Pickerel fest!!!

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Decided to go fishing with my friend on Wednesday. Got their late and we were out on the water by 10:30. Wasn't too confident. We were there for a 1/2 hour without even a sniff. I'm thinking this place must have been hammered long weekend and all the fish were all hooked.We tried a few patterns and nothing.

 

Finally a half hour later I hooked a bass on a big spinner bait. Now this bass was caught in 10-12 FOW. I knew they weren't spawning. I continued the drift. I hooked 3 pike. First one on a spinner bait. Then the other 2 on a grub.

 

Now I had picked a chartreuse jig head on smoke colored grub for me(great for pickerel) And a pink jighead with Yellow tail for her. I don't use yellow much but many people have been catching pickerel on yellow this year. She wanted to use white(not smoke). After I caught those 2 pike, I decided to give her my rod, with the smoked grub. She loves that rod and plus she had confidence that lure was working. Shimano Clarus with Shimano Stardic with 6lb test of that new Berkley line. And explained to her it was more the fisherman than the lure and rod(which she quickly proved wrong).

 

About 2 minutes later she says fish on! Brings it in? 17 inch pickerel. We are both estatic!!!I'm thinking fish fry! Gonna try that uncle buck batter I bought!A few minutes later she has another one on! Another pickeral! We do another drift? Another one on. She has 3 pics in the boat so I switch to a smoke coloured grub! Nothing. I'm starting to look bad so I watch what she is doing. She is working that rod aggressively and with that fast gear ratio of the shimano stradic. I don't know how she was doing it but she was nailing them! Tried to mimic her movements, snap up the rod, then to the left, then to the right! I guess she was watching me work the hair jig last week, even though she denies it.

 

In 1/2 hour she nails 4 pics. Then the problems start. I put new line on her reel I had just bought from berkley and the mother of all tangles occurs after she casted. Then the rest of the line on the spool made its way into the water. For over an hour I was sorting out this mess and trying to stop the boat from getting close to shore. I think I know the problem. I may be over spooling the reels. We had a snag and I was actually pulling the boat in against current with 6lb test! That's good line!

 

We did the drift again? And it was dead. The funny thing is that I'm Johnny Bass and I was going to name her Miss Pike(because she was nailing the pike last outing), but after today? Its Miss pickerel!!!!

Worked the lake and I was nailing all kinds of pike in 8-12 FOW on Grubs, husky Jerks and spinner baits. The pheonix grubs were working well but after a few casts they wouldn't stay on the jig, so we went through the last 5 I had, quickly. We both got bit off by big pikes too.

 

She did not land 1 pike, and I one pickerel. That is until I found another honey hole. Started smacking them on stick baits. These ones were a little bigger with the biggest one at 19 1/2 inches. They were concentrated in small groups. You'd have to cast to the exact same spot to get them to bite. So carry a marker or make sure you know the water well.I picked up a few more pickerels but stopped targeting them because we had our limit and didn't want to kill any of them by accident. Especially after I kept a pike that was so badly hooked I had to kill it with the oar. For some strange reason I am terrified of getting hooked this year. I may switch to barb-less hooks or put single hooks(not trebles) on my crank baits. I bet the hook sets would be better too.

 

And the new pike spreader I have is garbage. First it made me bleed when I opened it with one hand. The coil is really strong. 2? The fish went crazy and my hand got stuck in its mouth. More blood everywhere. Lucky she is a nurse and I was told to keep my wound above my heart for it to stop bleeding and it worked.Went back to the grub, this time the yellow one and I nailed a pickerel after all. So was it the lure(smoke colored grub), the rod or just plain luck? Who knows.

 

Anyways, this is the first time I got tired fishing and we left the lake around 6pm.We caught numerous pike and pickerel and 2 small bass showed up. She is definitely hooked now!

There were a couple of other great pickerel reports? Could this be all of a result of the slot limit? I like the one where you can keep 4 fish and only 1 over 18 inches.

 

Her is the pike and the pickerel.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the report.

 

OH here are some pics from Last year.

 

 

Small fish but I like the way I look in this picture.lol

 

 

Pike on a jig and pig

 

 

Jig and pig largie

 

Jig and pig largie

 

 

 

Believe it or not? These are all the small ones I caught with a rental. The big ones me and Al hammered we didn't post because the camera broke.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Johnny Bass

[BillM]

:EDIT: It's the beer!!

 

 

We got into a couple of OOS fish today, but actually made out fairly well with the pike...

Edited May 31, 2010 by BillM

[irishfield]

I guess you missed the part where he said "and here are some pictures from last year" Bill !

 

I just wish that Johnny would buy a shirt !!

 

(some nice fish there Johnny!)

Edited May 31, 2010 by irishfield

[BillM]

I'd had 4 beers tonight, is that a good excuse? :clapping:

 

The shirtless pics are his trademark!!!

[irishfield]

I'd had 4 beers tonight, is that a good excuse? :clapping:

 

 

Not if they were Coors LIGHT !

[BillM]

Not if they were Coors LIGHT !

 

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Ya the bass were from last year. I just thought I would add them. Smallies on tubes and the largies on jig and pigs. That's the only thing I fished with last year pretty much.

 

If you notice only 2 puny bass were caught(no pics) in the actual report with numerous pickerel and pike.

 

Took many pictures of the pike that averaged 2-4 lbs but didn't post them and the pickerel too. I like only posting above average fish.

[BillM]

 

 

Took many pictures of the pike that averaged 2-4 lbs but didn't post them and the pickerel too. I like only posting above average fish.

 

All we got were snot rockets today, biggest maybe 6-7lbs.. The warm water has really turned them on... I think we were averaging about 72 degrees today for water temp.

[limeyangler]

Awesome stuff JB,

 

lol.....i missed the 'last year bit and got a bit confused too.

 

Whats for supper then?

[ctranter]

Great pics, gotta love those big smallies.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Awesome stuff JB,

 

lol.....i missed the 'last year bit and got a bit confused too.

 

Whats for supper then?

 

 

Ya I should have made it more clearer. Now everyone thinks I target and post OOS bass.lol

 

I'm having Pickerel for supper. MMMMMMMM and gonna try Uncle buck's batter.Couldn't find Cronzy's mix(at BPS) but found it later at CT. Will buy that next.

[fishnsled]

Some nice fish JB.

[ehg]

Nice old school type report! Seems like people are having trouble finding walleye around here, you did well though.

[yo_guy]

Awesome pics Johnny...

[Slayingm]

Johnny Bass... wtg man!!... good to see you getting into some great action... well done and keep it up!....G.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Thanks guys. Just had a huge pickerel fry. Tried the uncle buck batter origional. I thought it was ok. It's the cheapest commercial batter out there I have seen so far. I thought it was average but my friend loved it more than the fish crisp.

[Fishing 24/7]

great fish johnny!

 

cant wait to hit the bass man its killing me!

[lunkerbasshunter]

sweet report!!! THanks for sharing

[Aaron Shirley]

Sounds like a good day out, nice.

[MCTFisher9120]

wow, looks like a tasty bunch of walleye!! Great bass pic's too man. So pumped to hammer some lakes for bass!

 

Thanks for sharing,

MTBF

[corvette1]

congrats johnny on the eyes nice haul