Johnson’s Pond- Salisbury

[Dan the Man]

We launched on Rose St- public ramp, no fee.

[J. Rentch]

Thanks found it

[tech11165]

What kind of lures and how did you work them for the Pickerel. I have been struggling of late to land one.

[nhunter344]

What kind of lures and how did you work them for the Pickerel. I have been struggling of late to land one.

I've had them hit a slowly worked perch spinner, but most of my luck has come from shad darts tipped with minnows.

[J.A. Veil]

I've had them hit a slowly worked perch spinner, but most of my luck has come from shad darts tipped with minnows.

I agree. Pickerel will hit a variety of lures (crankbaits, spinners, twister tails, etc) but in my experience, the most effective option, particularly in cold water, is to throw a live minnow on a light jighead or shad dart (I usually go with a 1/8-oz jighead). Cast it out and retrieve it slowly as you would work a lure. If they are around, you will get bites. An active minnow that squirms around on the hook works better than a subdued minnow or a dead minnow.

[Mark]

tech11165,

I agree with nhunter and John Veil that a live minnow at this time of year is almost a sure bet to catch pickerel. I've been out-caught by John on many trips when he uses minnows and I use lures or flies.

In fact, one year ago today John and I fished Tuckahoe Creek. I caught this guy on a Clouser Minnow and intermediate line on a fly rod:

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I file my photos by date. I recently looked at them to compare my winter outings last year to this year. As expected, 2018 has been a harsher winter. In 2017 I got out locally 7 times in January and February. This year my local trip count is zero.

But back to the subject at hand, my experience with winter pickerel suggests that they are more likely to be found in slightly deeper water than they are in spring. That is why I used intermediate line on the above catch (to get my fly deep) and I cast not to shore but to a pool of slow moving water many feet off the shoreline.

So a Clouser Minnow is a good choice in cold water. Pause it on the retrieve. They will not hit it hard. In fact you may feel no strike at all. But when you resume the retrieve you may feel a weight on the end of your line. When that happens soon you will be face-to-face with a pickerel.

Now in the spring, it's a different ballgame. They'll aggressively hit surface lures and flies. At that time of year I always cast near structure in shallow water, either near downed wood or spatterdock.

Good luck,

[CHOC]

Mark, it looks like you caught a fish head with no body.

[Mark]

Mark, it looks like you caught a fish head with no body.

Pretty much. It wasn't big. But it was pullage on a winter's day. I haven't had much of that this winter.

[RavensDfense]

Johnson’s pond is always a great time. I lived in it for a year. I would get an early start and throw topwater along structure. As the sun gets higher you can switch to typical bass gear like spinners and chatter baits. Trolling a swimbait is also effective in the deeper water from the ramp to the Deers Head hospital. A minnow under a bobber also never fails. White perch and yellow perch will also fall to small spinner blades like a Mepp. There are also decent stripers in there that come in through the Wicomico river when they open the flood gates.

The water near the ramp is the deepest on the entire pond; maybe 12-15’. It gets progressively shallower as you head to the North (head) of the pond. It holds around 5’-8’ FOW from the hospital to the back. I can’t see a reason you’d need an anchore while freshwater pond fishing so you should be OK there.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[RavensDfense]

Thanks RavensDfense, I appreciate the in depth help! Sort of sounds like Lake Elkhorn (minus the striper and perch) so hopefully I should do ok. I'll let you know how it goes! Any other areas I should fish? Should I go on the Wicomico?

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

No problem. If you have time, I would also visit any of the rivers and creeks that run off of or are around Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. There are a lot of snakeheads around of you're interested in them. Bass are also in the same areas.