Why is there such a hate for pickerel?!?

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

Last topic from me for the day but i have been meaning to ask. WHY such a hate for pickerel? i have seen a lot of people either online or in videos or through word of mouth of how much they hate pickerel ... and honestly it's my favorite fish to catch just because of how cool of a fish it is with the teeth and such

I mean i still celebrate a bass just as much as a pickerel but i have an affinity for pickerel if i could catch big pickerel all day i would be in fishermans heaven imo but i just want to know why there is such a hate for them ?

 

No hate if you do hate pickerel we all have our own opinions just want to know why specifically and such

[MassYak85]

They are fun to catch and definitely add some excitement to slow days. But I am not targeting them and at times they can be annoying when I am trying to catch bass. Ever have baby pickerel chew off the tail on half a pack of keitechs on consecutive casts? Not fun. I also usually try and let them shake themselves off the hook before I deal with them because of the teeth and how much they shake. I do know of people who do actually HATE them. To the point they slit their throats whenever they catch one. Obviously illegal but those people exist. 

 

Also when fishing swimbaits. Pickerel add a new level of fun. Most pickerel can't swallow a swimbait deep enough to slice your line and cost you a pretty penny. But a 5lber...absolutely. If I fish known pike waters I use a leader for this reason, but if it's just pickerel I don't. But part of me always has that little inkling of concern for those big pickerel. So far I haven't run into any. 

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

4 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

They are fun to catch and definitely add some excitement to slow days. But I am not targeting them and at times they can be annoying when I am trying to catch bass. Ever have baby pickerel chew off the tail on half a pack of keitechs on consecutive casts? Not fun. I also usually try and let them shake themselves off the hook before I deal with them because of the teeth and how much they shake. I do know of people who do actually HATE them. To the point they slit their throats whenever they catch one. Obviously illegal but those people exist. 

 

Also when fishing swimbaits. Pickerel add a new level of fun. Most pickerel can't swallow a swimbait deep enough to slice your line and cost you a pretty penny. But a 5lber...absolutely. If I fish known pike waters I use a leader for this reason, but if it's just pickerel I don't. But part of me always has that little inkling of concern for those big pickerel. So far I haven't run into any. 

I would suggest getting a pair of gloves and

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Eagle-Claw-Hook-Remover-Pistol-Grip/42672045

 

This is what i have been using since i was a kid to get the hook out

like i get it it's difficult but once you get it up and if you have that tool i posted makes it much easier almost like pulling a hook out a bass hehe

 

 

Also that's really really sad to hear that we have people killing fish just for the sake of O I DONT WANT TO CATCH THIS FISH ... that's the kind of crap that would make me want to scream

[WRB]

Good question.

Not being from a region where pickerel live my only contact was with my inlaws and they didn't like pickerel and called them hammer handles, pike were called jacks and both considered undesirable fish not worth keeping or eating. The preferred fish were walleyes and lake trout, even smallmouth bass were avoided but not hated.

My inlaws were avid live bait anglers, minnows, which may influence their opinions as they fished for food.

Tom

 

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

Just now, WRB said:

Good question.

Not being from a region where pickerel live my only contact was with my inlaws and they didn't like pickerel and called them hammer handles, pike were called jacks and both considered undesirable fish not worth keeping or eating. The preferred fish were walleyes and lake trout, even smallmouth bass were avoided but not hated.

My inlaws were avid alive bait anglers, minnows, which may influence their opinions as they fished for food.

Tom

 

Honestly i like catching any fish ? i guess i'm just someone that doesn't like to target 1 fish and will take what he can get

 

Also i have been told by a few tackle shop owners around here that the LMB are WAY more aggressive than pickerel are and can easily kill off a pickerel population if enough bass grow to a good size

 

But maybe they don't know jack squat ...

[Jar11591]

They stink like a farm animal. They slime up everything. They go ballistic in the boat. Most of them are tiny and more snake-like than fish-like, but even the tiny ones will render a spinnerbait or frog unusable. They take trailer hooks extremely deep, often killing themselves. They bite the trailer right off a jig. They bite the appendages off a soft plastic. They often miss topwaters so badly that they strike the line 6” in front of the lure and sever the line clean resulting in a lost lure.

 

Could I do without the little snot rocket pickerel? You bet. But I would never advocate tossing them, or any other fish on the bank to rot like some people do with “undesirable” species. That’s not something I agree with. 

 

I don’t necessarily “hate” to catch pickerel, and the bigger ones are ok I guess. The small ones are really just a minor annoyance after I’ve caught a bunch. 

