My first pickerel in a while, including a whopper

[J.A. Veil]

I launched my kayak at Jonas Green park at 1:45 this afternoon. After paddling to my Severn River fishing grounds of choice, I began casting live minnows. The bite was not fast today, but I did pick up 7 pickerel in 2 hours. The fish were not in the shallows as they had been the last time I visited there (more than 3 weeks ago). All fish were away from the edges in 4-6 ft depth.

The first five fish were regular grade pickerel (15" to 17"). No. 6 was quite different. It was 23" long and big around. I caught a few that size in mid December but had not had one that long in a while. The first photo shows the fish more clearly but the body is curled somewhat, making a length measurement inaccurate. The second photo shows the fish stretched full out to 23".

After catching that large fish, I had one more fish -- about 20". I tried jigging the bridge debris near Jonas Green on the way back to the launch site, but had no bites there.

[ronaultmtd]

Nice fish- and today was a beautiful day- hard to believe it is the 28th of January- feels more like March-

[CB kayak 02]

NICE!!!! you still in 1st in your clubs challenge?

[EDGEWATER]

That's one nice Pickeral you got there. Nice fight on a light rod.

[DOGFISH]

Good going John.

[jet]

great job. i think i'll add a pickerel to my bucket list

[Aesiegel]

Nice going John. I was down at Jonas Green this morning at 07:30 with the Annapolis Striders and the water was like a sheet of glass. 28 degree air temp but the river looked great. I'll have to look for that 23"er later this week.

Ed

[J.A. Veil]

Nice going John. I was down at Jonas Green this morning at 07:30 with the Annapolis Striders and the water was like a sheet of glass. 28 degree air temp but the river looked great. I'll have to look for that 23"er later this week.

Ed

Ed -It was not glassy when I launched. The waves were 1- 1.5 ft. They reduced to 0.5- 1 ft on the way back.

I will probably head out of Jonas Green again tomorrow in the early afternoon and try a different tributary. If anyone wants to join me, send a message and I will check after church tomorrow.

[J.A. Veil]

NICE!!!! you still in 1st in your clubs challenge?

The other angler who is tied for first place in the longest fish category is Woody. He has been laid up for a few weeks with a leg injury and is not fishing yet.

I am tied for the longest fish (23-1/4"), and am the leader in the second category with the largest total of top three fish (total of 69-1/4"). We still have one month to go -- there are other talented anglers in the SRRKC tournament who could challenge me.

Speaking of the SRRKC, our Feb meeting will be held on Feb 1 at the West End Grill on West St. in Annapolis (across West St from the Double T Diner). The meeting is informal and starts at 7:00. We welcome any interested fishermen, and would be very happy to have more kayak fishermen. If any MKF member wants to stop by and talk to the current members about local fishing opportunities, please join us.

[J.A. Veil]

I visited a different Severn tributary this afternoon. I caught 6 pickerel to 19" in 2 hours. In addition, I had at least 10 times when I felt the fish's weight on the line and some head shaking, then the weight was gone. Most of those times the minnow was unscathed. Twice the minnow had teeth marks on its side, and once the minnow was gone.

[ictalurus]

Nice work on the big fish, John. I'm looking forward to hearing you break the 24" mark.