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Pickerel Fishing: A Complete GuideField & Stream

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Chain pickerel are a nuisance. At least that's how a lot of bass anglers think of them. Throughout their huge range, pickerel share many of the same waters as largemouth and smallmouth bass

and are often more aggressive about smacking a lure. As a result, from Southeastern Canada to Florida, west to Eastern Texas, and northeastward to southern Michigan, you can find plenty of bass anglers ticked off that their crankbait intended for a big smallie got clipped off by a pickerel's teeth, or that they destroyed an entire bag of soft plastics intended for hog largemouths. Well, I get it, but I say the chain pickerel doesn't get enough respect as a gamefish in its own right—and that if you haven't already, you ought to get into pickerel fishing.

Chains are one of my favorite fish to target, and they have been since I was a kid. Why? Because they were accessible. Where I grew up, glamourous members of the Esox family like northern pike and muskies weren't readily available. They existed in pockets and would have required my dad to make a special trip with special gear to catch them. Meanwhile, I could ride my bike to five creeks and ponds that held chain pickerel, and I could hook them with simple lures and the same light rod I used for trout and bass. Odds are, you have similar pickerel fishing opportunities not far from home, too.

What I learned over the years is that they exihibit many of the same behavoirs—and provide many of the same thrills—as pike and muskies

. Yes, they are smaller, but with the right tackle and right attitude, chain pickerel can provide hours of fun year-round, as well as a challenge, because big ones aren't easy to fool. So, whether you need motivation to pay attention to these overlooked fish or are hunting for your first one close to home, here's everything you need to know to get in on some great pickerel fishing action.

Pickerel Fishing 101: Identify Your Target

The flanks of chain pickerel have markings that look a little like chain links. All pickerel have the distinctive dark slash under the eye. Joe Cermele

Most people think of the chain pickerel as a little cousin of the pike and muskie, and therefore, the smallest member of the Esox family. But that's not accurate. There are actually three species of pickerel living in the U.S., the other two being redfin pickerel

and grass pickerel

. These species share the range of the chain pickerel, so there's a strong possibility you've caught one while targeting chains. While there are certainly physical differences between the species, it's likely you have mistaken a redfin or grass pickerel juvenile chain pickerel, because what sets the three apart more than anything is size.

Redfin and grass pickerel rarely exceed 12 inches in length. Chain pickerel routinely exceed 24 inches, with the all-tackle world record weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces, caught back in 1961. The chain pickerel gets its name from the distinct pattern on its flanks that resembles interlinked chainmail like you'd see on a medieval suit of armor. Grass and redfin pickerel, meanwhile, have broken, vertical barring on their flanks, though at their small sizes, it could easily be confused with a chain pickerel that hasn't fully developed its pattern yet, which is common in young chains. Redfins do, in fact, have red fins, but what all three species share is a dark vertical slash running from their eye to the bottom of their jaw. Regardless of size, pickerels maintain this slash, and it's the surest way to differentiate between them and juvenile pike and muskies when they share the same waters.

Pickerel Fishing 101: Behavior and Habitat

Chain pickerel need weedy cover in which to hunt and spawn. Getty Images

Chain pickerel are one of the most freshwater adaptable fish in the U.S. They can tolerate a wide range of water temperatures and oxygen levels. They thrive in sprawling shallow marshes, creeks, big rivers, farm ponds, and massive, deep lakes. If there is one key factor in determining the presence of pickerel in any given body of water, it's vegetation, which pickerel need in order to hunt and spawn. It can be milfoil, lily pads, flooded reeds, or whatever, as long as it provides cover and ambush opportunities. What's also critical to pickerel is access to deep water.

An entire population of pickerel can live in a system with an average depth of 2 feet or less, but you're less likely to find trophy fish here if there's no access to significantly deeper water or at least a deeper channel running through the flats. Pickerel are very susceptible to stunting, which means if there is too much competition for a limited food supply in a closed system, their ability to reach trophy size will be hindered. I know dozens of places where I can catch upwards of 20 pickerel a day, but it's rare to catch a large one in any of them. So, if you're after heavy hitters, you often have to convince yourself to forgo numbers and focus on deeper areas.

