The Pickerel Report w/ Eddie Weber - December 2022!

[CHOC]

[Mark]

Grant,

This is an excellent video for new wintertime tidal pickerel anglers. Eddie Weber is spot on with respect to their tendency to stay deeper until later in the afternoon when a bright sun warms shallow waters, their preference for calm water as opposed to wind-rippled surfaces, and the fact that especially in winter an artificial bait can be more appealing to a pickerel than a minnow providing you present the lure or fly correctly – a slower deliberate presentation with pauses in your retrieve. On more than one occasion I have had people sharing the water with me who are trailing minnow buckets behind their canoe or kayak ask me what I am using for “bait” after watching me catch fish while they are not.

Also, a pickerel does like smaller meals not only in winter but at other times of year. They become an annoyance if you are targeting bluegills with small flies in the springtime, including surface flies. But in winter, a 3-to-4-inch offering is a good one for a pickerel.

As to color, I agree pink works:

P1060582 (2).jpg

But when they are actively feeding, and that happens sporadically throughout the day, any color will work. Again, presentation and the profile of the lure or fly, in my experience, is far more important than color. I will take two rigged fly rods on my kayak outings, each with a different streamer fly and different color. It is rare that only one rod catches fish on an outing which indicates to me that color is not may not be their only preference for a meal. Colors I have used successfully include white, yellow, red, purple, pink, gray, blue, green and black.

Nor does it pay as Eddie implied to keep casting to an unproductive area. Move on. Yet, consecutive catches in an area are not uncommon. So, if you catch one, send another cast into that area. But after 3 or so casts with no hits, move on.

Finally, the tips Eddie offered for catching a tidal pickerel also work in millponds. One difference is that most of millponds I fish do not have water as deep as our creeks. So, while a pickerel in a pond will seek deeper water in winter, it is relative. They can only go so deep in a mill pond.

As a result, in winter, I use a floating fly line when pickerel fishing in ponds on one fly rod and an intermediate (slow sinking) line on the other to get just a little deeper. The intermediate line is better on wind rippled surfaces because a pickerel will tend to stay a little lower in the water column then.

When I fish tidal creeks, I go even deeper by using a 10-foot sink tip on my floating line on one rod in addition to an intermediate line on the other.

One thing I really like about winter pickerel fishing is that I can take my time in getting to the water. I can load my gear on the morning of an outing as opposed to the night before because there is no need for a daybreak launch. Sleep in. Eat breakfast. Get to your site later in the morning or even noon or later. A pickerel is a cold-water fish but its metabolism likes a little warmth for a kickstart. Again, that is relative. The water temperature may be in the mid to high 30s to low 40s at this time of year. Indeed, I have caught picks in water with sheets of ice on it. An increase in water temperature of only a degree or two is sometimes a key to a better day of fishing. As a result, I like sunny winter days for my pickerel outings.

[Red_Beard]

I concur about the pickerel staying deep right now. I got out on News Year Day to fish one of the tributaries of the Patapsco, and caught my first four fish of the year. They were all pickerel between 20 and 23 inches long. My first fish of 2023 came on a jerkbait, but sadly I got no picture of him as he proved too slippery for me. The next 3 all came on 3" Zman Minnowz fished off the ends of docks in 7-10 feet of water. I got a couple of them slow trolling/drifting, and one casting to the ends of docks. The two big ones, a 23" on the right and a 22" are pictured below. I also snagged what must have been a 20 lb carp at least on my jerkbait. It gave me a good run around with some drag peeling runs before I was finally able to get my bait to pop off of it.

pickerel 2023 first fish.jpg

[Mark]

Very nice catches Cliff.