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After chasing rockfish till mid November, my eagerly-awaited pickerel fishing season has finally begun. I fished various creeks and tidal ponds on the Severn River last weekend and today and I did a decent bit of catching on both trips.
Last weekend was challenging because the water levels were extremely low. Pickerel like to hide in fallen timber and much of this favored structure was out of the water. You would think that should make them easier to catch - fewer places to hide - but my experience over the years tells otherwise. Still, I managed to catch a few. I fished 4 different creeks and caught fish at each one - 3 in the first location, 1 in the second location, 2 in the third location, and 2 in the fourth location. Most fish came on paddle tails worked slowly through fallen timber, but I got a couple on an Xrap too. Below is a picture of one of the largest fish from last weekend:
20221204_090940.jpg
Today the water levels were back to normal but the water was very murky from all the recent rain which presented a new challenge. In many of my go-to spots the water was visibly muddy with clouds of suspended sediment swirling about. I think this really hindered the bite. Xraps outperformed paddle tails today, probably because they have more flash/noise/vibration which helps the fish track the lure in muddy water. Despite poor visibility, I managed some fish. Today I fished in 3 different creeks and I caught 3 fish at the first location, 5 fish at the second location, and 0 at the third location. At the third location I did have an exciting strike right at the side of my kayak though, the way it played out was interesting - I made a cast that brought my paddle tail past some fallen timber and at the end of my retrieve I saw a pickerel slowly following it. I only had about 18" of line out and I just let my lure hang in the water, completely stationary. The pickerel nosed up to it then tried to swim past it and got its tail wrapped on my line then swam off behind me. I quickly made another cast beyond the direction the fish swam to, hoping to entice it, and right as I brought that retrieve all the way to the kayak the fish lunged out from underneath me and engulfed the paddle tail. I set the hook and felt a good bend in my rod, but then the hook came out. It was a fun sequence of events anyway. No pics from today... the largest fish I caught was bleeding so I wanted to release it as quickly as possible. I didn't measure but it looked about 20 inches.
16 fish in two trips is a good start to my pickerel season. I am taking some time off work around the holidays and I plan to fit in a few more pickerel trips then.
Last weekend was challenging because the water levels were extremely low. Pickerel like to hide in fallen timber and much of this favored structure was out of the water. You would think that should make them easier to catch - fewer places to hide - but my experience over the years tells otherwise. Still, I managed to catch a few. I fished 4 different creeks and caught fish at each one - 3 in the first location, 1 in the second location, 2 in the third location, and 2 in the fourth location. Most fish came on paddle tails worked slowly through fallen timber, but I got a couple on an Xrap too. Below is a picture of one of the largest fish from last weekend:
20221204_090940.jpg
Today the water levels were back to normal but the water was very murky from all the recent rain which presented a new challenge. In many of my go-to spots the water was visibly muddy with clouds of suspended sediment swirling about. I think this really hindered the bite. Xraps outperformed paddle tails today, probably because they have more flash/noise/vibration which helps the fish track the lure in muddy water. Despite poor visibility, I managed some fish. Today I fished in 3 different creeks and I caught 3 fish at the first location, 5 fish at the second location, and 0 at the third location. At the third location I did have an exciting strike right at the side of my kayak though, the way it played out was interesting - I made a cast that brought my paddle tail past some fallen timber and at the end of my retrieve I saw a pickerel slowly following it. I only had about 18" of line out and I just let my lure hang in the water, completely stationary. The pickerel nosed up to it then tried to swim past it and got its tail wrapped on my line then swam off behind me. I quickly made another cast beyond the direction the fish swam to, hoping to entice it, and right as I brought that retrieve all the way to the kayak the fish lunged out from underneath me and engulfed the paddle tail. I set the hook and felt a good bend in my rod, but then the hook came out. It was a fun sequence of events anyway. No pics from today... the largest fish I caught was bleeding so I wanted to release it as quickly as possible. I didn't measure but it looked about 20 inches.
16 fish in two trips is a good start to my pickerel season. I am taking some time off work around the holidays and I plan to fit in a few more pickerel trips then.
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