Decent pickerel bite before the rains

[J.A. Veil]

I woke this morning expecting to find cold rain. To my surprise it was not raining and was milder than yesterday. I decided to make a short kayak trip before the heavy rains began in early afternoon. I caught 7 pickerel today with two bigguns at 23" and 23.5". The last two weeks on the Severn have been productive for me. I caught some of the fish in places where I found them last week. I caught the 23" in an area where I don't normally cast.

It was very grey all morning with intermittent showers. My GoreTex rainsuit and rubber boots kept me dry. The water was flat calm and at a low level. There were some oak leaves floating on the water waiting to snag my hook, but for the most part, I was able to steer the bait around the leaves. I made a bunch of casts into water deeper than 3 ft but had no bumps or follows. All hookups came from water depths of less than 3 ft near fallen wood.

I hope the weather is favorable for the meet and greet next Sat and that the fish are still biting.

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[BeyondTheBounds]

Saw you as I drove for breakfast this morning. 7 picks is a good total.

3ft or less matches with most of my pickerel catches.

You ever get them deeper?

[J.A. Veil]

Saw you as I drove for breakfast this morning. 7 picks is a good total.

3ft or less matches with most of my pickerel catches.

You ever get them deeper?

The only time I find them deeper is on a very cold morning when the air temp causes the shallow water at the edges to be colder than the 3-6 ft deep water. If you are out under those conditions, try fishing a bit deeper .

[bunnielab]

You had much better luck than I did. I launched at Tucker St around 815 and worked up and down Weems for maybe two hours without even a nibble.. I mainly wanted to get out and and test my new drysuit and other winter gear. I tried to get some minnows this morning but Marty's was out and I didn't want to take the time to drive to Anglers. I used some small Berkeley minnows on a jig, a 1/8" white spinnerbait, and a small topwater minnow. I worked both sides of the creek from launch to mouth, trying to cast into the shallows and do a slow retrieve. I had a lot of minor snags but was overall pleased with how well I was able to cast with gloves on. Sadly I forgot my rain hood/balaclava so after a while the light drizzle had totally soaked my head and I decided to head in.

John, when you are fishing minnows on a jig, are you retrieving slow enough to bounce the bottom or trying to just skim above it?

[J.A. Veil]

First, let me comment on where to find live minnows during the winter. The only Annapolis-area shop that regularly has them is Anglers. I was at Marty's a week ago and asked Mike if they carry minnows during the winter. He told me that their bait guy stops bringing minnows to them by now. They do not plan to have minnows during the winter. If anyone hears differently, please post it here.

You asked about how to retrieve live minnows. You have to retrieve at a speed that does not allow the jighead to touch the bottom. In the places where I fish, the bottom is covered with slime during the winter. To keep the jighead clean, keep the lure off the bottom. At the same time, fish are cold blooded. Their metabolisms slow down with cooler water temperature. They are less likely to leap out and grab a fast-moving lure unless it is immediately next to them. With some trial and error you can find a speed that keeps the lure off the bottom but still moves slowly. With the clear water right now, you can get a sense of what the live minnow looks like moving through the water -- if it wiggles seductively, it will be attractive to the pickerel. Also, you can use different weights of jigheads -- lighter means you can wind it slower and still stay off the bottom. The flip side is that you cannot cast the lighter jighead as far.

[cxmarmolejo]

John,

How far into the tributaries are you fishing? I'm fishing around USNA and wonder if I should go further up college creek or stay in the 10-13 ft range for these pickerel.

[J.A. Veil]

Chris -

I don't think I ever caught a Severn pickerel in water deeper than 6 ft. This winter the typical depth range is 1-3 ft.

I do fish some times in College Creek. I don't have any pickerel success in the stretch that passes through the Academy -- most of the edges there are hardened bulkheads without much natural habitat. If you have the ability to move further upstream, you stand a better chance of finding pickerel.

You also should consider the contour of the dropoff at the shoreline and what the water level is. For example, lets look at a shoreline that has a shallow bench for 10 ft out from the edge then it drops off steeply to 8 ft. At low water, the bench will be exposed and the only remaining habitat is a steep dropoff -- that is not the best time and place to look for fish. At higher water level, you may have 6" to 18" of water over the bench, and pickerel are likely to be attracted. This is just a general rule. In reality the fish will position themselves where they want to be -- and it is often not obvious why they choose that way. They are in less than 20% of the shoreline areas around the same creek.

[Shady]

I almost made it out yesterday, but not quite...

For those interested, you can buy minnows at Clydes in Halethorpe year round as well.

[perchy]

Some nice looking fish! Good job!