September 12, 2024
By Matt Crawford
Ah, the family structure of Esocids!
The biggest, moodiest, and most exotic member of the pike family is the muskie—kind of like the eldest sibling. The most popular, let's call them the middle siblings, are northern pike. Finally, the little ones – pickerel – are vying for attention and often overlooked.
And that's a mistake.
Anybody who has ever struggled to get bites of any kind can attest that often the best fish to catch are the ones most willing to bite. When the bass are hard to find, the pike are suddenly tight-lipped, and the walleye have retreated to who-knows-where, we can often rely on pickerel to save the day.
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They may not be as sexy as a big musky or as adrenaline-pumping as northern pike, but the under-appreciated pickerel are still a ton of fun to catch. And they are just about always ready to come out and play.
Here's some insight on pickerel if you decide to give them some of the attention they deserve.
Pickerel Types Here in North America, there are three species of pickerel. Redfin and grass pickerel are cute and all, but due to their small size and limited distribution, they barely get any attention from anglers.
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But chain pickerel are a whole different story.
Found in fishable waters from east Texas to Maine, chain pickerel are the most widespread members of the pickerel clan. Ubiquitous in nature, pickerel can thrive in a wide variety of waterbodies, from rivers to small ponds to even the biggest and deepest lakes. Their native range includes Atlantic and Gulf Coast tributaries, but they have also been introduced (sometimes illegally) in waters as far west as Colorado and as far east as Nova Scotia.
The average chain pickerel isn't huge. Anything approaching the 24-inch mark or exceeding five pounds is a trophy, but they fight hard regardless of size, and on light gear can make for memorable catches.
As an aside, there are several claims of world-record fish all in the 9-pound range. Reportedly, fish that size have been caught in Massachusetts, Georgia, and points in between.
Lying In Wait With a distinctive dark chain-like pattern on top of lighter, yellow-green sides, chain pickerel blend easily into vegetated habitats. And finding those weeds is key to finding pickerel.
Like their older, more glamorous siblings, pickerel are expert ambush predators. They'll often suspend motionless in or near cover, then dart out of the protective cover of the weedbeds to pounce on food moving by. Usually found in shallow waters, they can be targeted along shorelines where fallen trees, old duck blinds, piers, and docks tend to be. But it is weedbeds, commonly in three to eight or so feet of water, that are the prime pickerel prowling grounds.
Ambush Live Baits The most effective way to catch pickerel is with live bait. Shiners, suckers, and other medium-sized minnows will do the trick. I like to hook minnows through their mouths since pickerel prefer to grab them by their heads. With their sharp, needle-like teeth, pickerel are hyper-effective killers of the fish they're about to eat.
Bobbers work well, but minnows can also be fished weightless, or with the smallest split shot in your tacklebox placed 12 to 14 inches above the hook. The key is to get the live bait suspended in a pocket or edge of a weed bed. You'll want the minnows to be lively, too. Sure, pickerel will eat dead minnows, but the flash of a live minnow in distress is often too much for a hungry pickerel to resist.
Ambush Artificials Here's where fishing for pickerel can get super fun. Using light spinning gear and a reel spooled with 4- to 6-pound test line, be prepared to throw a variety of soft plastics, smaller jerkbaits, and top-water lures.
If you're going to throw soft plastics—and if you want to catch pickerel, you most definitely should—using weedless swimbait hooks are must. To that, attach a smaller bait like Berkley's 3-inch Powerbait Champ Swimmer or a Z-Man Slim SwimZ. Pickerel will certainly hit bigger baits, but anything in that 3-inch range tend to be the most effective.
As any seasoned bass angler will tell you, pickerel seem to have a particular fondness for suspending jerkbaits. You'll probably want to avoid throwing expensive JDM baits for pickerel, so anything kicking around your tacklebox that you are OK to lose is a good idea. Just one warning on stickbaits—like muskie and pike, pickerel have a mouthful of teeth, so know that you'll have a slimy, slippery fish with treble hooks flopping around in your net or on your boat.
Spinners and spoons will work, too. Little Cleos, Kastmasters and Krocodile Spoons have all taken tens of thousands of pickerel over the years. There's no need to change now.
Pretty Fly Just a quick note here about fly fishing for pickerel. If you've tinkered with the idea of fly fishing for warm-water species, you can use a fly rod that's set up for trout for pickerel. Throw a streamer or a wolly bugger up against a weed bed and away you go.
Give Them A Look With their bony frames and smaller size, pickerel can be a bit more difficult to clean and eat than northern pike, but few anglers actually target them for their table fare. Mostly, we like pickerel because they're willing to bite, fun to catch, and swim in waters nearby.
