I'm not a biologist, but I think the two species are too far apart to hybridize. Moreover, there's nothing in the picture that suggests any connection to a pickerel aside from extended length. That in itself is suspicious, but its even more so when you consider that the "parent" that's exerting so much influence on the skeletal structure in the body of the fish gave it nothing of the hammer-handle look.
If this were a legitimate hybrid, you'd also have to accept that the parent had no apparent influence on the structures of the skull or mouth. If you think about the bony, toothy nature of a pickerel's mouth and the paper thin mouth of a crappie and then look at the photo, you don't see anything remotely resembling a pike-like mouth or teeth. It's just a longer, skinnier version of a crappie's mouth.
You can say the same for the fins and color pattern. With today's technology, lengthening a photo of a crappie would be a simple matter--and you'd get something that looks just like the ones in the photo: A crappie with longer features and nothing to suggest a pickerel but the length.
Highly improbable that this is anything but an alteration of some type.