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

3 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

They stink like a farm animal. They slime up everything. They go ballistic in the boat. Most of them are tiny and more snake-like than fish-like, but even the tiny ones will render a spinnerbait or frog unusable. They take trailer hooks extremely deep, often killing themselves. They bite the trailer right off a jig. They bite the appendages off a soft plastic. They often miss topwaters so badly that they strike the line 6” in front of the lure and sever the line clean resulting in a lost lure.

 

Could I do without the little snot rocket pickerel? You bet. But I would never advocate tossing them, or any other fish on the bank to rot like some people do with “undesirable” species. That’s not something I agree with. 

 

I don’t necessarily “hate” to catch pickerel, and the bigger ones are ok I guess. The small ones are really just a minor annoyance after I’ve caught a bunch. 

Well thank you for not killing them ! 

[Deleted account]

I think it's a combination of anglers focused on bass, and the fact that small ones are at times abundant and aggressive. There seems to be a subset of fish that are for one reason or another considered undesirable. In addition to pickerel, carp, bluefish, and cudas come to mind. I enjoy catching anything that swims and has fins, and in the case of pickerel, chasing big ones is one of my favorite things to do. I'm lucky enough that between me and south Jersey (and beyond into NY actually), there is a bunch of good pickerel water.

[jbmaine]

I don't target pickerel, but they can be fun to catch. If you fish waters that have pickerel, you will catch them from time to time, that's just the way it is. Larger ones put up a good fight. Nothing wrong with that.

[nosdog2]

I love catching them (Northern Pike) and eating them too. I normally release them, but in season I will surely take a few and fry them up. 

[Tlauz]

Jaw spreaders and long needle nose pliers are always nearby.  I don't bring them in the boat unless they are so large I have to net them. I usually just grab them behind the head and pop out hooks.  Average size here is 20-25 inches so they are fun to catch.  On occasion, I will keep a few and remove y-bones.  I like the taste of pike.  Most people here are chasing walleye, so they view bass as a nuisance fish.  I think any fish willing to bite and fight deserves respect.  

 

 

[Choporoz]

8 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

They stink like a farm animal. They slime up everything. They go ballistic in the boat. Most of them are tiny and more snake-like than fish-like, but even the tiny ones will render a spinnerbait or frog unusable. They take trailer hooks extremely deep, often killing themselves. They bite the trailer right off a jig. They bite the appendages off a soft plastic. They often miss topwaters so badly that they strike the line 6” in front of the lure and sever the line clean resulting in a lost lure.

 

Could I do without the little snot rocket pickerel? You bet. But I would never advocate tossing them, or any other fish on the bank to rot like some people do with “undesirable” species. That’s not something I agree with. 

 

I don’t necessarily “hate” to catch pickerel, and the bigger ones are ok I guess. The small ones are really just a minor annoyance after I’ve caught a bunch. 

Sums up my thoughts, as well..... only additional complaint is that when a hammer-handle hits a treble, he will invariably get hooked in both the top and bottom of his mouth.....the time spent landing, unhooking, releasing, reviving and cleaning up the slime is not worth it to me.    I feel similarly about cats and snakeheads....they all take me off the bass fishing for way too long

[J Francho]

First off,  any Esox species are delicious.  Pickerel are often too small to bother with all the Y-bones.  There are some lakes where they are over populated.  I often catch my limit of ten on Oneida before the sun is up.  I have some friends that own a Chinese restaurant, and they take my limit every time to feed their family.  In exchange, I get some take out after a long day on the water.  I really don't mind catching them, but they do tear up lures - frogs and spinnerbaits in particular.  They can be irritating in a tournament as well.

[WRB]

Different regional areas have different preferences for fish species. For example the northwest Washington State largemouth bass are considered trash fish by the majority of trout anglers the fish they prefer.

Japan where the current world record was caught largemouth bass are considered invasive species to be killed whenever caught.

Looking at the photo of the big pickerel it looks like a pike to my uneducated eye, thought pickerel has a chain link pattern i.e.; chain pickerel.

Tom

[fishwizzard]

I fish a ton of pickerel waters and I enjoy the little bit if “danger” they bring to an otherwise chill day of bass fishing.  I have a very good Pickerel Protocol in place, so landing and unhooking them is pretty painless, especially from my yak. 

 

They do destroy lures, but right now turtles far far out-class pickerel in the dollar value of lures ruined/lost.  Hell, just yesterday I watched a little baby painted turtle swim up to a sinking wacky senko and nip it in half, just to swim away after. In one pond I fish the pond-king snapper’s damage tab is up to like $50, thats just one turtle in one pond. 

