How to Catch Pickerel in Winter

When different fish are taking a winter’s nap, chain pickerel are desirous to strike a fly

Pickerel fishing can get scorching when the mercury dips. Picture by Joe Cermele

I’ve been a fan of chain pickerel since I used to be a child. That’s largely as a result of the place I grew up there weren’t any pike and though there have been some muskie haunts, these fish felt too unattainable. As an grownup, I nonetheless imagine the lowly chain pickerel doesn’t get sufficient respect. I’m betting a few of you’ve got them in your yard and don’t pay them a lot thoughts. That’s a mistake, particularly throughout winter. Not like bass, trout, and bluegills, which will be very robust to idiot as soon as the water drops beneath roughly 45 levels, pickerel are nonetheless desirous to assault. 

Additionally they make distinctive fly rod targets for learners and superior casters alike. So, don’t tuck the lengthy rod away till spring simply but. In case you’ve by no means taken a crack at these underdogs, right here’s tips on how to catch pickerel in winter.

Sluggish Your Retrieve

Throughout an ice fishing journey years in the past, a buddy aimed an underwater digicam on one of many reside shiners dangling beneath a tip-up. Briefly order, a pickerel appeared on the display. We had been sure it will plow the bait seconds after it arrived, however the reverse occurred. The predator simply hovered in place barely flicking its fins, finding out the shiner because it swam frantically in a circle. For 5 minutes nothing modified, after which, as if out of fuel, the shiner went limp. This, we thought, would make the pickerel go away, however it stayed. Then, the drained shiner made one half-hearted tail kick and WHAM! The pickerel hit and up popped the flag. Related scenes unfolded a number of extra instances all through the day, and the expertise taught me rather a lot about how pickerel feed in chilly water. 

Whereas an aggressive strategy would possibly get pickerel charged up throughout hotter instances, subtlety pays off within the chilly. Studying from what I noticed on the ice that day, I started utilizing unweighted streamers with a little bit of bulk for catching pickerel in chilly winter. Patterns just like the Double Deceiver, Mini Drunk & Disorderly, and the Dirty Hippy are all good examples of streamers that may be manipulated to hover within the water column, or at the least fall away slowly sufficient that they’ll linger in entrance of a fish’s face. 

When these cumbersome flies are introduced on floating fly line, it takes minimal work to make them gently twitch and you may hold them within the zone a very long time. Conversely, any sample with a weighted head is not going to solely sink whenever you pause however require a way more aggressive strip to deliver to life. That’s not ideally suited.

Use a Strike Indicator

Simply because gradual retrieves are sometimes the best throughout the winter doesn’t imply weighted flies haven’t any place in your chilly season arsenal. They are often extremely efficient, however the secret is presenting them beneath a big, buoyant strike indicator like a Thingamabobber. In essence, matching this float with a weighted fly is the equal of casting a soft-plastic jig beneath a bobber with spinning gear. It may be downright deadly. 

A few of my favourite flies for this methodology embody the Clouser Minnow, Lunch Money Shad, and the Flash-and-Grab. All of them function weighted dumbbell eyes that assist hold them oriented horizontally when hanging beneath a strike indicator. My choice is a 1-inch Thingamabobber, as it could droop a reasonably heavy sample. It may also be simply slid up and down your chief to regulate depth of your fly. 

All it’s important to do is hearth out an extended forged and let the fly grasp there in the midst of the water column. Don’t be afraid to attend a minute or longer earlier than giving the road one brief, quick strip to make the fly rise and fall once more. You’ll be able to milk a retrieve like this for a very long time, as it’ll assist hold the fly hanging round doubtless cowl lengthy sufficient to get a cold, unwilling pickerel to make a transfer. 

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Fish the Heat Spots

Whether or not you’re fishing from shore or have entry to a ship, contemplating the time of day you’re fishing, in addition to the depth, backside content material, and construction you’re focusing on are important. Very often there’s a brief—however candy—feeding window later within the day, which regularly correlates with an uptick in water temperate, even when solely by a level or two. In fact, a complete lake or river isn’t prone to bump up a couple of levels in a single day throughout the winter, however sure areas will. 

I prefer to deal with spots three to 4 ft deep in shut proximity to deeper water. Areas with darkish backside will maintain extra warmth from the solar, as will any downed timber or wooden poking via the floor. Regardless of the chilly, pickerel must feed, and through that chunk window, areas that verify a number of of those packing containers are prime. In case you spend sufficient time in your native waters, winter patterns rapidly emerge and earlier than lengthy you’ll work out which banks and canopy are price beating to dying since you’ll know a fish or two is probably going holding there. Some days simply might require extra coaxing than others to get them to chew.