I spent my childhood years in Ontario, back in the 1960s and was led to believe that walleye were called pickerel. It wasn’t until I was 30 and had moved to New Brunswick that I caught my first pickerel and learned they are not even the same species. What was that all about?

Pickerel also go by “federation pickerel” and in southeastern U.S. they are nicknamed “southern pike”.

Caught My First Chain Pickerel on The Fly

I feel lucky having hooked my first chain pickerel on the flyrod. Because it was a happy accident. A friend and I were actually fishing for brook trout on the fly.

Fishing A Flooded Forest on The Fly Rod

It seems like a very long time ago I had been visiting a flyfishing friend. Wayne was going to show me a little spot he wants to keep quiet about. He told me we would land some large brook trout on the fly.

When we arrived I could hardly believe that he expected me to actually use a fly fishing rod in there. The place was a stand of trees that had been flooded a couple of years before after busy beavers had blocked the flow of water and flooded a large patch of woods.

Wayne told me there were 16″ brookies living there. I didn’t call him a liar nevertheless I’d been considering it. However I became a believer soon after he landed the first 16″ brookie.

Fishing in trees was a brand new experience. I’d fished rivers and lakes for brookies using my fly rod, had even learned to deal with trees behind me but not a forest all about me.

I spent most of my time avoiding trees but did get some brookies. As usual when it comes time to leave I always have to get a few more casts. The second I lifted the fly off the surface for my final cast a pencil like 10 inch fish came flying out of the water and grabbed that dry fly.

I couldn’t imagine how intense that tiny fish was. That is the day I discovered the difference between a walleye and a pickerel.

Today I fish pickerel any chance I can. My personal best continues to grow from that first 10″ chain pickerel to 25 inches.

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When I’m fishing for smallmouth bass or chain pickerel in open water and along weed beds that drop off into deeper water I like to use crankbaits. I especially love to toss my crainbait into opening in the weeds as I am usually rewarded with a huge explosive strike in those hot spots.

I will cast to the shallows close to weeds and bring it back to the deeper water. And if the water drops off quickly I will pull it right along the edge of the weeds for really explosive strikes.

It wasn’t until I moved to New Brunswick that I experienced smallmouth bass fishing and later chain pickerel fishing. Before that it was strickly trout and salmon.

That’s when I started buying a few crank-baits, spinner-baits and plastic worms.

Fishing Crankbaits

My fishing buddy Roland and I were in my boat on Lake George just past Fredericton, it was really windy, so the top water baits weren’t doing much so I switched to one of my brand new crankbait.

Fishing A Brown Shrimp Crankbait

I remember it was brown with some darker brown stripes going down the sides. It cast a country mile and would float until I started cranking on it. Then it would dive anywhere from 3-7 feet depending on how hard I cranked it.

On my first cast the crank-bait was smacked hard and then again on my second and then it seemed like I couldn’t use it without getting strikes.

Guess how many of those I purchased?? Just one because I bought a variety of lures that day and just one of each. Roland didn’t buy one of this particular crankbait and I didn’t have one to loan him.

I kicked his bass fishing butt royally that day.

The crankbait quickly became one of my confidence baits and still is today. I went and bought another two, one for the tackle box and one I just in case Roland didn’t get a chance to buy one.

I used that crankbait until all the finish was worn off, leaving it a matte silver colour and it was still caught bass, which I found strange because I had a silver one that didn’t catch anything much at all.

Then one day I made a very long cast, probably the longest cast I ever made. It went straight across the water and into the trees on the bank somewhere. Never did find it. Guess I didn’t tie that knot as well as I thought.

That crankbait had hooked hundreds and hundreds of bass and pickerel and lasted for a few years before I lost it.

The second crankbait lasted for many years as well until one day Casey and I were bass fishing Lake Petit and on the very last cast of the day I lost it, the same way I lost the first one. The line snapped and it went so far I couldn’t find it. Bummer

A couple of years after I started bass fishing we gave chain pickerel a go and I used the same crankbait in open water along weed banks and found that they love that crankbait as much as the smallies do.

Check out the Rapala Crankbaits on FishUSA.com

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Like I said in the previous post, Casey, Jamie, Ron and I were fishing French Lake New Brunswick on Sunday and had a pretty good day. We caught lots of chain pickerel and even acted a bit foolish at times, well okay, most of the time.

We started of the day with Jamie in Ron’s boat and I was in Casey’s boat.

We moved to the middle of channel to head out to our first fishing spot. Ron and Jamie took off while Casey and I trolled to our first fishing spot.

It was about a minute or two of trolling and I felt a hard strike and it was gone, then almost instantly Casey had a fish on that doubled his rod.

He landed the first pickerel of the day and it wasn’t too shabby at 23 1/2″. We know how big it was because Casey has this cool invention, called a ruler, fastened to his boat for easily measuring fish.

That last little dig was for Jamie.

I, on the other hand decided it was probably better to save my energy for later in the day, so I didn’t bother landing any fish for the first few hours.

