Another citation pickerel from the Severn

[J.A. Veil]

A few weeks ago, CB kayak 02 and Reelaxin10 reported they had caught citation pickerel in the Severn. I was surprised and pleased this afternoon to catch my second citation pickerel in the past ten days. Both last week's fish and today's fish were 24" and were caught in different Severn tributaries. Most of my trips this winter have been in my pedal-drive Slayer Propel 10. But today, I decided to get an upper body workout and took the Manta Ray 11 paddle kayak. It shows that you do not need a fancy or expensive kayak to catch pickerel.

Today's biggun was very fat and cranky. It fought hard before I got it in my kayak. Then it squirmed all over while I tried to get photos. It may have been the fattest pickerel I ever caught.

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The fish was caught on live minnow and 1/8-oz jighead. It was hooked in 1-2 ft water depth. My second largest fish today was about 18". It had a red rash covering half of one side. I released it quickly without stopping for a photo.

The Severn has been quite variable this winter -- most days very slow, but occasionally the bite gets going. Today I fished for 3 hours and caught only 7 fish, but catching the big fish made the day.

[YaknBass]

congrats on a really good week of pickerel fishing...especially the size of the fish!! kudos hope your success continues!! good job! & thanks for the reports

[Salty Dog]

Nice John, you seem to have those pickerel liking your offerings. Congrats.

[Shady]

Nice, I need to get out there!

[mytmouse]

WTG John!! That's a nice Pickeral! I might need to get a sick day in soon...lol. I wanted to make it to the M&G but I'll be stuck in the house.

[tufnik]

Yeah, nice fish. I think I caught only one pickerel in my life, and it was about a foot long.

[J.A. Veil]

Yeah, nice fish. I think I caught only one pickerel in my life, and it was about a foot long.

Tufnik -

There are lots of 12" hammer handles in the Severn creeks now. Plus a few much larger ones.

[Mark]

You can stop now!

Just kidding.

Congratulations on yet another good day.

[Fishinfool]

Great work John! The SRRKC pickeral tourney records must all be smashed by now. Will they stand as long as Ripkin's 2131 streak of consecutive games played?

[J.A. Veil]

Great work John! The SRRKC pickeral tourney records must all be smashed by now. Will they stand as long as Ripkin's 2131 streak of consecutive games played?

There have been bigger pickerel than 24" caught in past SRRKC tournaments. CB Kayak's month-long pickerel challenge in Nov yielded at least two anglers with 3-fish composites over 71". I don't know if all those fish were caught in the Severn or not, but nevertheless those anglers did well too.

I keep seeing reports of much larger pickerel being caught from eastern shore (MD and DE) ponds. Keep in mind that freshwater is the optimal environment for pickerel. They can survive and reproduce in brackish tidal waters, but are unlikely to reach gigantic size here.