Please welcome Eyoyo Underwater Fishing Cameras.https://amzn.to/3siEgXn
Pickerel get a bad rap for eating only because of the fine bones, but if they could be turned into boneless fillets, many more people would be targeting them for table fare. I find them excellent eating and worth dealing with the bones. On many trips they were the only fish I managed to bring home, and they are always in the mood to bite, so the closest thing there is to gauranteed action.They can get annoying when there is a school of small ones setting off 5 flags at once, but bigger bait can cull the smaller fish out of the action. I will always appreciate the chance to catch some fine pickerel, a lot of fun to catch and delicious white flaky meat that many people would realize is a lot more enjoyable to eat than what they are assuming
I recommend rigging pike and pickerel tipups with circle hooks. Because these avoid gut hooks by design and let you release any fish that you catch basically unharmed and having a high survival rate, it is much easier to cull fish if you are getting a lot of flags and catching smaller fish that you would rather throw back.
First of all i have to actually get them to bite which for me seems to be the hard part I may try circle hooks in the future
Its crazy to me how hooks designed for billfish trolling ended up marketed to all areas of fishing. They have no place on my traps but I use them as required in the salt.
One of my friends knows someone who only eats pickerel I think on my trip one of the other guys actually grinds the meat up Best fighters minus st lawrence esox and smallmouth but they are built differently
I'd put rainbow trout up against any fish I catch thru the ice from a fight perspective ........we usually get them anywhere from 15-23" and they just go berserk from the time you hook them till you get them thru the hole - IF you get them thru the hole - especially on small jigging pole but even on flags .........smallies thru the ice don't impress me at all - actually all bass are pretty sluggish in the winter to me ....
So, do you then do the ethical thing and keep a 19" pike that is gut hooked ? Please don't tell me you just shove the poor thing back down the hole with a treble hook buried in its stomach
I just meant in the summer In the winter bass are terrible fighters Think they should do a study on which fish is stronger
i use small tribles...... i have had fish cut hooked with circle hooks too..... warrior i posted a video on how to fillet a pickerel and mentiond fish cakes i personally do keep a legal limit of pickerel every chance i can!!!! people have to understand we are not mere fishermen nor hunters but a wildlife and fishery management tool .........KEEP A LEGAL LIMIT OF PICKEREL!!!!! make great sushi
no one said they didn't did they?
And everything including pickerel have a place in that said fishery
this is not a true statement snakeheads and jumping carp have no place in our fishery
I respect your point of view but I've never once referred to a hooked fish as a "poor thing" ..... especially a pickerel ....its a fish, its not a puppy ..... ..... if I was worried about hurting them or killing them I wouldn't fish.... a lot of fish are just fine after they are released with a hook in them....I've got to believe if they could think they would take their chances with being let go with a hook in it rather than being killed......the stuff I've found in fish's stomachs would kill people eventually ....animals and fish aren't humans .....
True but pickerel are a native species snakhead and jumping carp arent
brown trout are not native
Moreau lake and Brent lake have good pickerel fishing. They hit hard and put up a good fight. I have no use for them.