I did pretend to fish so Casey wouldn’t think I was slacking off.

Casey landed 4 pickerel before I even got one close to the boat, but once I started I was on fire and soon caught to Casey. The last day we were out Casey had me 3 to zip before I got started too.

I caught a few pickerel that looked like they beat Casey’s 23 1/2 inch pickerel but once measure well they didn’t measure up. One particular pickerel looked like it would beat him but he looked at it and said 22″. I measured it and sure enough it was 22″.

Then came pickerel number 25 and it hit hard and didn’t come near the surface. It fought hard and stayed down, so of course I thought it was was big pickerel.

Jamie did his best to beat it to death with the net but it was a determined pickerel and a good hook set, eventually Jamie stopped smacking it with the net and I landed it.

When I measure it I started doing my happy dance as it measure out at 25 inches, a new personal best for me. I beat my previous personal best pickerel by 1/2 inch, which I caught at French Lake a couple of months earlier.

I am still trying to beat my fishing buddy Roland’s best pickerel at 26″ more than 20 years ago in Cassidy Lake near Norton. That was his very first pickerel every by the way.

Both Casey and Jamie tied at the end of the day with 22 pickerel each and I ended the day with 26 pickerel. Casey and Jamie also landed a perch or two.

You can see Casey cheering me on from the peanut gallery. Now I know why Jamie laughed and took a second picture of my 25 inch pickerel.

Oh Happy Day, A New Person Best for Jimmy

Jamie was in Ron’s boat for the better part of the day so I didn’t get to take any images of his fish. But once he was back in Casey’s boat he landed this angry pickerel.

Jamie’s First Chain Pickerel Once Ron Returned Him

I think Jamie landed another 7-10 pickerel and one perch once he was back in Casey’s boat.

It’s so much fun getting out like that. Great to have met Ron although I didn’t get much of a chance to talk as our boats headed in different directions for the day and only met up to brag about our catch.

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It was just over a week ago that Jamie and I hit Redbank, near Chipman, New Brunswick, for some more exciting pickerel fishing. I already wrote a post about our day but I took a picture of the two culverts and noticed that there was no water running through them. That was the first time I can remember no water running through them.

Looks Like Someone is Watching Us

I remember standing on the top of these culverts opening season this year and the water was less than a foot from the top. These culverts are big. I am 5′ 9″ and I can stand inside them with my arms raised and not be close to touching the top so the water was at least 8 or 10 feet higher than it is right now.

I sure was a lot easier getting to the other side with Jamie’s canoe but once the water was no longer moving through the culverts it became much tougher as we tend to keep the canoe loaded with as much stuff as we can carry. That meant we would have to almost empty the canoe to carry it across the road.

It was just on the other side of the culvert, where you can put your boat in that I caught my 23 inch pickerel the last time we were out. Worth the walk to the other side I’d say.

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Summer is just about over here in New Brunswick. It’s the last weekend before the kids head back to school. Jamie, being a teacher and VP of his school has been back for a week already. Glad we were able to get out to Chipman again.

We arrived just as the sun was coming up. It was a bit blinding but most beautiful. A great way to start our day.

September Sunrise at Chipman, New Brunswick

As we drove to Chipman there was no fog on the road but every stream and river we passed has fog floating over it. I always love watching the mist on the water. So I took a few pictures of the water before we started.

I wonder if the Pickerel could see us

Jamie pulled the car down to the water. A few minutes later we were fishing chain pickerel.

The water was so calm that my first cast into the mist covered water caused the fog to move out of the way. It looked pretty cool to see a little circle about 2 feet across with no fog.

Jamie brought his trolling motor again as it makes our day a lot easier, especially if the wind picks up. We can concentrate on fishing instead of fighting the wind all day.

Jamie came prepared for anything today

We even took a few minutes here and there throughout the day to try our hand at trolling. It’s pretty cool hooking into a big ole pickerel when your on the move. It always takes me by surprise.

I put a little bullet weight on my line so that my senko worm would stay under the surface and it got a lot of attention from the pickerel.

Jamie on the other hand decided to try a little lure he bought south of the border while the family was there getting ready for the new school year. He got a lot more attention from the perch, so Jamie is now the Perch King.

I can’t help looking goofy when fishing pickerel

I’m not sure how many pickerel I caught but I do know that Jamie caught the smallest pickerel of the day. It still didn’t beat the smallest pickerel I have the record for so he wouldn’t let me take a picture. But the pickerel above would have eaten it for dinner, I’m sure.

At the end of the day we both caught pickerel and perch. Jamie out fished me for the perch but I have to say that I royally kicked his behind for catching pickerel.

Dumbass James: Yeah, I am calling myself a dumbass.

We pulled a shore for a break from the canoe and decided to take a look at the other side of the road to see if the water there was calmer than the side we were on.

I actually walked away from the canoe and went back to grab my camera. We took our fishing rods, just to make a cast or two.

