PB Pickerel was worth the pain

[swirlchaser]

I headed on to my early season honey hole. This is a tiny pond that only gets fished by a handfull of guys and we're going to keep it that way . With a 34 degree air temp I wasn't expecting much Bass action but I knew the Chain Pickerel would keep my busy until my toes went numb. Landed a handful of average fish on a small, dark Clouser and then it happened. I've never had to put a fish on the reel in this pond until this morning. She faught hard and I wanted to get her back in the water quickly so no weights and measures but this was easily the biggest Pickerel I've caught on the fly

Lil guy

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Avg fish

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PB

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PB

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PB

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[ted4887]

That's a cool looking fish! Any guesstimates on the length?

 

[swirlchaser]

I layed it against the rod to get an estimate but couldn't get the whole thing in the pic I'm going to say 22-24".

 

[s fontinalis]

Nice fish!
I definitely need to start targeting more fish than just trout!

 

[Rip Tide]

You're going to have a permanent coating of fish slime on that rod now :biggrin:

 

[swirlchaser]

You're going to have a permanent coating of fish slime on that rod now :biggrin:

Absolutely! It was all over my arm and the rod. I had to dunk it 4-5 times just to hold it again.

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:38 PM ----------

Nice fish!
I definitely need to start targeting more fish than just trout!

They're fun to catch. They're built for speed and love to run when hooked.

 

[gatortransplant]

Great fish Marco! Pickerel are such cool looking fish, I love their patterning.

 

[Ard]

Great big Chain you got there Marco!

Congratulations, been a while since I've seen one of them.

Ard

 

[jhammer]

Nice fish! Definitely just made my cabin fever worse.

Next month, I'm going to start hitting up the pike!

 

[swirlchaser]

Thanks guys, I was a little bummed out because my day off was the coldest day of the week but I'm glad I gave it a shot.

 

[Guest1]

That is a beauty. I love the markings on them.

 

[theboz]

Beautiful pick! Can't beat those bright winter markings on them nor those little Jersey ponds where they live! Congrats!

 

[swirlchaser]

Beautiful pick! Can't beat those bright winter markings on them nor those little Jersey ponds where they live! Congrats!

They're the smallest of the Pike family but nobody told them because they fight like animals. I actually caught this guy in a pond on Staten Island. I was back home renewing my license and couldn't resist wetting a line in my childhood waters

 

[caseywise]

wow, those are pretty fish!!
i have never really heard much about them
thanks for sharing

casey

 

[swirlchaser]

Most of the Bass guys around here complain about them. They have sharp teeth and tear up their fancy soft baits, plus they're slimy and you can't lip them for taking cool pics I enjoy catching them as much as Largemouth.

 

[Monello]

I love to target pickerel. I have found many left on the banks to die. Presumably by bass fishermen that are trying to control the balance of the bass ratio in the lake. Last year I found 4 in the same spot on 1 lake. I hope the beavers/muscrats found them and had them for dinner.

 

[swirlchaser]

I love to target pickerel. I have found many left on the banks to die. Presumably by bass fishermen that are trying to control the balance of the bass ratio in the lake. Last year I found 4 in the same spot on 1 lake. I hope the beavers/muscrats found them and had them for dinner.

I run into that too. I hate when amateurs decide to play "fishery manager". It's the same guys who catch Largemouth on live shiners then hide the hook when they take pictures so no one knows they're catching them like a 10yr old.