Pickerel are predators, and part of what makes them so enjoyable is that throughout the year, they are willing and aggressive. In the coldest months when bass and crappies are sluggish, pickerel will still run up and hammer a jerkbait. Under the ice, they often attack a shiner on a tip-up faster than a walleye. In the heat of summer, they'll hold in shallow water and crush a Spook or frog twitched along the surface.

Gearing Up for Chain Pickerel

The fact that pickerel are so aggressive year-round makes for fun fishing, of course, but the real trick to getting maximum enjoyment out of catching a bunch of these fish is using the right tackle. So here's what to go with.

Best Rods and Reels for Pickerel Fishing

Bass Pro Shops

Chances are you already own the perfect rod and reel combo for chain pickerel. I like a medium-size spinning reel

with 7-foot, medium-light rod with a fast action, as I want it to have a little backbone to set the hook and handle large fish, but more importantly, I want it to be able to deliver a wide range of lure weights effectively. It's not uncommon to switch from a very small, light jerkbait in one area to a heavy swimbait on a jighead in another. You want to be sure you can cast far enough to cover plenty of water even with lighter lures.

Best Fishing Line for Pickerel Fishing

Going with a light line will also help when it comes to casting a variety of lures far enough to cover water. If you prefer monofilament, 6-pound test is perfect. I generally prefer braided line and spool up with hair-thin 10-pound-test. If you're using braided line, you'll want to add a length of 10- or 12-pound fluorocarbon leader to the end before tying on a lure.

Wire Leaders for Pickerel Fishing

Tie-able wire leader material made by Cortland. Cortland

One of the most common questions I get about pickerel fishing is whether you should use a wire leader as bite protection from their sharp teeth. The answer depends on what you're casting. Wire can, after all, mute the action of some lures, so it's important to consider how a pickerel attack different lure styles.

I'd be less likely to use wire if I'm casting a hard jerkbait with multiple treble hooks, for example, because a pickerel isn't likely inhale that bait so far that my leader will end up in its mouth. It's more likely to T-bone this style of lure, and the length and hardness of the bait itself will serve as bite protection. Likewise, longer spoons and spinners with treble hooks in the rear will put enough distance between the lure and leader that most of the time you won't get bitten off.

On the other hand, any time I'm using soft plastics, I always add an 8- to 10-inch length of 10- or 15-pound tie-able bite wire

to the end of my leader. A Zoom Super Fluke is one of my all-time favorite pickerel baits, but given that they're soft and pliable, pickerel tend to inhale them completely. Likewise with small swimbait or curly-tail grub. Using a short piece of wire is also smart if targeting pickerel with live shiners.

How to Catch Chain Pickerel All Year

A nice chain pickerel taken on a hard jerkbait. Joe Cermele

Pickerel locations typically change very little throughout the year. What does change, however, is their willingness to hunt in shallow water. There are some subtle differences in where they feed and position from season to season, so understanding them will help you home in on your local population whenever you go out.

Spring

Chain pickerel spawn in very early spring, making this best time of year for catching big fish at peak weight. Once the water temperature jumps into the mid- to high 40s, prespawn pickerel will begin to feed heavily. Knowing that smaller forage fish will gravitate to shallow water for warmth and protection, it's time to focus on flats along channel edges or within coves. Even with no fresh vegetation in the area, the big girls are looking for bigger meals and will ambush in depressions, around wood, or along drop-off edges running along the the flats.

Summer

During the hot months, pickerel gravitate to shallow, vegetated flats to feed. Areas with plenty of lily pads are prime, and you should target any breaks, holes, or gaps within those pads. Small pickerel will hang in the shallows all day, but if there are big fish in the system, they typically go skinny only for a meal. Low-light periods at dusk and dawn are prime for finding giants on the flats, and a sure way to tell there's big fish around is if the little ones suddenly stop biting. At midday, focus on channels, troughs, or drop-offs near those flats, as it's in these transition zones where the big fish will hold until they slide shallow to hunt.

