When I am fly fishing for most species available to us here in New Brunswick Canada I don’t usually strip the fly in all the way to the boat but when I am fly fishing for chain pickerel I do. Why?

Well chain pickerel, just like pike, love to follow your presentation all the way back to the boat where they explode on it, so I try to keep the fly in the water until the last possible second before I re-cast my fly.

Then there’s that big V-shaped wake the follows the pickerel as it’s headed for the fly. I have a hard time controlling myself when I see the wake and a lot of times I pull the fly right out of their grasp.

Favourite Fly To Use For Pickerel

I use a lot of flies when I am fishing most species but when it comes to chain pickerel it’s almost always a mouse or rat. They just can’t pass up on a big meal.

The first few times, early season, when the water temperature is still below 54F I don’t have much luck with the top water flies but as soon as that temperature goes up past that magic 54F/7C they will start to move a bit and go for those top water flies.

It’s great fun from that point all the way through to the fall when the water temperature drops below that 54F again. But heck it makes for a great time fishing from my float tube.

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• Jim, Would You Like To Go Fishing? Gotta Love Getting That Call. (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

I have so many great fishing memories but when Jamie and I were fishing chain pickerel this past weekend I was reminded of a fly fishing trip with Fishing buddy Kerry. We were out in our float tubes for a day of fly fishing pickerel in the weeds, which is always exciting.

Pickerel are great fun on a spinning rod but fishing pickerel on the fly will give you an entirely new experience, one that will keep you coming back with your fly rod. At the best of times having a chain pickerel on my fly rod is exciting but being deep in the weeds and hooking one of these toothy critters on the fly is a challenge. What an adventure.

Kerry was really good at creating a tippet that was pretty weedless because he was continually out performing me.  I eventually asked him what he was doing to keep from getting caught up in the weeds. That’s when he showed me how he had used epoxy to cover all knots, including the steel leader he used.

As soon as I got home I sat down and prepared a few setups for our next trip out, which was at least once a week, if not more. Now I was able to keep those weeds off my line and the catches increased dramatically. So sad that he chose to get married and move away rather than stay here fishing with me.

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• Fly Fishing For Pickerel (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

I am really looking forward to fishing season this year, like I don’t every year, just 4 more sleeps. That’s if I sleep of course. We have had a really early spring with above average temperatures.

The last couple of years we have fished the same spots for chain pickerel. I took fishing buddy Jamie once and he was hooked just like the first time I fished pickerel. The fishing was so good most of the time that we kept returning to the same area. We practice CPR, catch, photograph and release, so there are always lots of them and they just keep getting bigger each year.

About mid July, last year I took Jamie to a couple of spots we had not fished pickerel. A couple of little hot spots that I have had so much fun fishing over the years. I kind of expected the water to be pretty much gone, as in years before, but there was still plenty of water.

The day I took him in to my secret pickerel spots I was really hot and very windy, so the pickerel were hard to catch on top water, which of course is our favorite method of fishing pickerel.

I half expected to catch nothing and be back out of there quickly. I just wanted to show him these spots until the wind died down a bit.

My first hot spot is very open but on the very first cast they were active and we spend a few hours there having a blast. The hardest part was keeping the canoe still in that wind. One anchor just didn’t cut it and we kept blowing off course. Still had a great time though, one would control the canoe while the other fished and then we switched.

After we fished that hot spot for a few hours I wanted to show him my second hot spot. The first spot we could paddle through channels to get there but this spot was faster to get to if we carried the canoe through the bush, but it was just too hot and I wasn’t sure there was even any water left there. So we hiked in on foot.

We did bring our rods but it was so dry in the bush that we didn’t even bring our waders with us. That was a mistake on my part, I knew better.

I was surprised just how much water was still holding in there.

Jamie and I stood there for a few minutes. The wind was almost non-existent in there and the water was like glass, except for a gust that would put a little ripple on the water, but nothing like it was out in the open.

Even though there was still water there I wasn’t so sure about the pickerel. So I walked to a spot where I cast to the water, over a lot of grass, but it looked like the perfect spot. The plastic worm hit the water at the same time a good sized pickerel smashed it.

Well I was in my sneakers, sneakers that were about 10 years old and had never been in smelly sticky mud but I wasn’t about to let that pickerel get away, so I started walking towards that water, quickly sinking up to my knees in mud and weeds, but I got that toothy critter landed.

I have this terrible habit of picking fishing up with the wrong hand

Next time I will at least carry my waders in or maybe we will go to the other end and find our way back out the river so we can get in that way the next time.

