Pickeral Vs Bass

[TBO]

When pickeral are biting is the bass bite off??  

 

 i went fishing today to one of my favorite spots.  i usually pull a a few bass out without a doubt.  but today i got their and the water was down 2 feet. im assuming its due to the cranberry bogs and the daily pumping.  the weeds were extra thick due to low water. i didnt skunk today cause i caught pickeral but that was all that was biting today. i was using a spittin wa frog, torpedo 3", curly tail worms, banjo minnow shad clr, and black buzz plug. i caught a pickeral on almost everything.  the banjo minnow had no takes.(shad isnt common here)

 just trying to figure out if pickeral scare fish away.  any tips or articles i can read about bass behavior when around other species??  

 

 

[Catch and Grease]

Bass aren't afraid of pickerel, I catch them in the same spots all the time

[rippin-lips]

The lake I call my home lake has a mix of everything in it. If the pickerel are in the area the bass are near by. At least for me anyhow.

[TBO]

ok cool. thx  was just wondering.  didnt know if pickeral scared off fish like snapping turtles.  i catch bass and pickerel just not in same areas

[RoLo]

Largemouth bass and chain pickerel lie at the same hierarchy on the food chain.

So it boils down to body mass where mite makes right, no different than a small bass versus a large bass.

It's a different story however when it comes to the pickerel's big brother, the 'northern pike'.

The mean mass of northern pike is substantially greater than largemouth bass,

therefore the pike is the dominant species. Consequently, in lakes where pike and bass coexist,

the habitat of largemouth bass is largely dictated by the seasonal movements of northern pike (not so with pickerel).

 

Roger

[TBO]

Largemouth bass and chain pickerel lie at the same hierarchy on the food chain.

So it boils down to body mass where mite makes right, no different than a small bass versus a large bass.

It's a different story however when it comes to the pickerel's big brother, the 'northern pike'.

The mean mass of northern pike is substantially greater than largemouth bass,

therefore the pike is the dominant species. Consequently, in lakes where pike and bass coexist,

the habitat of largemouth bass is largely dictated by the seasonal movements of northern pike (not so with pickerel).

 

Roger

 

 

awesome! thanks.  

[shimmy]

Compared to northern pike, the bite can change in a day. We had one morning where we caught over 50 bass, several bigger ones over 4 and 5 pounds and only a few northern. Went back in the evening to kill em again and caught more northern than i ever have (50 plus) with only a few bass. Sometimes weird things happen on a lake where bass unanimously agree that it is not a good time to bite and a new species comes in and snips every one of your lures off for 4-5 hours straight. Went back two days later, and the bass were the only ones biting. Don't get discouraged. Literally the day of fish behaviors can change and there can be a shift in who's feeding. I don't claim to know why and could give you a bunch of regurgitated answers you see here online, but it is interesting how a northern pike and bass can collectively have completely different feeding patterns within a day.

[desmobob]

I had a pickerel vs. bass day today.  Early in the morning, I fished a long stretch of weed line and picked up two nice bass and some smaller ones.  A few hours later, I fished it again from the other direction and caught several pickerel and pike, with two of the pickerel being as big as I've ever seen.  But zero bass....

 

I guess they flipped a coin to see who would eat first this morning, and the bass won.

 

Tight lines,

Bob 

[Coherence]

Only thing I can say is, I can almost always catch a Pickerel, the bass are the tricky ones around here. Takes a bit more effort and usually a bit more subtle of a presentation.

 

I've literally been slapping baits on the water to get plant-life off of it and had Pickerel come investigate. 

[Paul Roberts]

Years ago, a local expert back took me fishing (I was one thrilled kid) and we returned with limits of bass and pickeral. In the boat he instructed me to reel straight for pickeral as they don't turn real well. For bass, sharp changes of direction will catch bass but ward off the pickeral. Dunno if this would actually pan out statistically though. That said, I've loved pickeral. Go to a light/UL spinning rig and use a mono leader and.. let em run! Gosh they're fast, if you just let them keep their fins in the water.

 

Another thought, is that pickeral may always be mixed in but bass may be able to out-compete the pickeral in your water (?). Bass have a habit (dunno about pickeral) of dropping away from shorelines when water levels fall -a common reservoir scenario. Maybe your bass were a bit further off the bank -maybe even suspended- leaving the pickeral to dominate. Just a thought.

 

Pike are interesting, and I have seen times when pike are all over me. Then other days, they are completely absent. This became particularly interesting when I got to see this in a pond -small enough that I could cover the whole thing pretty well. Some days it seemed all the pike in the pond were active and when that happened I'd do one of two things: To avoid them I wouldn't throw anything flashy but fish jigs and worms in gentle slides and falls. If I wanted to catch those pike, I'd put on something flashy -Rapala, Mepps, or SB- and fish pretty straightforward horizontal retrieves, just covering water. Over time I got to know the larger pike in the pond and if I found that the pike were "on" I'd sometimes visit each big one's apparent territory and either catch or raise each one. It was pretty interesting -a very real phenomenon.

