Airborne pickerel

[J.A. Veil]

Most of my pickerel fishing over the past 15 years has been during the winter months. Pickerel are cold-blooded fish, meaning that their metabolism slows down when the water is cold. Winter pickerel bites are often gentle bumps followed by weight on the line. Once they realize they are hooked, they pull and swim around a bit.

Catching pickerel in warmer water is a different story. I have reported over the past year that pickerel had returned to Severn creeks and ponds. Last winter, most were young fish -- 10" to 13" hammer handles. I was happy to find them, but they did not pull very hard.

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Over the past two months, I have caught many pickerel in the Severn. Just this week, I had my two most productive outings. On Tues, I caught 12 pickerel in just over two hours of fishing. Yesterday was even better, when I caught 19 of them in just over two hours. And these fish were considerable larger than the little ones from last winter. Yesterday, nearly all the pickerel were mid to upper teens, with a few 20" to 22". The warm water and the inherent urge to fatten up for winter makes these predators quite aggressive at the moment. The bites are hard, and the fight is impressive.

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During previous winters, I usually fished for pickerel with a 6' ultralight rod. I tried that same rod this week, but found that I could not set the hook well enough with the ultralight rod. I have much better success with a 6'6" light rod that gives a firmer hookset. Yesterday, three of the pickerel I hooked went airborne -- leaping like little tarpon and thrashing their bodies. One of the pickerel jumped about 4 ft in the air right next to the kayak -- the fish was above my head.

During the recent pickerel trips, my most successful lure has been a 3/16-oz jighead and a 3" pearl or light chartreuse paddletail. Darker tails did not get much attention -- stick with a light color.

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You can also use a twistertail. I caught a few of them on a Bignose spinner while I was casting for perch. Later in the season, I will throw small crankbaits with the treble hooks replaced with inline J hooks. Inline spinners and metal spoons also are effective on pickerel.

Pickerel like certain habitats and are not equally spaced around the edges of the tidal creeks and ponds. There is no substitute for trial and error to learn which shoreline stretches are likely to hold pickerel and which are not. Spending time on the water and remembering where you caught them before helps to build your knowledge base.

Pickerel remain one of our few local tidal fishing targets for the winter months. If you do target them, please handle them gently and get them back into the water as quickly as possible. Don't place your fingers in their gills.

[bignose]

I like that big eyed jig head, good looking lure, who makes it?
That 22 incher is a mini gator!
They go nuts when they get near the boat.
It's nice that you've mashed the barb down, makes the release easier. Pickerel are a valuable resource, too valuable to be caught only once!

[scorchy]

Great timing - was just about to post about my experience yesterday on the Weems. I think I jinxed myself last week when I told someone that I almost prefer it when the pickerel unhook themselves so I don't have to deal with the slime and the teeth. I had five on the line yesterday, and not a single one got within 10 feet of the boat before spitting the hook. The two biggest ones (at least by pull) did just as you described - went completely airborne like a big bass - and unhooked themselves in the process. Was great fun to see, but disappointing to lose.

[J.A. Veil]

I have caught so many pickerel over the years that I don't feel the need to touch them to verify my catch. I actually prefer it when the fish self-release. I do like to get the biggest ones to the kayak for a photo, but for the rest if they get off the hook on their own, I don't need to touch them and remove some of their slime layer (which by the way, smells different from the slime on perch and stripers). As a side note, when I do grab a pickerel, I get slime all over my fishing gloves. I have a wet terrycloth rag on board that I use to scrub the slime off of my fishing glove before I grab my paddle or rod again.

[J.A. Veil]

I like that big eyed jig head, good looking lure, who makes it?

Stu - Those are Trout Eye jigheads in 3/16-oz weight and with a 2/0 hook. I have been using them for the past five years with good success. They are available in Trout Eye, Redfish Eye, and Striper Eye series in different weights and with different hooks.

I buy most of my jigheads directly from the manufacturer, Eye Strike Fishing. https://eyestrikefishing.com/. The large eyes come in several colors. If I am fishing on a sunny day, the eyes really sparkle as the lure moves through the water -- I'm sure they attract the attention of predators. I also like the double barb on the head. It helps hold the plastic in place better than a single barb.

I buy 50 or more jigheads at a time and get a good bulk discount. Eye Strike also licenses their jigheads to ZMan, which sells them in 3-packs for about $5. Those jigheads are available at some tackle shops, big box stores, or from online vendors.

[Mark]

Scorchy,

You didn't mention what lure you used but if it had treble hooks you would do well to change them to inline single hooks. My pickerel catches (getting them into the boat) increased when I stopped using treble hooks. That sounds counterintuitive but it's true.

If you didn't use trebles, then I would advise you to try two things to keep pickerel attached:

1. Offset the hook-point slightly. It definitely enhances hookups.
2. Sharpen the hook often. I do that as a matter of routine the first time I cast a lure on a given day. Then I do it periodically during my outing.

Good luck,

[scorchy]

Scorchy,

You didn't mention what lure you used but if it had treble hooks you would do well to change them to inline single hooks. My pickerel catches (getting them into the boat) increased when I stopped using treble hooks. That sounds counterintuitive but it's true.

If you didn't use trebles, then I would advise you to try two things to keep pickerel attached:

1. Offset the hook-point slightly. It definitely enhances hookups.
2. Sharpen the hook often. I do that as a matter of routine the first time I cast a lure on a given day. Then I do it periodically during my outing.

Good luck,

Thanks for the advice. I hooked up with them on jigheads/gulp and a beetle spin, so no trebles. Honestly, it was just this particular day, as a week earlier I brought in all but one of several on a jighead. I don't actually plan on regularly handling them if I don't have to, just wanted to measure a couple of the bigger ones to get a sense of size and to limit any future exaggerations.