You’re sure to get ‘jacked around’ when you target chain pickerel on North Carolina’s Mayo Reservoir.
Jacks, jackfish, snakes…. Whatever you call them, chain pickerel are among the most over-looked angling opportunities in North Carolina.
Widely-disparaged in the gamefish community, chain pickerel do not get their due. While not nearly as large as the close relations — muskellunge or northern pike — pickerel are dandy sport quarry.
Chain pickerel are widely distributed in the United States, from Maine to Texas. In the Southeast, they’re mostly found east of the mountains, and in North Carolina, they’re common on the coastal plain.
Mayo Lake, a 2,800-acre impoundment in Person County just outside Roxboro, is among the best of the North Carolina’s lakes to catch chain pickerel (esox niger). In addition, Mayo holds some redfish pickerel (esox americanus americanus), but unlike chain pickerel, redfins rarely reach 15 inches.
Like others of the clan esox, pickerel are opportunistic feeders. While they forage principally on other fish, particularly soft-bodied shiners and minnows, pickerel will grab about whatever they can: frogs, insects, crayfish, whatever. In turn, the forage strategy of chain pickerel suggests approaches for anglers.
Pickerel are long and narrow. They strike by coiling their body into the shape of an “S” and suddenly shooting forward. Unlike short, stout fish like bass, pickerel often strike at a distance. But once they have straightened out their bodies, they cannot change directions very well. If a pickerel misses your lure, it will not be able to turn on a dime and strike again, so don’t pull your lure away from a missed strike too rapidly.
Pickerel and the other pikes have an abundance of sharp teeth, sloping back into their throat. The teeth make it possible for pickerel to grab a minnow and hold it for a few seconds without actually swallowing it. Implication? Don’t try to “thumb” a pickerel as you would a bass. If you do, we’ll soon be calling you “Four Fingers.”
Jim Simons of Raleigh is among the most dedicated of North Carolina’s pickerel anglers. Fred Harris, the retired director of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Division of Inland Fisheries, once suggested that Simons was “the best pickerel angler I know.”
Simons said that fall is one a great season to catch pickerel because fish will move shallow and will stay close to aquatic vegetation.
“Pickerel in Mayo move close to the weedbeds in the fall,” he said. “Where the weeds remain green, you can count on the pickerel being there. Really, they’re easiest to catch in the fall. At Mayo, these are really healthy fish, strong and aggressive.
“The biggest pickerel move into relatively shallow water. There are always little fish shallow — they have to stay shallow to avoid being eaten. But come autumn, the bigger fish move into water between two or three feet deep down to 10 feet.
Simons recommended weedbeds upstream of the NC 49 bridge. “The weedbeds in the back of the coves are best in fall,” he said. “In the summer, the bigger fish are on the main lake points. But in the autumn, they move into the coves, probably looking for the forage that concentrates there.”
Some weedbeds are more productive than others.
“The best weedbeds are the isolated clumps of weeds. That’s true in other places where I catch pickerel, too, places like Buggs Island,” said Simons, who likes weedbeds on sloping shorelines that drop off sharply.
“The secret to fishing weedbeds for pickerel is to fish parallel to the outer edge of the weeds,” he said. “How many pickerel you catch is a function of how well you parallel the weeds.
“Any lure works as long as it’s white. White spinnerbaits, a quarter-ounce variety, are best. The single hook-style spinnerbait seems to let lots of pickerel get off. That wiggly “S” move they make; that’s what does it. So if I can, I rig a treble hook on my spinnerbaits, usually as a trailer.
“Another color good for pickerel is a blue spinnerbait with copper blades. Several years ago, I did real well with spinnerbaits with red blades, but I have not done much with them in recent years.”
In-line spinners, Mepps for example, in the 3- or 4-inch sizes meet the need for something flashy, which pickerel like. And they have the treble hooks Simons likes.
However, Simons has caught more pickerel on Mayo with crankbaits than anything else.
“At Mayo, I did best with plugs,” he said. “Crankbaits were real good. The Bandit with the square lip was one — root beer and chartreuse were the most productive colors. And the Balsa B that has just been brought back, that’s a good one. Both of those bounce off trees in the water because of the square lip.
“The old (Bomber) Speed Shad is also good, particularly productive in late fall when the shad are dying off. If the water is discolored, a little dark, the Speed Shad with a blue back works best.”
Simons also likes to fish jerkbaits.
