Are pickeral and bass friends?

[Luna2406]

Was wondering if bass and pickeral hang out? The other day I was fishing a drop off and my first fish was a bass, then I caught two big pickeral after that from the same area. No bass after that. Just wondering if after I'm catching nothing but pickeral should I stay or find another spot for bass.

[flyfisher]

i have caught them in the same laydown before and in the same lilly pad field so i imagine they can coexist.

[Gundog]

Quick answer ....Yes.

[MassYak85]

Sometimes I will catch nothing but pickerel and not a single bass, other times I'll get a mix of both, and sometimes just bass. Happens in a ton of different conditions too. I have seemed to notice that if I am catching large pickerel (getting up around 2 feet or more) then there is a better chance that I catch bass there as well than if I was catching small guys. 

[Luna2406]

27 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Sometimes I will catch nothing but pickerel and not a single bass, other times I'll get a mix of both, and sometimes just bass. Happens in a ton of different conditions too. I have seemed to notice that if I am catching large pickerel (getting up around 2 feet or more) then there is a better chance that I catch bass there as well than if I was catching small guys. 

Yea I was catching pretty big pickeral around 19 in. The bass I caught was a decent size too.

[Rick Howard]

It depends on the time of year for me.  In the fall I catch them both in the same places.  In early summer (even late spring) I catch them in the same places.  Summer I tend to find them more separated.  I don't think the answer is in coexisting though.  I think the pickerel are more resilient fish than bass that can handle oxygen depleting weed killing algae cover along and temperature swings easier.  Just my theory. 

[the reel ess]

We only have pickerel a few places around here and I've never caught one. Have y'all ever kept and eaten any? How are they? Do you enjoy them or consider them a nuisance? 

[Smoked]

I would definitely say yes I fish in New Hampshire one certain lake it's a 50-50 Bass or Pickrell then the small mouth depending where your at . I catch slime darts one cast and next cast large mouth so yes I'd say 1000% there definitly in the same areas and can tolerate each other 

[Master Bait'r]

They aren't exactly playing cards and talking about the good ol days lol.  Coexisting because fighting is too dangerous may be more like it.  Both are formidable predators that populate the same area, but I do find pickerel to be far less discerning.  I treat them like freshwater barracudas-  They fear nothing and hit anything.  Bass tend to be more finicky.  

[Luna2406]

3 hours ago, the reel ess said:

We only have pickerel a few places around here and I've never caught one. Have y'all ever kept and eaten any? How are they? Do you enjoy them or consider them a nuisance? 

I've heard people do eat them they are just bony, and i enjoy catching the bigger pickerels because they do put up a good fight! Specially when they come flying out of the water! The other day i set the hook on one and had to dodge it as it came flying towards me haha i had one jump straight into my kayak once. 

[Rick Howard]

Taste good but a royal pain because of the bones.  Nuisance fish to me.  They beat up baits with their teeth and constnt flopping.  

[GetJigginWithIt]

Yep. On Friday nights after a hard weeks work, they are known to sit around the fire and Crack open a case of PBR.

[ClackerBuzz]

friends like Hannibal Lecter and fit young gym goers

[William Rossi]

I found the bass more around cover and the slimers roam more

[soflabasser]

On 7/4/2016 at 6:35 PM, flyfisher said:

i have caught them in the same laydown before and in the same lilly pad field so i imagine they can coexist.

Same here in certain spots in the Everglades.They both are fun to catch.

[fishwizzard]

My introduction to pickerel was in brackish tidal rivers, so I was very surprised when I first caught one in a FW lake.  I love the slimy jerks as they provide great sport in the winter then the bass are deep and slugish. 

I also like fish that can fight back:

I bet that pickerel is still telling the story of the time he bit a 200 pounder. 

[bigbill]

Pickerel eat the schooling bass fry. I seen this happen right in front of me. I put on a little rapala baby bass that matched the size of the bass fry and I pulled every pickerel out of there. I did c&r and returned them after a good spanking.

[gim]

Slime darts!  LOL.  That's a new one to me.  Up here in Minnesota we don't call them pickerel, they're called northern pike.  They aren't exactly the same but they're definitely from the same family of fish (esox), as are muskellunge.  They're such a nuisance here in the upper midwest now that the local and state government agencies have opened up the daily bag limit to 5 or 10 a day, depending on what body of water you're on.  They're aggressive and will regularly bite just about any kind of moving lure, often destroying them with their teeth.  The worst part is the slime.  Its like a really bad sinus infection.  Some people eat them.  I don't.  They are choked full of bones and the slime just creates a big mess.  We call 'em snakes, snot rockets, and slimers, but slime darts is a good one.  There used to be a lot more big ones around but the winter spearing has drastically reduced them so most lakes are choked full of small aggressive ones that eat everything in the lake.  They do co-exist with largemouth (and smallmouth) but like what was already mentioned, they are often more aggressive so if you start catching several of them its best to move on.