I usually slide my hand up under the gills and use needle nose pliers for the hook unless I'm using a spinner bait and I can get the hook out without getting to close to the teeth.
I did have a bad incident with a pickeral about two weeks ago. Last cast of the day and I hooked a pickerel on a Tiny Torpedo. The fish was probably no longer than 14 inches...I usually use a net, but for a fish this size I didn't bother. I slid my right hand down the line to grab the back of the lure and when I did the fish thrashed. I got the hook right up underneath my fingernail. It went in deep enough that it actually came up through the nail and split it in half. To add insult to injury, a second hook went right into another figher. My fault for not having a solid grip on the fish, but I've caught hundreds of these fish and I guess I took for granted how nasty they can be.
Anyway I throw the fish out of the boat with the lure still in its mouth in disgust while I'm bleeding all over the place. My hand is throbbing and I still don't have my lure back yet. Got my pliers and took the lure out...had no first aid kit and had to load up my canoe and gear while I was still bleeding all over. Glad I didn't have my five year old with me. He would have had the crap scared out of him!
My feeling on catching Pickerel is that its better than catching nothing, but its frustrating when every piece of gear you have is for bass, and then you end up catching these guys. I pulled in some giants earlier this season and I actually find them easier to handle than the midsize ones. I also don't use the torpedo lure very often anymore because those two treble hooks are a real pain when you catch a pickerel. Thats too bad because I've probably caught more fish on that lure than any other. I agree with much of what I've read here in that the pickerel population seems to have exploded over the last few years in all of the waters I fish.
