To most folks, the holiday season began with Thanksgiving and will run through New Year’s Day.
To fishermen, pickerel season began about the same time, but this season will run through late spring. Here’s a primer for enjoying this cold weather fishery.
Where and When
Some of the best pickerel waters historically have been the Magothy and Severn Rivers on the Western Shore. After a slump over the last few years, anglers are finding a pickerel comeback, although with mostly smaller fish. The ponds and rivers of the Delmarva Peninsula continue to produce quality fish.
As long as these waters and launch ramps do not ice up, pickerel fishing can continue. (Maryland regulations mandate a closed season for keeping pickerel in tidal waters between March 15 and April 30.)
Temperatures and ice conditions aren’t the only weather factors. Moving tides are usually critical in rivers with, perhaps, falling tides being preferable. Also our group of fishermen have noticed that pickerel respond negatively to riffled waters.
Pickerel are shallow-water ambush feeders, so think accordingly. Look for dropoffs along open shorelines, the backs of coves, fallen trees and piers — anything with cover and/or a breakline. Cast right up against the shoreline and retrieve slowly back to the breakline, often the most productive pickerel water. If that doesn’t work, move deeper.
Pilings and piers provide prime cover, and always work creek mouths, back eddies created by tides at the bend of a river, and deeper waters near boathouses.
Pickerel aren’t school fish, but they seem to hang in groups; often you can take several to a half dozen or more in a small area; it pays to keep moving and searching.
Pickerel are also known for following a lure or bait, so it pays to fish all the way back to the boat. Often strikes come right at boatside as the lure or bait begins to lift, but the pickerel usually followed it out from shallower water.
Boating and Safety
Cold weather and cold water call for great caution; frostbite and hypothermia are real threats. With today’s layered winter clothing, anglers can usually deal with winter temperatures, but only if they can keep dry. So boating is even more of a critical safety issue. Special clothing like dry suits, wet suits or other equipment should be explored. Sea worthy boats 14 feet or more could be safe choices — in good weather conditions — and bigger is usually better. Such boats should be equipped with all required safety gear including floatation devices, flares, noise-makers etc. I also recommend informing others of when and where you’ll be on the water and have sufficient communication devices, whether cell phones, VHF radios, or something else.
Most importantly, wear a Coast Guard approved personal flotation device.
Approach all waters to fish as slowly and quietly as possible.
Tackle, Lures, Baits
Ideal conventional tackle is medium-light spinning or casting rods, matching reels with quality 15-pound test braid and/or fusion lines and a 2-foot “bite” leader of 20 to 30-pound fluorocarbon or monofilament to try to prevent cutoffs from the toothy pickerel. Some cutoffs occur despite these heavy leaders.
In open waters, like most of the rivers, preferred lures are 1/8-ounce, wire hook, unpainted jigheads or “horsehead” spinner jigheads, dressed with either bucktail skirts or thin, curlytail, minnow-shaped plastic grubs in natural colors. Sometimes jigs hang up, but usually a steady pull will open up the wire hook to free the lure. Then the hook can be bent back to shape with thumb pressure or with fishing pliers.
In rivers or ponds with a lot of woody cover or remnants of lily pads or spatterdock, Texas-rigged, paddletail flukes, 3-4 inches long in white or natural colors are a better choice. I also like offset spinner/jighead/grub rigs.
Pickerel experts fish jigs and plastics with “the Magothy River crawl” retrieve, basically slowly dragging the lure along bottom, lifting and shaking it in place before slowly cranking the reel and pausing again. This works with the jig and minnow combination, too. Move the paddletails just enough so the tails wobbles.
Rod angle is critical. Keeping the rod high, at least 45 degrees above the surface, greatly facilitates this retrieve and allows feeling a pickerel taking the lure or bait. Pickerel can hit hard, but often the take is extremely subtle, sometimes just a slight tic (often seen in the line rather than felt), sometimes a simple pause or stop.
Fly Fishing
This has often been the most effective technique in the last winter. Use a 7- or 8-weight rod, matching floating, sinktip or intermediate line with an 8-foot leader including a 2-foot bite tippet as described above. The most effective flies are unweighted 3 to 4-inch white, yellow or chartreuse streamers, such as Bendbacks, Lefty’s Deceivers or Bruce’s Articulated Bullethead Darters tied on weedless hooks.
Again retrieve the fly slowly, allowing it to flutter down on pauses.
Bait
Often the most effective technique in any pickerel water is fishing a 2 to 4-inch live minnow, lip-hooked on a small jig or shad dart with a wire or “gold-colored” hook. This can be fished as a jig or suspended beneath a small float. This rig can also take perch, crappie and bass.
A 1950’s rig worth resurrecting is the “Gypsy Rig.” Again using 20 to 30-pound monofilament of fluorocarbon, tie a small loop using a Double Surgeon’s Knot. Make one arm about four inches long and the other about 6 inches and tie #2 to 4 hooks at each end — circle hooks are best — and lip-hook a minnow on each. Spread the arms, cast and slowly retrieve this rig unweighted or slowly drift with it.
Cold water pickerel are worth a try, but are not worth dying for. Pick your time, prepare for weather and water conditions and enjoy.