Severn Pickerel 10/14

[J.A. Veil]

Never heard of pickerel before. Can you eat it? Do you fish the Hard Head (I have a few of those) hook with paddle tail like we do for stripers, for instance, trolling or casting with a moderate retrieve?

Peggy -

Chain pickerel are a common freshwater species. It is the smallest member of the pike/musky family. They can be found in some of the eastern and western shore tidal rivers, with fluctuating populations in many Severn tributaries. Some people do eat pickerel, but they have a complex bone structure that makes cleaning fillets difficult. The quote that Scott attributed to me was made several winters ago when many on this board had their first taste of tidal pickerel fishing. I wanted to warn new anglers that the tidal pickerel populations were already somewhat stressed and that by removing too many fish, the populations could crash. I had several Snaggedline members ask me to take them out to show them how to find and catch pickerel that winter. Pickerel are about the only predictable winter-long species we can find in the Severn.

Pickerel are ambush feeders and will hit a variety of soft plastic, hard plastic, and spinner lures. I have my best success catching them throughout the winter using live minnows on 1/8-oz and 1/16-oz jigheads. Cast the minnows out and retrieve them slowly like a lure.

Two years ago, I gave a seminar on catching pickerel in tidal waters. I am happy to share the Powerpoint from that seminar with you or others who are interested. Send me your email address, and I can forward the file to you.

I am hosting the December meet and greet in the Severn. Assuming we follow the second Sat theme, it will be held on Dec 13. I will post more details after the Nov meet and greet has taken place. In mid-December, there may be some stripers around on the debris piles, but pickerel will be in good strength.

[Pc4sun]

John,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. It's good to kow somethign will be biting for winter fishing. And I'm glad you told me about the stressed populations; I'll throw them back if caught.

[BeyondTheBounds]

Well this was my first time to actually target pickerel in weems creek. First off I have never fished there as this is my first year fishing in maryland. I threw a few things at them today, got hooked up quite a few times, got them close to the yak, and lost them.

I have to agree, all the ones I've caught truly seem to pounce! I had at three follow the bait to the yak. Give it the evil eye then slowly disappear.

Caught two today on a texas rigged zoom worm, black with blue tail.image.jpgimage.jpg