Severn pickerel fishing has been disappointing recently

[J.A. Veil]

Pickerel fishing in the Severn River started out quite well in November. It continued to be okay up until mid-January. Then the great freeze of 2014 shut things down for nearly two months. Pickerel fishing for the winter ends on Friday March 14. According to DNR Fisheries regulations, the pickerel fishery is closed from March 15 to April 30.

Now that the ice is nearly all gone (I found one shaded shoreline this afternoon that was still iced in), interested anglers have a few more days to catch pickerel. I gave it a good try recently with little to show for my efforts. I fished Sat, Sun, and again this afternoon. I fished for a total of over 6 hours in 5 different Severn tributaries. I fished mostly live minnows but did take a few casts each trip with a 4" plastic lure that caught several large pickerel in November. The pickerel are not in the places where they were in mid-Jan before the ice came in. I have fished a variety of depths and cannot catch enough fish to figure out a pattern. I hope the extended cold has not harmed the Severn pickerel population.

This afternoon I caught two pickerel -- the first had a very serious wound in its side. I can't imagine that it was still interested in hitting my minnow with that type of grave injury.

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[Jaspratt]

Wow that is a serious Wound. Shows you how aggressive those fish can be. Still trying to fill the stomach whether its in one piece or not. I highly doubt the cold will kill off any pickerel. Out west in deepcreek lake (which is still holds enough ice to fish from) fishermen are constantly pulling pickerel through the ice.

[DanMarino]

Yuck! What a bad looking Pickerel. I wonder what happened to it?

[BassMoore]

looks like a motor hit that one.

[J.A. Veil]

looks like a motor hit that one.

That was my initial thought. But this time of year, there are few boats running around, particularly in the tributary where I caught him -- and the wound looks pretty fresh. I also wondered if some poorly informed fisherman caught the fish and slashed it just for kicks, then threw it back. Someone else raised the idea that it cut itself on a sharp ice edge. I suppose there is a large amount of trash with sharp edges on the bottom of some of the tributaries. For example, a protruding nail or broken glass. If the fish slammed against something like that it could have suffered a major gash.

In any case, it is sad to see an animal wounded that badly.

[Jaspratt]

You should have sewed him back up and sent him on his way. That would be cool to catch him again later down the road.

[Turtle135]

Was the Severn ice this year "clear" or was it that "white/opaque" ice that you can't see through? I'm just speculating but if that ice was opaque the Pickerel may have made a major move to the main river. Pickerel being such sight feeders may relocate to open water if they have that option (and/or maybe their food made that move as well).

I would bet a bird did that to the Pickerel, probably was getting ready to eat that fish but Mr. Chainsides had enough left in him to make an escape. Reminds me of a largemouth bass I caught two years ago that was about sliced in half by a musky (but still decided he wanted to eat the jig I was throwing that day).

[kayak456]

John, that is a terrible looking pickerel, I wonder how it lives

I tried 3 places today and only saw one follow my lure. Not much going on...

[DanMarino]

Super glue?

[J.A. Veil]

You joke about superglue. Several years ago I asked a dermatologist what she would recommend for cold weather cracking on my knuckles. To my surprise, she said use superglue to close the crack so it could heal.

Super glue?

[J.A. Veil]

Was the Severn ice this year "clear" or was it that "white/opaque" ice that you can't see through? I'm just speculating but if that ice was opaque the Pickerel may have made a major move to the main river. Pickerel being such sight feeders may relocate to open water if they have that option (and/or maybe their food made that move as well).
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The ice was opaque. I have not seen any evidence of baitfish in my recent outings, even up in the shallows on the sun-warmed edges. Now that I think about it, I did not see any herons on the last three trips. They are pretty good at finding baitfish -- if they are not looking around the area, maybe the baitfish have moved.

[J.A. Veil]

I sent the photos to a friend who is a Ph.D. fisheries biologist. He replied: "It was recently reported that fish do not feel pain, this could explain the gash and still the need to eat. That gash looks very fresh. May even have happened during its sudden motion to get your lure."

[Raptor]

John,

If I had to venture a guess I would say that guy had a run in with a Great Blue Heron. I saw photographs at Black Water Wildlife Refuge of a GBH killing and eating a full grown Muskrat. It was amazing that he could kill him . . . but even more amazing when he ate him - whole. That beak can inflict tremendous damage when they strike.


T.

[DanMarino]

I know that I've been cut before by braided fishing line. I could see how a fish could get wrapped up in fishing line and cut open.