Severn 10/31

[Fish123]

Launched this morning back in a Severn creek and had a decent morning. I have really only been fishing seriously for about 4 years now and for whatever reason I only have wanted to pursue striped bass. This morning I planned to target pickerel for the first time.

I caught a 16” striper, 11” perch and a 20ish” pickerel, my first pickerel and “Severn Slam”. All were caught on a 1/4 oz eye strike jig head with a 4in zman beer run paddle rail.

I will definitely be bringing fish grips the next time I target pickerel. I wasn’t able to grab it and he slipped right out of my hand on to my kayak. Fish grips would’ve easily solved my problem and made it much easier to remove the lure. Chain Pickerel are a fun fight and I plan to target them more often.

[dsaavedra]

Congrats on your first pickerel! They are lots of fun indeed, and we're lucky to have such a good pickerel fishery in recent years in the Severn. Last January I bought a 6 foot light power, fast action spinning rod specifically for tidal pickerel fishing and they are a blast to catch on that setup.

Lip grippers help a lot when handling pickerel but their mouths are sort of delicate so you can do some damage if you're not careful. I think the plastic grippers with the wider jaws are less harmful to the fish. A net also helps a lot for controlling them, or at the very least reducing the amount of boatside thrashing that happens while you try to avoid their teeth with your fingers.

[Mark]

Fish123,

Congratulations on your first pickerel. Indeed they are fun to catch. They put up a very respectable fight and they often go airborne.

I'm sure there will be many more in your future and I bet you'll never tire of catching them.

To echo what Dave said, a net is a tremendous help in controlling them boat-side. I started using one last year while pickerel fishing.

One thing I've discovered is that often a pickerel will throw the hook once it is netted. I think that's because the act of securing a fish in the net releases the tension on the line. When that fortunate event happens, I simply retrieve my fly or lure from the net and then release the pickerel without ever having to touch it unless I want to measure it, of course.

[brianisoutside]

Congrats, a little trick with pickerel is to either hold the top of their skull or on their gill plate.


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