Fall

Pickerel will move back and forth between deep water and the flats in their summertime pattern until the water cools significantly. Even then, they still may hunt in the shallows, but it's often for a short window, usually late in the day when the water is at its warmest. As the days get shorter and the nights grow cooler, focus your efforts on channel edges close to flats or the transition zone between flat and deep water in coves in larger lakes.

Winter

During the winter, pickerel spend most of their time in deeper water, though depending on where you live, they will feed shallow for a portion of the day if the temperatures and conditions are mild. In larger bodies of water, pickerel will seek vegetation like milfoil in the depths. Even if that vegetation is brown and dying, they will still use it to ambush prey. In systems where the weeds die off entirely, look for exposed wood and rock around deeper areas, as these types of hard structure will retain heat, often making the area around them slightly warmer.

Pickerel Fishing: Top Lures

Pickerel will smack a wide variety of baits. Here are the top choices and how to fish them.

Hard Jerkbaits

Rapala's Original Floating Minnow. Bass Pro Shops

Floating and suspending jerkbaits like the Rapala X-Rap

or Original Floating Minnow

is a great way to take pickerel year-round. In the warmer months, work these lures aggressively, making them dart wildly to draw the attention of active fish. When the water's colder, slow down and impart subtle twitches between long pauses. Don't be surprised if the hit comes when the lure isn't moving.

In-Line Spinners

The famous Mepps Aglia. Bass Pro Shops

Spinners the like classic Mepps Aglia

are highly productive for pickerel, especially in spring and fall when there's less vegetation to snag. Spinners can't be paused and finessed like other lures, so they work best when pickerel are very active and willing to cover distance to eat.

Soft-Plastic Jerkbaits

A Zoom Super Fluke soft jerkbait. Bass Pro Shops

There's no shortage of soft-plastic jerkbaits on the market that'll take pickerel, but my go-to is the Zoom Super Fluke

. Rigged on a weedless wide-gap hook

, you can get this bait darting and jiving through heavy weeds. You can come over logs and through lily pads without getting hung up, and you can work a Fluke at almost any speed, making them a good choice year-round.

Walking Topwaters

The Heddon Zara Spook Puppy. Bass Pro Shops

Topwaters like the Heddon Zara Spook Puppy

are killers in the summertime. They're not weedless, so you can't toss them into the pads, but they're great for throwing in open water with submerged weeds or wood. The loud clacking sound they make draws heavy hitters out of the salad, and the takes are explosive.

Soft-Plastic Swimbaits

A YUM Pulse soft jerkbait. Bass Pro Shops

A paddle-tail swimbait rigged on a jighead

will not only crush pickerel, but is extremely versatile. In the winter, I'll suspend one under a bobber and slowly work it back with short twitches and plenty of long pauses. In warmer months, the vibration produced by the tail during a steady retrieve pulls hungry chains in for a bite. There are plenty of good swimbaits to choose from, but the YUM Pulse

has always been a favorite of mine.

How To Catch Pickerel In Winter - Outdoor Life

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I've been a fan of chain pickerel since I was a kid. That's largely because where I grew up there weren't any pike and even though there were some muskie haunts, those fish felt too unattainable. As an adult, I still believe the lowly chain pickerel doesn't get enough respect. I'm betting some of you have them in your backyard and don't pay them much mind. That's a mistake, especially during winter. Unlike bass, trout, and bluegills, which can be very tough to fool once the water drops below roughly 45 degrees, pickerel are still eager to attack.

They also make exceptional fly rod targets for beginners and advanced casters alike. So, don't tuck the long rod away until spring just yet. If you've never taken a crack at these underdogs, here's how to catch pickerel in winter.

