Anywhere you catch pickerel in the summer you can catch them in the winter.... Of course they don't feed as much since their metabolism is way down due to the cold water... but they still feed. If you get a few days of warmer sunny weather, that is the time to get out. Fish the sunny side of the lake... Most of the winter your best bet is to fish a bit deeper waters or a channel. During those warm spells, that we seem to get more often these days in NJ... fish a shallow area close to a drop off or channel...that water may warm up a few degrees and the fish will respond.... Minnows seem to work best for me for some reason during winter....good luck and keep us posted on your success....
Any pond or small lakes and slow moving creeks will get you some pikerel and a few bass. It's easier to get to spots you can't in the summer because of weeds,etc. Most times you won't be successful, but the times you hook one will make it worth the wait. I caught bass last jan. and feb. on some warmer days ( 38 -42 ) and lots of pikerels all winter. Using spinnerbait, bucktail and a jitterbug at a slow/medium speed retrieve.
I drive through the pine barrens and down the shore in some remote places and stop at all kinds of lakes/ponds/streams - I caught alot of pikerels. I couldn't believe all the action, even on ponds that were half covered with ice. my friends thought I was nuts until I started sending them pictures of what I was catching - yes it was freezing, but there weren't any insects or other fishermen.
Good advice mab1212
Good luck fishing people!!!!
I drive through the pine barrens and down the shore in some remote places and stop at all kinds of lakes/ponds/streams - I caught alot of pikerels. I couldn't believe all the action, even on ponds that were half covered with ice. my friends thought I was nuts until I started sending them pictures of what I was catching - yes it was freezing, but there weren't any insects or other fishermen.
Good advice mab1212
Good luck fishing people!!!!
In the winter is when i do most of my pickerel fishing, they seem to still be active even in extremely low temperatures. Its a lot easier in winter too because pickerel prefer reaction baits so you can afford to use crankbaits and other such lure without worrying about weeds. I find that best places are small ponds. If you can find a pond in the woods that not many people would fish, thats a key spot. Try to look for a deeper pocket or hole, also look for flowing water or outsource points like maybe a small creek flowing out from the pond, these are key spots. You want to throw reaction baits, all year long, i find that a pickerel will prefer a moving bait like a crank versus a slow moving bait like a worm no matter how cold the water is. Ive caught pickerel on rapala original floaters in temperature under 20 degrees consistently. Ive even caught pickerel when a majority of the pond was ice covered. My personal favorite baits are rapala lures. Original floaters, shad raps, jointed shad raps, and scatter rap cranks are my favorite choices. Hope I helped. Good luck!
I would say any pickerel 2 pounds or better is a nice size fish. One of the most under rated species in FW I think... they put up an awesome fight... can be caught fairly steady year round... and are a beautiful looking fish.... One thing I love about them when Im bass fishing is that when the bass action is slow... the pickerel keep you busy... good luck my friend...
Any fish that gets hooked is respectable! There are some small ones that i don't take pics of. Most piks i catch are 15 - 18 inches, maybe 2 pounds. When they are 22-26 inches....those are the big boys. I have only caught 3 that were that size, they had to be 4-6 pounds. Took everything i had to land them onshore without breaking my line, that's how much tension they put on during the fight. I could hear my reel/line straining. I use 10 -12 pound test. Hope to catch a few of them that size over the winter