“(They) catch pickerel, too. The Strike King jerkbait runs a little deeper than most, and I like that,” said Simons, who also likes the 3-inch Swim’n Image in shad colors because it works best two or three feet below the surface.
Spoons are traditional gear for muskies, pike and pickerel, but Simons has had little success with them.
“I’ve never done much with the classic red-and-white spoons,” he said. “Somehow, I miss a lot of strikes with spoons, either the Johnson Silver Minnow or the Rapala spoon.”
Those are classic pickerel approaches, however, and are ignored by anglers at their peril. For years, fishermen using spoons have used pork rind trailers and now find themselves with all kinds of soft-plastic trailers with which to dress the spinning spoons. A silver spoon and a white trailer make an excellent combination.
Simons fishes a medium-action, 6½-foot baitcasting outfit, loading the reel with 12- to 14-pound test mono. “I never use a wire leader, though pickerel have sharp teeth. I’ve never been cut off, though sometimes my line gets frayed,” he said.
Fishing guide Kennon Brown lives on Lake Mayo and often fishes it for chain pickerel.
“There are lots of pickerel down there. They’re the ‘unknown bruiser,’” he said. “Not only are there many pickerel in Mayo, they’re lots of fun to catch. The bass tournament anglers cuss them, but I sure like to catch them.
“And there are some big ones in Mayo. Folks catch pickerel in the 7-pound, 8-pound class. Those are big pickerel.”
Pickerel habitat overlaps the habitat of largemouth bass. Indeed, Brown said, “They’ll bite anything. Anything bass will hit, pickerel will hit — spinnerbait, buzzbait, crankbaits, jerkbaits, plastics — pickerel will grab all those. I never caught one on a jig, but I think I could if it was white.”
Like Simons, Brown said that grass and pickerel go hand-in-hand at Mayo.
“The best prospects for locating pickerel are adjacent to the hydrilla beds. They relate to the hydrilla.”
Brown recommends a variety of lures.
“Jerkbaits work great for Mayo pickerel. I like the Strike King jerkbait; Green, orange and white are the best colors,” he said, also pointing to the 3½-inch Bomber Long A as a productive jerkbait for pickerel.
“Plastics work for Mayo pickerel, too. A Gulp! or Fluke would be examples. Cast it out, let it drop a bit, then jerk it up. The pickerel will react to it. They’ll be on it. And sometimes, a Carolina rig with some sort of plastic is just the thing to catch pickerel.
“A Rat-L-Trap is another great pickerel lure. Cast adjacent to the woods and then jerked away, pickerel hiding in the outer edges of the weeds are likely to grab it,” he said.
When pickerel are concentrating on crayfish, Brown likes to fish lipless, vibrating baits like Rat-L-Traps or Cordell spots in browns or reds.
Pickerel primarily hunt by sight, so daylight hours are the best times to tangle with one. Mayo’s clear water helps pickerel sight in on baitfish.
“Mayo is so clear most of the year, the water clarity aids pickerel in sighting prey,” he said, pointing to metallic finishes as among his favorites.
Brown said he expects most of the strikes he gets from pickerel to be ‘reaction strikes.’ “You need something to tell the fish the lure is there,” he said. “That’s why something flashy works so well.”
Brown will vary the speed and style of his retrieve until he keys in on what pickerel are looking for.
“He’ll see something bounce off a twig, skip across a weedbed, then he’ll come and investigate. When he sees something he likes, it’s ‘Katy, bar the door,’” Brown said.
Pickerel are slashing strikers. They linger in the weeds, waiting for a tasty morsel to pass by. When it does, they strike. Brown said, “Pickerel have a slashing strike where they dart out from cover. They are not gulpers, like largemouth.”
Brown likes to fish lighter gear, often spinning tackle with 4- to 8-pound line, but recognizes the need for a heavier leader. Still, lighter gear makes for a more-enjoyable battle.
“Gear in that range lets you cast suitable lures. Pickerel are great gamefish, but they cannot put up much of a fight with heavy gear,” he said.
A productive technique for chain pickerel, consistent with Brown’s recommendation, is a 3-inch tube grub fished on an eighth-ounce leadhead jig. In prime pickerel habitat, a tube grub lifted and dropped should get a strike. Curlytail grubs also attract Mayo pickerel.
Among the mysteries of life, at least here, is why chain pickerel have had such a bad rap. In many places, including Mayo Reservoir, they are abundant and pretty decent sized. On appropriate tackle, chain pickerel give an excellent account of themselves. They are fun to catch. What more can an angler ask?
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