[J Francho]

27 minutes ago, WRB said:

Looking at the photo of the big pickerel it looks like a pike to my uneducated eye, thought pickerel has a chain link pattern i.e.; chain pickerel.

That is MOST DEFINITTELY a chain pickerel in the picture above.

 

This is a northern pike:

[Ralph Nicholas Vito]

56 minutes ago, J Francho said:

That is MOST DEFINITTELY a chain pickerel in the picture above.

 

This is a northern pike:

Man what i wouldn't give to catch a fish like that ! the pickerel around Mass get big but not Pike big lol

[WRB]

Ok, decided to look up the differences between Pickerel and Pike besides the obvious size. 1species of Pike in North America and 3 species of Pickerel; red, grass and chain.

Identifying by markings isn't reliable except fin markings, Pike have fin markings like stripes or spots and pickerel don't. The JBMaine photo apparently is a grass pickerel, no fin markings.

I haven't caught a Pickerel that I am aware of, several pike fishing for musky or walleyes in Lake of the Woods region, Ontario Cananda.

Just thought some of the BR members may not hnow how to identify a Pickerel.

Tom

[J Francho]

The most reliable way is cheek scale patterns, though it's easy enough to use patterns.  Juvenile Esox can be tough, though.

 

JBMaine's fish is definitely a Chain Pickerel.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/cek7/nyfish/Esocidae/esocidae.html

[UPSmallie]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

First off,  any Esox species are delicious.  Pickerel are often too small to bother with all the Y-bones.  There are some lakes where they are over populated.  I often catch my limit of ten on Oneida before the sun is up.  I have some friends that own a Chinese restaurant, and they take my limit every time to feed their family.  In exchange, I get some take out after a long day on the water.  I really don't mind catching them, but they do tear up lures - frogs and spinnerbaits in particular.  They can be irritating in a tournament as well.

Well Said!  That's really cool too!  Need to find a Chinese Restaurant that will accept my fish for their food.

 

Ok here is what everyone needs to do at least once if they plan on eating pike/pickerel.  It's my favorite recipe that I call 'pike wings.'  First catch a legal fish.  Next fillet it using the boneless 5 fillet method found on youtube.  I like this video

 

 

After that, cut the meat into about 1-1.5 inch chunks.  Roll them thoroughly in flour.  Next get your frying pan ready and dump some canola oil into it.  Place the flour coated chunks into the pan and sprinkle lemon pepper and, I like Uncle Tony's Creole Seasoning, but really any kind of your favorite seasoning will do; onto the meat.  Fry the meat on high if you plan on attending the burner the whole time.  Once dark brown on one side, flip, and once dark brown on the other, you are done.  May need to flip a couple of times.  Let it cool and then enjoy!  I love to dip them in ketchup or ranch.  Nice and crispy and great eating.  One of the best methods of cooking these fish in my opinion  

[J Francho]

I use the five fillet method, and then use the carcass to make fish stock.  When harvesting pike, leave the largest fish, and take the middling sizes, 25-30" are good.  It can take up to a decade or more to replace that top trophy fish, once removed.  Often, it's niche is filled by many "axe handles."

[Choporoz]

I, too, use 5-fillet method.  However, if you have slots or length limits, be sure to check your regs.  Got a thorough tongue-lashing at an Ontario Fish Check station when they couldn't tell the lengths because of the way they were filleted (though no fine, thankfully.)

[jbmaine]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

The most reliable way is cheek scale patterns, though it's easy enough to use patterns.  Juvenile Esox can be tough, though.

 

JBMaine's fish is definitely a Chain Pickerel.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/cek7/nyfish/Esocidae/esocidae.html

Yep, it was a chain pickerel, I would love to catch a northern, never have.

[FishDewd]

Interesting, I found a creek that's hard to fish due to quick current, steep sides, and very snaggy bottom. I was checking it once, tossing some bass lures in there to see if anything bit, and kept seeing these long fish with yellowish fins surface every few minutes. I assumed they were gar (though I don't know of any with fins that color) but after looking at these pictures they actually kind of looked more like pike now that I mentally compare. But I didn't think they lived in waters down here that are as warm as they are. Be fun to catch one so I can find out, but they had no interest in the bass lures I was tossing that way.

[Gundog]

I can't stand pickerel. Where I fish the lake has way too many and, as others have stated, they destroy lures if you don't just flat out lose a lure to them. That combined with the thrashing they do in the boat and the slime they leave on everything is enough for me to hate them.