With temperatures hovering in the mid 30s, it just wasn’t cold enough to keep the lakes and ponds frozen, but warm enough to stir the need to make a few casts. As I made my way down to the local pond, I wasn’t expecting much; maybe a few eager bass or panfish to take some slow-moving baits. After some slow twitches of a jerkbait, my slack line jolted ferociously. What could have hit that hard in the dead of winter? Peeling drag in hard pulses, the mysterious fish revealed itself. The long slender body, bright yellow belly, and menacing teeth could only belong to one thing: pickerel.
It turned out to be the only bite of the day. Even though it wasn’t the target species, a bite is a bite and a fun fight is always welcome.
Some Chain Pickerel History and Biology
A member of the pike family (Esocidae) along with the American pickerel, the chain pickerel shares many traits with its cousins, the northern pike and the muskie. They have a pile of nicknames including “southern pike” and “grass pike,” — in the South, they’re called “jacks” or “jack fish.” They also have a few other newer, more colorful nicknames involving “snot” or “slime” thanks to their heavy slime coat.
The chain pickerel has an impressively wide range. They can be found along the East Coast from southern Canada down to Florida and west to Texas, in addition to the fresh and brackish waters of the Mississippi Valley, and in Lake Michigan as well as the lower portions of the Great Lakes. They can also be found in the northern Great Lakes and Nova Scotia, where they are considered invasive.
Their many sharp teeth and long, slimy, tube-shaped bodies make the predatory pickerel ideally suited for chasing down baitfish. Pickerel can be easily identified by the vertical black line running down the face through the eye, as well as the chain-link black markings along the body — which is where the chain pickerel gets its name.
Unlike their much larger cousins, pickerel max out around 16 to 22 inches for the average specimen; anything at or over the 26-inch mark is true trophy size. But what they lack in size they make up for in ferocity. They are always eager to bite even when the conditions are tough.
Look for these fish in the shallow, weedy areas of most lakes and ponds. They are not like most fish species that move to deeper or more shallow water depending on temperature changes; they’re much more tolerant of hot and cold swings, which is why they can live in waters from Nova Scotia to Florida.
They’re also very vegetation oriented, because they use it for cover when they ambush their prey. They are also extremely opportunistic and will jump on anything that moves. This makes them a welcome surprise when you have some slow days on the water or fishing during the dead of winter.
Tackle and Tactics for Chain Pickerel
There’s no real scientific approach to targeting pickerel. You’re going to want to stick to your normal bass gear; it’s the same techniques as power fishing to get them to bite. Fast moving horizontal baits are what really get them, especially jerkbaits and something with a blade like an inline spinner.
My top pickerel jerkbait growing up and still to this day will be a Rapala X-Rap in size 8 or 10. If it’s too small, the pickerel will just eat the entire bait and you’ll be out $10.
The X-Rap has a unique erratic action and suspends perfectly for pickerel — the perfect suspension really triggers that bite, especially from a fish that’s been following your bait back to the boat or shore.
The other go-to lure would be a Blue Fox Vibrax inline spinner in sizes 4 to 6 with a feathered tail. The larger blades on those sizes provide a lot of thump and vibration, triggering strikes from both active and lethargic pickerel. Plus, the feathered tail gives it a little more action in the water.
Charter boat captain Burnie Haney of New York Fishing Adventures knows all too well about fishing for these yellow-bellied toothy critters in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. Since the bass season officially closes on Dec. 1 in that region of New York, you can find Burnie probing the flats of the many nearby bays and harbors, looking for pickerel.
His go to bait of choice is a 4-inch Keitech Easy Shiner or a 3.8-inch Keitech Fat Swing Impact on a 1/4-ounce ball head jig. These are two baits that Burnie uses to glide over the vegetation to draw these predatory fish into biting in the cold water of Lake Ontario.
Save Your Baits
One of the biggest parameters to take into consideration is that, like pike and muskie, pickerel have very sharp teeth. Haney prefers a shock leader of 20-pound Cortland XTR Fluorocarbon to prevent bite offs from these toothy critters as its extremely abrasion resistant, especially in cold water unlike most fluorocarbons.
Wired2Fish editor-in-chief Joe Albanese, who fished many of the same pickerel-infested lakes on Long Island that I did growing up, taught me a cool trick that keeps pickerel from biting through your leader: use the knottable steel wire leaders that fly anglers use to prevent break-offs. It keeps you from losing baits, and other fish species didn’t seem to mind. Brands like AFW Surflon Nitro Extreme and Cortland Tie-able Stainless Leaders are good choices.
Give Slime Darts a Chance
Often pickerel get a bad reputation for how annoying and messy they can be, hence nicknames like “snot rockets,” and “slime darts.” But all gamefish deserve love and, like I said earlier, a bite from a pickerel can save a day of tough fishing. And as Capt. Haney always says at the end of every fishing report: “A good bite’s where you find it.”