Slow Your Retrieve

During an ice fishing trip years ago, a buddy aimed an underwater camera on one of the live shiners dangling below a tip-up. In short order, a pickerel appeared on the screen. We were certain it would plow the bait seconds after it arrived, but the opposite happened. The predator just hovered in place barely flicking its fins, studying the shiner as it swam frantically in a circle. For five minutes nothing changed, and then, as if out of gas, the shiner went limp. This, we thought, would make the pickerel go away, but it stayed. Then, the tired shiner made one half-hearted tail kick and WHAM! The pickerel hit and up popped the flag. Similar scenes unfolded several more times throughout the day, and the experience taught me a lot about how pickerel feed in cold water.

Whereas an aggressive approach might get pickerel charged up during warmer times, subtlety pays off in the cold. Learning from what I saw on the ice that day, I began using unweighted streamers with a bit of bulk for catching pickerel in cold winter. Patterns like the Double Deceiver, Mini Drunk & Disorderly, and the Dirty Hippy are all good examples of streamers that can be manipulated to hover in the water column, or at least fall away slowly enough that they'll linger in front of a fish's face.

When these bulky flies are presented on floating fly line, it takes minimal work to make them gently twitch and you can keep them in the zone a long time. Conversely, any pattern with a weighted head will not only sink when you pause but require a much more aggressive strip to bring to life. That's not ideal.

Use a Strike Indicator

Just because slow retrieves are often the most productive during the winter doesn't mean weighted flies have no place in your cold season arsenal. They can be highly effective, but the secret is presenting them under a large, buoyant strike indicator like a Thingamabobber. In essence, matching this float with a weighted fly is the equivalent of casting a soft-plastic jig under a bobber with spinning gear. It can be downright lethal.

Some of my favorite flies for this method include the Clouser Minnow, Lunch Money Shad, and the Flash-and-Grab. All of them feature weighted dumbbell eyes that help keep them oriented horizontally when hanging below a strike indicator. My preference is a 1-inch Thingamabobber, as it can suspend a fairly heavy pattern. It can also be easily slid up and down your leader to adjust depth of your fly.

All you have to do is fire out a long cast and let the fly hang there in the middle of the water column. Don't be afraid to wait a minute or longer before giving the line one short, fast strip to make the fly rise and fall again. You can milk a retrieve like this for a long time, as it will help keep the fly hanging around likely cover long enough to get a chilly, unwilling pickerel to make a move.

Read Next: Best Fly Fishing Combos for Beginners of 2023

Fish the Warm Spots

Whether you're fishing from shore or have access to a boat, considering the time of day you're fishing, as well as the depth, bottom content, and structure you're targeting are critical. Quite often there is a short—but sweet—feeding window later in the day, which often correlates with an uptick in water temperate, even if only by a degree or two. Of course, an entire lake or river isn't likely to bump up a few degrees in a single day during the winter, but certain areas will.

I like to focus on spots three to four feet deep in close proximity to deeper water. Areas with dark bottom will hold more heat from the sun, as will any downed trees or wood poking through the surface. Despite the cold, pickerel need to feed, and during that bite window, areas that check one or more of these boxes are prime. If you spend enough time on your local waters, winter patterns quickly emerge and before long you'll figure out which banks and cover are worth beating to death because you'll know a fish or two is likely holding there. Some days just may require more coaxing than others to get them to chew.

Joe Cermele is the Fishing Editor of Outdoor Life, where he writes about fishing culture and how to catch a host of species. He has been in fishing media full time since graduating college in 2005. He's authored three books, and written more articles, blogs, scripts, and voiceovers than he could count. He was the host of the Hook Shots video series and podcast, and most recently the host of B-Side Fishing, Das Boat, and the Bent podcast on the MeatEater Network.

Quick Strike Podcast: Early Spring Tricks For Giant Chain Pickerel

In the hierarchy of Esox, the chain pickerel sits squarely at the bottom both literally and figuratively. Compared to their big cousins, the pike and muskie, they don't get much love despite being widely available across the Central and Eastern U.S. If anything, they're viewed as a nuisance, quick to snip a lure intended for bass off your line. But their value is all relative to your mindset and tackle.

