Severn slam 11/17

[Shady]

After the stellar report from members yesterday, I decided to hit the severn today with a goal of pickerel and striper. I started off the morning hitting an 18 and a 23" striper quick and decided to then head on in to a creek for some pickerel. The pickerel in this creek were numerous but mostly small. I caught well over a dozen and missed many more with the biggest at 22.
After about 2 hours on the pickerel, I decided to headed back out for striper, I trolled around for about 90 minutes with mostly a blank FF, picking up two more an 18 and 19.75.
So, with the striper seemingly thinned out, I went back to pickerel. In my second stop the pickerel were larger on average and seemed stacked primarily in a couple areas. I caught well over a dozen in this creek as well with a 21, 22, 23, and 23.5 being the best ones. The surprise of the day was the last fish, a beautiful nearly 12" yellow perch. I got the Severn slam!

[EMSer]

Congrats on making the best of what appeared to be a marginal day! Nice pics was well

It was great meeting you on the water this morning. I was only able to get 7 before all was said and done with 22" being my biggest. The catch paled compared to yesterday's. It is clear that I have been spoiled for a while....

[J.A. Veil]

Nice going Ryan. You had a great day on the pickerel and caught a few other fish to round things out.

[Mark]

Ryan,

That's a fantastic Severn outing.

Can you share what you were using on the pickerels?

I have yet to catch a yellow perch in the Severn.

Thanks for the report and photos and congratulations on a memorable trip.

[Shady]

I was using minnows on light jigheads for the pickerel and caught the yellow perch on the same.

[Mark]

Thank you.

[ComeOnFish]

That was a quality outing!

joe

[YakCapn]

Well done! Now that's an outing to remember. What's the deal with pickerel, are they catch and release only? Are they any good to eat? I've never fished for them before...maybe I'll give it a shot at the next meet and greet, weather permitting.

[Big Mike]

Well done! Now that's an outing to remember. What's the deal with pickerel, are they catch and release only? Are they any good to eat? I've never fished for them before...maybe I'll give it a shot at the next meet and greet, weather permitting.

Pickerel, like Northern Pike are tasty. Having said that you need to be a maestro with a filet knife as they have a set of "Y" bones running down their sides that need to be removed and doesn't leave much meat. Most people don't bother trying to do it, and I don't blame them. I've done it a couple of times but no longer bother with it. Best to just treat them as catch and release.

[Romo]

Way to go man the striper/pickerel double header is an awesome pic

[J.A. Veil]

Well done! Now that's an outing to remember. What's the deal with pickerel, are they catch and release only? Are they any good to eat? I've never fished for them before...maybe I'll give it a shot at the next meet and greet, weather permitting.

The Severn River is my home waters. For me, pickerel are a great fishing gift for the long, cold winter. There is not much else biting for most of that time. Pickerel are normally freshwater fish but can tolerate some degree of salinity. In brackish waters, like the Severn, they can survive but do not grow to the huge size they can reach in fresh waters. Each Severn creek and cove has its own sub-population of pickerel. Having fished for them for the past ten years, I see dramatic differences in populations in individual creeks and coves from year to year. They are susceptible to extremes in temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, etc. A single undesirable pollution event can wipe out much of a creek's population.

Due to that somewhat fragile status, I discourage other anglers from keeping pickerel. DNR rules allow you to keep several per day. If you feel strongly about keeping pickerel, please try to take just one of two fish from a given creek. Allow the fish there to grow and reproduce. As others noted, pickerel are not easy to clean.

So much for my sermon. A few years ago, I prepared a Powerpoint presentation about catching pickerel in tidal waters. I am happy to share that to anyone interested. If you want a copy, send me a pmail with your email address.

[Shady]

Well done! Now that's an outing to remember. What's the deal with pickerel, are they catch and release only? Are they any good to eat? I've never fished for them before...maybe I'll give it a shot at the next meet and greet, weather permitting.

I'll agree with the comments of others on this as well. Most people only C&R Pickerel as they are a great sportfish, but difficult to clean because of their Y-bones.

I will admit that I usually keep 1-2 pickerel each year, and did keep my two for the year on this trip, but its probably more satisfying watching a beautiful 20"+ pickerel swim back off into the depths...

[theREELmasterBAITER]

Another great post! Thanks for sharing. Love the double species picture and of course love your Maryland pride...

John, I'd love to see the PowerPoint. That's great that you took the time and effort to make one, I'll PM you.

[YakCapn]

Yeah it doesn't sound like or look like there is much meat on them so why bother when the end result is an undersized meal and less fish to catch later.

[Mark]

What's the deal with pickerel, are they catch and release only? Are they any good to eat? I've never fished for them before...maybe I'll give it a shot at the next meet and greet, weather permitting.

I think they're great fun to pursue. Since they're basically a shallow water fish, often you will see them strike your lure. They'll slash and crash most bass lures and they'll demolish a topwater bait when they're agreeable to do so. They'll even go airborne like a smallmouth bass. Or they may be finicky and maddeningly follow your lure without striking it. There's no predictor as to how they'll behave on a given day. But once you catch a 20 incher on an ultra-light rod or have one engulf your flyrod popper you'll be hooked as well as the pickerel on the end of your line.

John's presentation is excellent. That and his tutelage have upped my pickerel score. He's also correct to encourage releasing them to preserve the fun they offer us when other fish get scarce in the colder months.