the lure right on their head and even then it might take them a minute to decide to bite it. That's not to say you can't/shouldn't target them, but be prepared for a challenge.

From my experience crappie and pickerel don't get quite as sluggish in cold water and are easier to catch once you find them. In the lakes I fish the crappie will school up densely, usually suspended near the edges of weeds that are adjacent to deeper water ("deeper" is a relative term, the deepest point in some of these lakes is only 12 feet). Once you find the crappie you could catch them pretty consistently just drifting over the school or slowly working a lure through it. There are often pickerel nearby and sometimes I catch a few bass in the mix too. I suspect they are snacking on the smaller crappie. The pickerel are ambush predators and seem to prefer more cover than the crappie and they are found in and around the remnant weedbeds and near downed timber. Finding the fish is most of the battle in my experience, I've had days where I go to the lake in February and locate the crappie quickly and catch 50+ of them one after another, then I have days like this past Friday where I go to the same lake and don't manage to locate them and only get 3 crappie and no pickerel in several hours of fishing.

2 things to keep in mind for cold water fishing when targeting these species are 1) slow down, and 2) downsize your lure. My most effective way to catch crappie is with a 1/16 oz marabou jig drifted through the school with virtually no action imparted by me. If the wind isn't blowing enough for me to get a good drift then I'll just cast and retrieve at a snails pace. I don't get many bites if I work the jig too much, the fish seem to prefer either no action or just very slight jiggles. I have caught some of the biggest pickerel in my life on the same 1/16 oz jig I was casting for crappie, on ultralight rods no less. If I'm targeting the pickerel specifically I'll use something a little bit larger, usually a 3" paddle tail rigged weedlessly and fished slowly through cover. Instead of casting and reeling like you might in the summer, I crawl it slowly through the cover and when I feel it bump into something I'll give it a twitch to get over the weed/branch then let it fall. Often the hits come on the fall. Pickerel will also follow your lure right up to the boat so don't "give up" on a cast. Once I think the lure is out of the "strike zone" I'll kill my retrieve and let the lure fall a bit, sometimes that will trigger a strike from a fish that followed the lure out of the cover.

[UnkleRob2020]

Thank you Mark and Dave. The wealth of knowledge on this forum is truly outstanding. I am hoping to get out and try for picks this weekend. I ordered the hooks that Mark posted about on the "Pickerel and Leaves" thread and I have the beads already, so wish me luck. I am also hopeful that there will not be a lot of fallen leaves to contest my fishing. I understand that I need to improve my weedless fishing and that will only happen through practice and more practice.

Dave....the marabou jig...are you floating that under a bobber? I guess I am not understanding how it drifts through the school with virtually no action from you"

Thank you

[dsaavedra]

Dave....the marabou jig...are you floating that under a bobber? I guess I am not understanding how it drifts through the school with virtually no action from you"

No, but that would probably work if you knew the depth the fish were holding at. I have this tactic pretty well tailored for the one lake where I target crappie most often... there is almost always a strong enough breeze to push me along at 1-2 mph so I'll just make a short cast upwind, let the wind push me around, and between the light lure, short amount of line out, and speed that I'm drifting the lure doesn't sink all the way to the bottom but instead gets pulled right through the strike zone where the fish are schooled up (usually suspended 2-3 feet off the bottom in 6-7 feet of water at this particular lake). I keep my index finger on the line coming off my reel to feel for the strike, as they are usually so subtle that you'd miss them if you weren't paying attention. A single "tick" like someone lightly tapped your rod blank is often all you'll get.

Like I said, I do most of my crappie fishing in one small, shallow (< 12 feet) lake so it's possible, or even likely, that crappie in other bodies of water behave differently and other tactics might be more effective there.

[Mark]

You're very welcome Rob.

Again, I refer you to my book. Lend your copy to Arron. I discuss my fishing calendar and how my tactics and targets change throughout the year. I related the discussion of flies to conventional lures throughout.

You'll probably be OK with fallen leaves by this weekend. They were heavy last weekend in the Magothy but with the tides moving water in and out and the fact many of our deciduous trees are bare now, I suspect leaves will not be a problem. Either way, the weedless paddletail will get through them. So will a Bendback Minnow fly, by the way.

I fish the paddetail for picks and bass at this time of year the same way I do streamer flies by pausing during the retrieve. I crank the reel handle only once or twice and then pause. Delay your strike until feel the weight of the fish on your line. Also, watch your line. You may not feel a strike, but you'll see your line move sideways. Strike then.

Another tip when pickerel fishing -- If they bump it while you are cranking, just stop the retrieve. Let the paddletail suspend or slowly sink in the water column. Sometimes picks hit a bait but do not hold onto it. They may come back to it. I believe stopping the retrieve encourages them to come back. I think that's why suspending baits are effective for them. When they turn on a fly or lure, it has not sunk out of reach. It's there waiting for them.

Now, this is really odd, and I cannot predict when picks prefer this method, but even in cold water they can get crazy aggressive. At this time of year, I have cranked the paddletail nonstop across the surface keeping the rod tip high so that the paddletail does not sink and the tail trails in the water like a propeller. It's almost like fishing a buzz bait. They may come up to hit it. I miss at least one for every fish I catch with this method, but it's fun to see surface strikes at this time of year.

So, if the crank and pause method is not yielding hits, try the above. You have nothing to lose.

Dave is correct that crappie jigs are small. Some are wrapped with chenille and have marabou tails. They're essentially flies tied onto a jig. I've never specifically targeted crappies so I have not used that method. The crappies I have caught have been by-catches in mill ponds while pickerel and bass fishing. Indeed, they have hit 3.5-inch paddletails, 4-inch articulated streamers and even bass poppers in spring. They have a large mouth and sometimes they use it for a big meal.