Back at the Pickerel

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

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Bad day today. I talked Dee Dee into ice fishing--it was sunny and 40, so a fair weather ice day--and headed back to pickerel honey hole. We had a big dump of rain last week, and then a foot of snow before froze hard, so the ice was a slushy mess.

The spot is about a half mile walk from the truck, and we got all the way out there and I drilled the first hole with a new Nils hand auger--which makes my old Mora seem like drilling holes with a tea-spoon. I seriously think the Nils drills holes as fast as a power auger, and way lighter to haul. I only hope the blade holds its edge, as it's an odd shape and I suspect very difficult to sharpen.

Hole drilled, I scoop it out, and head back to the tote for a tip-up, only to realize they are still sitting in a pack basket on the porch at home--40 minutes away. So we head all the way home, grab a sandwich, and redeploy to a pond near home.

This is generally more of a perch and panfish pond with the occasional bass--and that's how it turned out. The first flag was a 10 inch pickerel, then 3 smallish yellow perch, and that was it for the afternoon. As we were picking up, we got a flag on the trap that caught the pickerel and got a surprise.

I'd forgotten the state stocks some brook trout in another pond separated from this one by a short thorofare, and at least one of them must have pushed up over the sand bar. The poor thing was all beat up. I don't know it it came out the hatchery like that, or it the pickerel (there can be a few big ones here) have been biting off its fins, but I released it and named it "Stumpy". The tail looked like a worn out broom, the dorsal fin was all deformed, and the pectoral fins were worn down to stumps.

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Well you caught more fish than I did today!

There was a pond close to where I grew up in PA that was great for jigging up brookies under the ice. We would get as close to the shoreline as possible, in about 3' of water. Lay down & cover the hole so we could see, watch the fish come up and take the bait. It was pretty cool.
 
This one took about a 3 inch shiner on a #2 hook and 10 pound mono leader. I don't ice fish for trout on purpose--I rig for pickerel. I was pretty amazed he got that bait in his mouth far enough to get hooked.
 
Good story Jeff. My friend also forgot his tip ups last year, but his home was 2 hours away. Needless to say he didn't go back for them and we encouraged him to tend some of ours.

We've also been chasing the Esox lately. Caught some keepers last week up to 28". Yesterday yielded 3 shorts.




 
Nice, I never fished any lakes in PA that had pike. Caught 2 small tiger muskies, but never a pike.
 
Thanks to illegal introductions, as pike have never been legally introduced in Maine, lakes around me are loaded with pike. I avoid them like the plague. They are far more popular with ice anglers than in the open water season, although there is a flurry of anglers chasing pike right around ice out, before most of our other fisheries turn on.

The pickerel are another matter--I grew up with them--though they are also non-native. Pickerel were historically found in a few waters in southern Maine, but were spread widely beginning in the mid-1800's. They were viewed as an early form of social welfare policy--by introducing pickerel into many ponds, towns could make sure nobody would starve to death over the winter!

Their introduction coincided with the decline of sea-run fish as dams were built to power mills, and pickerel replaced shad, alewives and eels as the fish protein in local diets as this transition happened.
 
Try a 7-8wt. fly rod and some streamers for open water pike. I suspect you will find them to be worthwhile as a game fish.
 
Try a 7-8wt. fly rod and some streamers for open water pike. I suspect you will find them to be worthwhile as a game fish.
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Meh. I've taken them by accident while casting poppers for smallmouth. The strike is impressive, there is one hard tug, and then they kind of roll over and let themselves be stripped to the boat.
 
Presque Isle Bay, PA is fairly well know for it's Northern Pike fishing especially to some fly fishermen. Shenango Dam, in PA was loaded with Northern Pike from the mid 60's and the 70's. They declined when much of the vegetation of the new dam did the same. The Dam still holds decent numbers of large Northern's. I've caught them in the river below the dam on a 6wt, but without a wire leader it's usually a LDR. Same for the Muskie fishing. They are a very good fish no matter where you encounter them. I have caught many spin fishing, a few fly fishing, and have only killed one to eat. Here in western NY they seem to be in almost every lake. When I fish for panfish I frequently see them cruise by. Even if you do not see them, when the fishing shuts down very quickly, I know they are on the hunt.
 
You will love the nils - best hand auger out there bar none. There are many folks who can sharpen those blades and a good source of info is a website called ice shanty. Everything you need to know. I had a nils that worked great on early ice but when the ice gets to be 3' thick, the power auger is a must have especially if you are moving around trying to fin where the fish are at.
Nice pic's - looks like a great day to be out on the ice.


Another nice piece of equipment to make for those long walks in snow and slush much easier is what is called a "Smitty Sled". Basically you take an old pair of ski's, add a 2"10" (or whatever) to make a riser, add a couple of crossbars and put your gear on top. Makes pulling the gear through deep snow and slush so much easier. Smitty sled's can be found all over the ice shanty site to see more of what they look like. Here is one I built.


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Mark W
 
What you are describing is more likely ambient water temperature driven.
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Maybe. It's what I've seen with both pre-spawn pike around ice out, and again in early July when I bass fish, so it's at temps in the high 30's and up to mid 60's.

My perception may be shaded by prejudice--it's a non-native fish that doesn't belong here and causes considerable problems with managing native fish in which I have more interest.

I know lots of folks love to fish them--just not me.
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]"My perception may be shaded by prejudice--it's a non-native fish that doesn't belong here and causes considerable problems with managing native fish in which I have more interest"

My identical perspective regarding: Common Carp, Silver Carp, Bighead Carp, Grass Carp, Snakehead, Pink Salmon, Round Goby, River Ruffe,Brown Trout, Centrarcid hyprids, Silver Bass,etc.
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Sounds like you are having some fun. Poor Brookie.

One question.... Did you are the perch with the guts in?
 
Tod--Filleted. Small fillets! :)

They were all gut hooked so release was not an option. This is why I don't ice fish for salmonids on purpose.
 
Pickerel are sort of interesting to me. It seems like people up in New England go crazy for them. Down here in FL nobody really cares about them even though some lakes have quite a few. I'd probably target them if they got just a little bigger on average.

I figure a thread about pickerel ought to have a pickerel picture, so here's one that I shocked for work a couple years ago. I'm not sure what qualifies as "big" for pickerel anglers, but this one was about 27" and is the largest I've ever seen.


 
Andrew,
Sheepishly, I have to admit that if I caught that fish I would call it a pike and throw it back. How do you tell? Around here in some nearby towns and also parts of Ontario, pickerel is the name applied to walleye. There is even a big, long-running annual "Pickerel Tournament" in nearby Algonac that has been held for decades. It is, in fact, a walleye tournament. While I have been aware of the existence of the chain pickerel for years, I can't think of a single person who actually fishes for them. I have caught lots of pike, especially while walleye fishing, but as far as I know, I have never caught a pickerel.
 
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