Fish gear too heavy, and pickerel aren't much sport. In fact, your average pickerel would require the lightest trout rod on the market for you to feel the fight. But big pickerel are different. Those measuring 20 inches or better give you the same thrilling take as a pike or muskie, and on light gear put up a heck of a fight. Now is the time to catch the heaviest hitters. In the early spring, trophy chain pickerel are on the hunt and often loaded with eggs. The lack of vegetation can make finding them easier than any other time of year if you know where to look.

My friend and owner of High Octane Custom Baits, Eddie Weber, is a pickerel junky just like me. They're one of his primary March targets in Maryland, and the goal is fish hitting the 25-inch mark or better. If you're ready to stick a chain worthy of the wall, his tips and tricks will put you in the zone and help ensure that beast stays pinned once it hits.

Listen to this episode on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get Your Head Out of the Creek

Chain pickerel are often associated with shallow water fishing, and that's not an incorrect link. They thrive is skinny bogs, ponds, swamps, and creeks. There are places I fish where you can catch 50 a day in water less than a foot deep and it's incredibly fun. The problem is that many of the areas where you find numbers of pickerel are not the same locations where you'll find a trophy.

"You don't need to be way up in the back of a creek to chase pickerel," Weber says. "In fact, in the early spring, you're much more likely to find a trophy fish in bigger water. Where we fish in the tidal zone of the Severn River in Maryland, we catch pickerel measuring up to 27 inches fairly regularly, but you're not likely to find a fish like that in a shallow creek."

As it goes with many fisheries, catching trophy pickerel can require you to get a bit out of your comfort zone, forgoing guaranteed bites in smaller water and going where there are fewer — but bigger — fish. If you're already familiar with a pond, creek, or swamp loaded with pickerel, use Google Maps to figure out where these waters drain. It's a safe bet that any larger rivers or lakes that are connected in the system will hold higher caliber fish.

Sharpen Your Edge Joe Cermele holds up a nice chain pickerel

The author holds up his PB pickerel. Photo by Joe Cermele

There's no denying that pickerel use weedy cover to ambush prey just like their pike and muskies cousins, but in the early season, Weber has noticed he finds bigger fish in open water. That doesn't mean weeds don't play a role, but fishing directly in the vegetation isn't his move.

"I focus a lot on dead and dying grass beds in the early spring," says Weber. "During the summer, I'll mark them on my GPS when they're lush and green so I can go back to them in spring. What I'm looking for are beds with 4 to 8 feet of water along their edges. I think the small fish stay tucked in the cover, but the big fish are sort of roaming around and patrolling those edges."

Read Next: Quick Strike Podcast: The Lost Art of Winter Flounder Fishing

A perk of targeting open water that deep is it makes it possible to use suspending jerkbaits — one of Weber's favorite early-season lures. Later in the year, any diving lure with treble hooks runs the risk of fouling around weeds once the vegetation thickens back up. Weber also put a lot of stock in weedless soft-plastics with a spinner blade at the nose, particularly High Octane's Weedless Trident. But whether throwing hard baits or soft, he has a rigging tip that will save you some heartbreak.

Don't Forget the Clip

One of the most common questions I get asked about fishing for pickerel is how I rig lures to avoid bite-offs. How I answer depends on what style of lure I'm throwing. With hard lures like 4- to 6-inch jerkbaits, I tend to use 20-pound fluorocarbon leader because it's rare that a fish will completely inhale the lure. With soft baits, however, I add a short piece of tie-able stainless steel leader as big fish are more likely to suck them in completely. But Weber skips the steel, opting instead for a 30-pound fluorocarbon leader with a twist.

"I'm a huge proponent of using tactical clips regardless of the style of lure I'm throwing," Weber says. "I always have one on, and I've done some tests over the years and noticed that when I tie a lure directly to the leader, there's a much stronger chance that a fish will swallow the whole lure and cut me off."

Weber believes the clip adds just enough hardware to the front of his baits, in essence extending their overall length, that it makes it far more difficult for the leader to wind up in the pickerel's teeth. It's a trick I intend to adopt when throwing hardbaits, as there's nothing more disappointing than seeing a big, white mouth open around your lure only to set on nothing and get a line back cut with surgical precision.

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