Man, I Had Forgotten How Nasty A Pickerel's

[new2BC4bass]

teeth are not having caught one in over 26 years. Had one hit a Smithwick this afternoon. A nasty lure to start with. No pliers. No fish grabber. Lipped it to remove the hooks. Oops. Mistake! Center treble was inside corner of mouth, rear treble through the outside of its face. Wound up sticking myself almost to the barb with one. Had to hook a treble over my rod for leverage so I could pull the hook out of my finger since I couldn't let go of the fish with the other hand.

Bled like someone stuck a pig. Being on a blood thinner didn't help. Tore up my thumb some. Looked worse that it was although it doesn't look so pretty now that the cuts have turned red. :lol:

Now I'm going to get my cheap butt to Wal-mart and spend the $9 on a pair of 8" needle nose pliers that I wouldn't buy previously. Maybe check into a fish lip gripper. Knowing my luck, I'll buy the tools and then never catch another one.

[Bluebasser86]

teeth are not having caught one in over 26 years. Had one hit a Smithwick this afternoon. A nasty lure to start with. No pliers. No fish grabber. Lipped it to remove the hooks. Oops. Mistake! Center treble was inside corner of mouth, rear treble through the outside of its face. Wound up sticking myself almost to the barb with one. Had to hook a treble over my rod for leverage so I could pull the hook out of my finger since I couldn't let go of the fish with the other hand.

Bled like someone stuck a pig. Being on a blood thinner didn't help. Tore up my thumb some. Looked worse that it was although it doesn't look so pretty now that the cuts have turned red. :lol:

Now I'm going to get my cheap butt to Wal-mart and spend the $9 on a pair of 8" needle nose pliers that I wouldn't buy previously. Maybe check into a fish lip gripper. Knowing my luck, I'll buy the tools and then never catch another one.

From what I've seen I don't know if it would be considered bad luck to never catch another pickerel

[dulouz]

After I caught my first northern I went and bought myself some VERY LONG PLIERS!

[tomustang]

I never leave home without a 7" and 12" set for that reason

[new2BC4bass]

Going again Saturday. Will have a set of needle nose pliers by then.

BB, they can be pretty aggressive. Pretty sure it was the same fish that tried to nab my lure 3 times before nailing it the fourth time. I watched him/her miss twice. Missed the fish's first attempt because I had a nice overrun and was pulling line out when the fish tried to bust it. Guy was fishing nearby with 2 young children, and he heard the fish's first try too.

[northern basser]

They're really good at biting through line w/ those teeth. I've lost a lot of expensive bass lures to northerns biting them off. They can bite through 50# braid just as fast as 6# mono.

[FL_Sharpshooter]

I have to deal with those chain pickerel every day when I'm fishing anything flashy in the canals, along with gar. They'll even sometimes nip at the tails of twirl tail worms. I always carry 2 pairs of pliers with me though. One straight pair to hold on to their lip, and one needle nose pair of pliers to remove the hooks. I've seen quite a few fisherman catch them and leave them to die on the banks. Just kind of shake my head...

[tomustang]

 I've seen quite a few fisherman catch them and leave them to die on the banks.  Just kind of shake my head...

With the pickerel at my local lake, they are overabundant, it's been ruining the the population of every other species in the lake. Worse part is they need to be 18" to keep. The majority of them are smaller than 16". No one wants them. No one likes them. 

The lake gets stocked with 10-12" trout, juvenile walleye (which no ever catches, since their eaten up)  The pickerel were stocked in the 10's of thousands over a decade ago, it's amazing that there's other fish in that lake. It's the only lake I could care less about what people do after they bring them to shore. I however do the right thing and put them back.

[FL_Sharpshooter]

With the pickerel at my local lake, they are overabundant, it's been ruining the the population of every other species in the lake. Worse part is they need to be 18" to keep. The majority of them are smaller than 16". No one wants them. No one likes them. 

The lake gets stocked with 10-12" trout, juvenile walleye (which no ever catches, since their eaten up)  The pickerel were stocked in the 10's of thousands over a decade ago, it's amazing that there's other fish in that lake. It's the only lake I could care less about what people do after they bring them to shore. I however do the right thing and put them back.

I guess I can understand in that situation. I just feel it's not in my power to choose if they die, just my opinion. I don't like the pickerel either, but I don't go killing them. Now if it was a snakehead, that's a completely different story. I think if the gar and pickerel have managed to live in the water for that long, why is it my right to choose otherwise?

[BrianSnat]

Where the heck have you been fishing where you haven't caught a pickerel for 26 years? My favorite local lake has them. Not a lot but enough where I catch one for every 4-5 bass I catch.

I usually try to let them spit the hook before I land them. I hate catching them. I'm not sure why because pound for pound pickerel are among the better fighters. Hook into a 3 pounder on light tackle and you are in for a battle. Maybe its because I can't lip land them and they always get tangled in the net.

[Jigfishn10]

I'm impressed that you fish with treble hooks all these years without needlenose pliers. I can get a treble hook out of a fishes mouth on most occasions without pliers, but not all the time.