 

I later came upon a technique highlighted in an In-Fisherman article that described catching pike in thick vegetation with a "shaked" skirted jig. It worked! I mean, it was special to those pike. I found I could catch my big pike almost at will even on days when the pike weren't "on". Those "on" days when pike were chasing -willing to chase horizontal lures- were rare. But the "shaken" jig worked almost anytime and it appeared that those pike were tucked away in cover at those times, and simply unwilling, or not in position to, chase. Never affixed any particular weather pattern to this but I do have records in my journals so maybe on some winter night I'll look at it.

[TBO]

Years ago, a local expert back took me fishing (I was one thrilled kid) and we returned with limits of bass and pickeral. In the boat he instructed me to reel straight for pickeral as they don't turn real well. For bass, sharp changes of direction will catch bass but ward off the pickeral. Dunno if this would actually pan out statistically though. That said, I've loved pickeral. Go to a light/UL spinning rig and use a mono leader and.. let em run! Gosh they're fast, if you just let them keep their fins in the water.

 

Another thought, is that pickeral may always be mixed in but bass may be able to out-compete the pickeral in your water (?). Bass have a habit (dunno about pickeral) of dropping away from shorelines when water levels fall -a common reservoir scenario. Maybe your bass were a bit further off the bank -maybe even suspended- leaving the pickeral to dominate. Just a thought.

 

Pike are interesting, and I have seen times when pike are all over me. Then other days, they are completely absent. This became particularly interesting when I got to see this in a pond -small enough that I could cover the whole thing pretty well. Some days it seemed all the pike in the pond were active and when that happened I'd do one of two things: To avoid them I wouldn't throw anything flashy but fish jigs and worms in gentle slides and falls. If I wanted to catch those pike, I'd put on something flashy -Rapala, Mepps, or SB- and fish pretty straightforward horizontal retrieves, just covering water. Over time I got to know the larger pike in the pond and if I found that the pike were "on" I'd sometimes visit each big one's apparent territory and either catch or raise each one. It was pretty interesting -a very real phenomenon.

 

I later came upon a technique highlighted in an In-Fisherman article that described catching pike in thick vegetation with a "shaked" skirted jig. It worked! I mean, it was special to those pike. I found I could catch my big pike almost at will even on days when the pike weren't "on". Those "on" days when pike were chasing -willing to chase horizontal lures- were rare. But the "shaken" jig worked almost anytime and it appeared that those pike were tucked away in cover at those times, and simply unwilling, or not in position to, chase. Never affixed any particular weather pattern to this but I do have records in my journals so maybe on some winter night I'll look at it.

yeah i figured they would move due to low water.  the water here isnt deep i would be surprised if it reached 15 feet.   the deepest open water is 3-4 feet till the tops of the low weeds.  but everywhere else is solid lilly pads and thick ass weeds. i didnt mind catching the pickerel as it was the only ones this year so far which is amazing! usually ill catch a few pickerel per trip but not this year. its a tuough pond to fish at times.its either they bite everything or nothing at all.

but so far ive noticed if i start catching 3-4 pickerel in the same spot their isnt any bass in that area, or atleast not biting my lure.

[fishballer06]

I agree with everyone else. I catch pike and bass together at the same spots all the time. 

 

I also bass fish a lot with a buddy who only musky fishes, and we both catch fish in the same spots. 

[Surpriser]

There's only Chain Pickerel where I fish, and I'll watch them share the same water and hiding spots as the bass. I've never noticed the pickerel hurting the bass fishing. Toothy fish are rarer in my area, so I have fun when I happen to catch one while fishing for largemouth. 

[Catch 22]

Hey Coherence, I live about 25 minutes away from Wagamons. I resigned SF. You might know me

as BB.

Pic/bass together all the time and from personal studies I have done the pics don`t seem to eat bass very often.

I didn`t use to like catching pickerel but they get me thru the winter round here.They eat everything that the lmb will take.

After tasting some excellent deep fried northerns last summer, I may learn how to bone out a pickerel.

C 22

[guitarglynn1]

Only thing I can say is, I can almost always catch a Pickerel, the bass are the tricky ones around here. Takes a bit more effort and usually a bit more subtle of a presentation.

 

I've literally been slapping baits on the water to get plant-life off of it and had Pickerel come investigate. 

 

For me at my fav spot it is just the opposite. I really enjoy catching pickerel and actually started a thread about it in another section. I catch them on occasion. It seems like when I catch one I will catch severeal, but I have not landed any since Aug. The bass on the other hand I can catch regularly. 

 

And I have caught bass and pickerel within minutes of each other in the same exact spot just as a fyi for the OP.