The Chain Pickerel, The Maritime’s Answer To The Northern Pike
Image from WikipediaI love living and fishing in New Brunswick, Canada. I doesn’t get much better than being able to be fishing for brook trout and bass within 10 minutes of our house.
Twenty years ago I literally lived a stones through from this fishing spot. It was right in our backyard, our property went 32 feet right out into the lake.
Other than on a fishing trip in northern Quebec I haven’t fished for northern pike for more than 30 years now. I really only miss fishing in Ontario when I think of the great pike and muskie.
We don’t have the pike here but we do have the chain pickerel. They may not grow to the 48 inch toothy monsters that we grew in Ontario but I still find a 26 inch pickerel quite the experience.
My favorite fishing buddy Roland still has the record for the largest pickerel we have caught, at 26 inches. 24 inches is my record but he is going down this year. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Our first pickerel spots are about an hour’s drive giving us time to recall the great experiences we have had fishing pickerel but as we draw ever closer there is always a silence. I know that I am planning how I will kick my buddies butt and I am sure they are thinking the same thing.
Fishing in New Brunswick is awesome and the pickerel is just one of the species we fish from the float tube.
Tagged with: chain pickerel • northern pike • pickerel • pike
Filed under: fishing tips
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That’s the first time I have heard of the chain pickeral. I bet they are fun to catch!
They are toothy and mean. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be skinny dippin’ where they live.
They are a lot of fun fishing. I have had days where a buddy and I would fish from the float tubes, back to back and catch a Pickerel pretty much on every cast. By the end of the day our arms would be worn out and our vocal cords from laughing and yelling all day. Great fun.
I was wondering if anyone knows some places to fish for chain pickerel in lower NB please help
thanks
p.s.-I find they are the best to eat..
Tony I would have to agree that Pickerel are great eating. I fished for them for a long time, just catch and release, until one of my fishing buddies filleted one and fed it to me. Mmmmm
I live in Moncton and have a couple of places I fish them. One spot I haven’t fished for a few years is going toward Saint John. It’s a little lake called Cassidy Lake.
When I am headed from Moncton to Saint John I make a left turn at Norton to get there.
I usually fish for Pickerel around Chipman NB, about an hour from home.
Where do you live? That will possibly give me a better idea.