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• Fly Fishing For Pickerel (thejoyofflyfishing.com)

It’s great fun getting out on the water in my float tube to do a little fly fishing for pickerel here in New Brunswick. Especially with a friend. It’s well worth getting out of bed long before day break so we can get there by day break.

I like to keep my fishing gear ready by the door so that when I get the call to go fishing I’m not the one holding us up. The only thing I need to do is make something to bring along to stuff in my face every few hours and I’m good to go. That takes about 4 minutes.

I don’t care to fly fish in the wind, especially when we are fly fishing the weeds for pickerel. It makes it tougher to get to the spot you want and when it’s windy the pickerel in the weeds tend to shut down. It’s the top water action I get from fly fishing pickerel that keeps me coming back.

So I always get excited when we arrive at the spot we are going to start fly fishing from when the water is as smooth as glass.

I have been fishing for almost 50 years and still I am so eager that I am usually the first one in the water fishing. The younger guys seem to drag their butts a bit so they are the last in.

I can’t tell you just how many pickerel I have caught in the fly but I can tell you that the flies don’t last long when I’m fishing chain pickerel. They rip them to shreds after just a few strikes.

Sure glad I tie my own flies or I would be spending a lot more money than my wife would like. I wish I could get her hooked on fishing.

I don’t take many pictures when I am fishing alone so it’s nice when I have a friend or two with me fishing as we can take pictures for each other.

The picture above is from a different day on the water than the one I am referring to but I thought I would use it to show you what the water was looking like and a little pickerel that put up a great fight.

It doesn’t take much to tie flies that pickerel will go after. I am sure I could tie on a coke can and they would still smash it.

I tend to go for the big Bass type deer hair bugs. They don’t seem to get caught up so much in the weeds but when the pickerel strikes that deer hair gives a bit and BAM – FISH ON.

If you haven’t given chain pickerel on the fly then give it a try.

Note: They can slice through a leadline pretty quick. I used to use steel leaders but now I just use some tough braided line and lose very few due to them cutting my line. It still happens but then again I have lost a few steel leaders over the years because of near sighted pickerel.

I live in Canada and love Pike and Chain Pickerel fishing every chance I get. They are just so explosive that I can’t get enough of them. I even would like to get a hook or two into a nice big Musky, now that I know we do have them where I live.

Fishing has been a hobby for many years and I love introducing people to my hobby and watch them take up a new hobby.

I have one new friend I introduced to Chain pickerel about 2 years ago and he can’t get enough of them. He never wants to fish anything else. That’s how much fun they are.

BTW: We practice catch and release so our kids and their kids can enjoy this hobby as much as we do now. Keep our waters and land clean for our future.

I really like using the ole fly rod on these toothy critters but my buddy isn’t quite ready for that but I will be sure to get him to bring his fly rod every time we go. I have had days in the heat of summer when there isn’t a breeze anywhere. What a great time to get the fly rod out. I’ve had days where I have caught dozens of pickerel and had to call it a day because my arms where just worn completely out.

Using Big Lures Catches Bigger Fish, Sometimes.

I said sometimes because these pike and pickerel are nuts and will hit just about anything that moves. Even the little guys about the size of a hammer handle like taking on a huge lure that is almost as big as they are. It’s all great fun.

Most of the time when I am fishing I am using something that resembles what the fish I am after eat but not with pike or chain pickerel. I think I could tie just about anything on and toss it in and they would still go after it. I really like getting out the biggest and ugliest lure than you would wonder why I ever purchased it and throw it at them just to show people they will go for almost anything.

But, if you have a lure that does look like something local, like a bait fish, mouse our even a small bird and you will get action, lots of action most days. I have learned not to stick my fingers in the water when pike fishing for just that reason.

I’ll mention three categories that lures fit into and you would be hard pressed to find something they won’t go after most of the time.

• Spoons
• Spinners
• Live Bait

The first category I mentioned is spoons. This is where I started with pike fishing many many years ago and it still works great today. Pike and Pickerel just can’t let it go, the motion is just too erratic for them to ignore. I very seldom ever miss a strike using spoons.

When it comes to using spinner baits go big or stay home. You will get a lot more hookups that stay on if you choose to use larger baits, even adding a trailer hook like we do for bass fishing. The trailer hook will help with the short strikes pike and pickerel are known for.

If I am going to use swim baits I like to match the hatch as they say and feed them what they are already eating.

What it comes down to as far as I am concerned, when fishing pike and chain pickerel is to get something in the water and you’ll do fine most of the time.

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