The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

I am really looking forward to the 2011 fishing season opening in a couple of weeks. This year I am focusing on besting my own personal best chain pickerel of 25 inches from 2010.

2010 Personal Best Pickerel @ 25″

Yeah, it’s still an inch shy of Rolands first pickerel of 26 inches, which was the same day I caught my previous PB at 24 inches but some day I’ll even beat that 26 inch pickerel.

The guy in the picture to the right, I believe his name is Jim, has a pickerel just shy of 6 pounds, that’s just about the size I plan to land in 2011, so look out boys.

I waited about 20 years to land a bigger pickerel and I’m willing to keep trying for the next 20 to best my new PB of 25 inches.

Today I would like to share some facts about pickerel I found surfing around the net.

Some of it I have already said so you likely know the pickerel is part of the pike family. No surprise that they are extremely aggressive. That’ll work from me. I love having them smacking my baits, artificial flies included.

I have used a lot of baits to attract pickerel but by far baits and flies with red in them, blood red actually seem to be the most productive in just about any conditions.

When a pickerel sees red they see red, so be ready.

I have used plastic baits and landed pickerel that didn’t even have a hook in them. They just won’t let go of the bait.

I have also caught pickerel that had a fish in their mouth they couldn’t even swallow but still attacked my bait. Very aggressive fish.

The days the pickerel are on, which is most days, I don’t even like putting my hands in the water to clean them. I do it real quick like.

I have visions of a pack of these pickerel hanging out under the boat just waiting from me to dangle my fingers in the water.

One of their nicknames is the lightening fish, with good reason. They go from one spot to the next in a flash.

A Pickerel By Any Other Name

Here in New Brunswick we call the pickerel by the name Chain pickerel, well maybe not everyone, but I do. I ‘ve heard them called Jacks as well but today I was browsing around online and found a few more names.

• Eastern pickerel
• Mud pickerel
• Grass pickerel
• Lake pickerel

Those a just a few, there are other names as well, my favourite being the Reticulated pickerel.

“Hey buddy what you fishin’ for today?” Reticulated Pickerel “What??”

Where Do Pickerel Live

I have only ever fished for pickerel here in New Brunswick Canada and thought it was about as far west as they go. However, I have heard that 2 pickerel have been landed around 1000 Islands in the St. Lawrence River. That was in 2010 by the way.

They follow the east coast all the way to Florida and as far west as Alabama.

Wouldn’t that make for a great road trip? I’m packed and waiting.

Pickerel Characteristics

The Chain pickerel, err I mean Reticulated pickerel has the following characteristics:

They have a long narrow body, covered with a chain-link pattern that runs down both sides of their body, which is where it gets the name Chain Pickerel

The pickerel, starting with it’s back is usually black. When you look down on them in the water the black makes them almost invisible against the bottom.

Going the sides toward the belly, which is white, it changes from dark green chain link pattern gradually getting lighter as it reaches it’s white belly. Great camouflage as they can sit just inches under the water and you can’t see them.

The average length seems to be about 15 to 20 inches (38.1 to 50.8 cm) and can reach about 30 inches (76.2 cm). That 30 inches is now my new goal and then I’ll have to move away or start fishing for musky.

The Chain Pickerel Spawn

Chain Pickerel spawn early spring usually at ice out as the water temperature get close to 50 F (10 C). They tend to look for back water bays that are about 3 feet deep as they warm up faster than deeper water areas.

The female lays in the area of 50 thousand eggs or so and then just leaves them to fend for themselves. Bad Mother!!

Their young take about 3 years to reach fourteen inches long and may not become sexually mature until their in their fourth year. So set those little guys free so they get the chance to experience the joy of sex, at least once.

I’ve heard that the pickerel is not classified as a sport fish however I do and have great fun competing with my fishing buddies. Loser buys the ice cream on the trip home.

I practice catch and release, seldoming keeping any fish, unless I hurt them and know they won’t survive. The chain pickerel has very tasty white flesh.

Here in New Brunswick I usually find them in water that tends to have a muddy bottom and lots of grass and weeds. They can taste a bit weedy or swampy when the water gets to warm so if I plan to have a feed of pickerel I prefer to have it in the early spring while the water is still cold.

Oh yeah, they also have been called chain lightening as they dart out so fast to snatch food that you can hardly see them. Their lightening speed and aggressive nature and of course the fight is why I’m addicted to pickerel fishing, sport fish or not.