Year of the Pickerel?

[BaitBucket]

Anyone else seeing an increase in the number of pickerel being caught. Every trip ive been on so far has been plagued by them. Even bodies of water that didnt have many just a couple years ago.

[wbfishboy]

first 4 times out, 40 plus bass and 3 pickerel. Last time out, 2 dink bass and six mini slime darts. Every bite almost was mini slime

[BASSQUATCH]

Ed is getting all the pickerel, 8 bass today, 1 pickerel for me. 2 dozen or so Wednesday, 3 pickerel. I'm not complaining though, 6.4 or bigger pickerel and I'll take it .

[V Menzone]

Havent caught one yet (knock on wood) 6 trips so far only pike and bass.  2 years ago I kept track and went 23 days without catching one. One of my fishing partners I swear is a pickerel magnet and gets them constantly.

[masspike]

I caught one this year for the first time in years. I do more pike and trout fishing than anything else

[big scott]

I put a respectable one on the ice at long pond....4#'re at least!

[Dschofield91]

Definitely a lot of slime darts this year but I have have more bass over the past 3 days.

[Schiavone]

Last time i was out had 12 snakes and 1 yellow purch. Time before that 6 snakes 1 lil bass. There is 100% a snake
Plague going on.

[A. Moss Bunker]

I'm probably 50/50 so far this year.  I did fish one pond that was full of very small pickerel.  Chasing the flags was fun, but I would have rather been catching bigger fish.

[stripernut]

I had one hole this year, jigging, that in less than half a hour, I jigged up 6 10"-14" pickerel... I had never thought of pickerel as a schooling fish! That did not include the countless others I landed in other holes...

[JJPSEFfish]

I had one hole this year, jigging, that in less than half a hour, I jigged up 6 10"-14" pickerel... I had never thought of pickerel as a schooling fish! That did not include the countless others I landed in other holes...

My only 2 pickerel came from the same hole

[F.R.E.D.]

Went through a ton of small shiners yesterday. Only 1 bass, 5 perch and I lost count pickerel. I never got my 5th trap in!

[BaitBucket]

It got to the point where I pulled traps because i dont want to waste bait on dink pickerel. I just jigged with the mangled remains of shiners i got back from the pickerel i caught.I still got pickerel jigging, but managed 2 bass bass as well.

[67f100]

Interesting question.  I can't think of many places I have fished that don't have a bunch of pickerel but some days you might wonder if there are any at all.  There are two ponds  I fish every year that have given me eat all my bait pickerelmania days where the only thing i could catch were piks    On the other hand there were times when I would fish the exact same areas of those places and catch other stuff but not see a pickerel all day.  Who knows?

[lenz]

i just caught 14 dinks this am..$16 worth of bait. after 7 of them the rest are raptor food..

burp

[KillerFish]

Lol
This has been a problem for me EVERY year
Some days the pickerel are just crazy and can't be escaped

[lowaccord66]

One of the lakes I fish in western mass the picks drive me absolutely crazy....I'll put down big Goldens and even still the large picks choke on them and I get excited for nothing.  I'll try to take a picture if it happens, I land several each year that are not hooked but stuck on my bait.

[BaitBucket]

One of the lakes I fish in western mass the picks drive me absolutely crazy....I'll put down big Goldens and even still the large picks choke on them and I get excited for nothing.  I'll try to take a picture if it happens, I land several each year that are not hooked but stuck on my bait.

Ive had this happen to. Pretty crazy when you pull them up and the hook is no where near their mouth.

i just caught 14 dinks this am..$16 worth of bait. after 7 of them the rest are raptor food..

Lol raptor food.. I like it

[lowaccord66]

The lake I caught the big pike in last year was a mass lake where adult pike were stocked to manage the pickerel population...if it were legal to use them for bait I would not hesitate for minute.

[KillerFish]

The lake I caught the big pike in last year was a mass lake where adult pike were stocked to manage the pickerel population...if it were legal to use them for bait I would not hesitate for minute.

On Saturday I caught a 20" pickerel from pike waters with its tail nearly bitten off...clearly by a large fish predator, I could only presume from a pike. Convinced me that pike eat them. I'll post a pic if I think of it, was pretty gnarly

[lowaccord66]

 This pickerel had a monster pickerel attached to the side of it when I pulled it up....pics from 2010...time flies..