We walked up to a spot where we could both cast parallel to the bank and make a cast at the same time. Nothing. Jamie then turned and walked to a spot just behind us and I made one more cast and the water exploded.

I landed the biggest pickerel of the day. I had brought a tape measure but left it in the boat so I used my fishing rod to measure the pickerel and released it.

Then I slapped myself in the head because I completely forgot I had put my camera in my back pocket. So, Dumbass James it is.

The pickerel measure at 23 inches. I so hoped it was bigger than my current best at 24 1/2 inches. Still a great fish and he was quit a show off as he jumped and splash, just like they should.

I may not have gotten that picture but here is one Jamie snapped of one of my pickerel. It was a funny fish.

Pete the Pickerel wouldn’t sit still for the picture.

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I work from home and spend a lot of time in my little office staring into our backyard and day dreaming about fishing, errr I mean working my online business.

Usually when I look out my office window my mind always goes to fishing and what it would be like at that exact moment. Well over the past week all I could think was just how windy it was and how tough it would be to fish pickerel in the weeds.

I can’t remember that last time the wind blew for a week like it has been. Even today I am looking out the window and it’s even windier than it was yesterday while we were fishing.

The Wind Sucks or Should I Say BLOWS

I really don’t mind fishing in the wind. It keeps the bugs at away most of the time and makes the heat easier to deal with.

I don’t like the wind when I am fly fishing, in a canoe or doing both. I especially don’t like the wind when I am fishing chain pickerel in the weeds, which is the only way I like to fish pickerel.

Can’t Let A Little Wind Stop Us From Fishing

Jamie and I didn’t let the wind stop us from giving the pickerel and the weeds a try, so yesterday we headed out for a day on the water. Great exercise trying to control the canoe in that wind, the anchor helped a few times.

We worked hard but we did get a lot of action in the moments that wind let up. It only took about 2 minutes after the wind stopped for the water in the weeds to calm and the action started right up.

Of course it also only took 2 minutes for the action to stop once the wind picked up again.

When we started from Moncton we kind of expected the day to be rainy, which we were prepared for but instead it just got windier.

We tried to get to a couple of spots that would have given us some protection from the wind but we couldn’t get there because of the white-caps. The waves were just large enough to make it un-safe so we stayed where we were.

We spent the day moving from one location to another, always looking for spots the wind was not effecting.

Our day ended a few hours sooner than any other time we have gone fishing but all in all it was still a great day, just a lot more work than most fishing days.

We were actually home before day. Heck we don’t usually leave the water until it’s dark.

While we were in one spot I saw a maple tree that had far more maple keys than leaves. It was a strange looking tree.

Forgive the fact the picture is a bit out of focus. It was so windy it was hard to take a picture from the canoe but I am sure you can see the amount of red, well that’s all maple keys.

I think our next trip out is going to be for smallmouth bass. I used to have a little hot spot, but I haven’t fished it since my heart attack in 2004. However I am pretty sure it’s still holding a lot of nice bass.

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As the previous post points out Jamie and I were out chasing a few pickerel around the Salmon River in the Chipman, New Brunswick area. Couldn’t have asked for a better day. It was a great day but kind of a strange day when it came to catching those pickerel.

Fishing Chain Pickerel on the Salmon River, New Brunswick

The first thing I realized was the amount of line I had on my spool. The first cast I made went right to the spool. I don’t know how I missed that, guess I was a bit too eager to get out fishing.

I decided to cut off the braided line that was worn and had turned white from the original black. When I went into my tackle bag to get more line it wasn’t there. My son had taken it out to use on his reel and didn’t bother to put it back. We’ll have a talk about that.

So I fished the entire day with almost no line and must admit that I did pretty good.

You can see in the image above that we stopped the canoe to check out what looks like a farmers field, off Salmon river, that was flooded with about 3 feet of water. Last year I caught a really nice pickerel here so of course we couldn’t pass it by.

I had a lot of pickerel chasing my plastic worm but they just seemed to ignore Jamie’s offerings. I was trying to figure out why I was getting all the action but nothing seemed to work for Jamie.

I told Jamie I had added a bullet weight to the front of the worm so that it was more sub-surface, so he gave that a try but still nothing.

Where’d You Get That Pink Worm?

What is kinda funny though, I still had on the pink plastic worm Jamie gave me last year just before the fishing season closed. I forgot to take the plastic worm off the hook on my rod so I just left it on. I thought it would be funny, I think I said something like it was the only bait I had.

I should probably buy a bag of those pink plastic worms to give to Jamie as I borrowed so many of them last year. I am sure I cleaned Jamie right out of them.

The chain pickerel really seems to love that pink worm Jamie, thanks

I have a terrible habit of grabbing fish the wrong way. I guess that comes from so many years without taking pictures and just catching and releasing. I will work on that on our next outing, maybe I will get it right and get a good picture.

I also forgot my thermometer as I wanted to get the water temperature, I will try to remember that for the next trip as well.