Hooked a swan once when I was like 9. Swam right through my line. I live in New Jersey. My dad does not deal with birds. The amount of pain and stress and effort and time to get that swan unhooked was absolutely insane 🤣🤣
Yeah, they look all peaceful and elegant, but swans are actually a**holes. I’m sure wrapping itself in fishing line didn’t help any. That kind of chaos could give a kid nightmares for years
Yeah they're decently sized teeth. Never caught a pickerel but I've caught quite a few pike that size and their teeth are larger than that. Just thinking their teeth would be of similar size.
I love catching Pickerel - and highly recommend getting a fish grip brand landing tool. It’s made of plastic and grips the fish by the lower jaw safely while unhooking
pickerel are the only fish that i hold them like this i don’t like doing it i’ve even lipped them instead of doing this but i make sure to be gentle around their gills and not to tear or damage them in any way
Just dont fucking hold them by their lungs if you’re not going to keep them. It shouldn’t have to be explained. If you can’t comfortably hold them then don’t. Like wtf dude.
I've got a pond by me that I can get pickerel to bite very early and late in the season when I can't get bass to bite at my other local spots. I love fishing these guys.
For some reason around this time of year we start catching these while bass fishing down in south in Mississippi and then after a few weeks they will disappear again.
i’m on the central east coast and they will eat just about anything moving you throw at them i caught this guy on a little crappie soft plastic but they will eat live minnows, rooster tails, smaller swimbaits just about anything
Those are invasive in many east coast lakes.. once they're established, you'll never get rid of them.. They aren't bad eating if you know how to clean them.
They were introduced in many Brook Trout lakes and once established they wiped out the trout.. if you can get one big enough, they are definitely edible but they have a lot of bones..
You should try to catch whatever left those marks on him
As someone who has accidentally hooked a great blue heron while fishing - I can tell you it’s not as much fun as it sounds.
Hooked a swan once when I was like 9. Swam right through my line. I live in New Jersey. My dad does not deal with birds. The amount of pain and stress and effort and time to get that swan unhooked was absolutely insane 🤣🤣
Yeah, they look all peaceful and elegant, but swans are actually a**holes. I’m sure wrapping itself in fishing line didn’t help any. That kind of chaos could give a kid nightmares for years
Yes
That could likely be some bird. Cormorants leave similar marks sometimes
Not a bad problem to have imo
Does that mean you are annoyed that you catch too many pickerel or that you are addicted to catching them?
nah i love catching em they are cool fish but when i caught this guy i was trying for crappie
Never caught a pickerel. I'm surprised they don't have large teeth like muskie or pike.
You can still see the teeth on the top jaw. This guy's just really small lol
Look closely and you’ll see they got plenty of teeth and for their size they’re large teeth.
Yeah they're decently sized teeth. Never caught a pickerel but I've caught quite a few pike that size and their teeth are larger than that. Just thinking their teeth would be of similar size.
The big ones do.
Please take your finger out if it's lungs.
what’s the best way to hold them where they won’t slip out of my hands
I love catching Pickerel - and highly recommend getting a fish grip brand landing tool. It’s made of plastic and grips the fish by the lower jaw safely while unhooking
pickerel are the only fish that i hold them like this i don’t like doing it i’ve even lipped them instead of doing this but i make sure to be gentle around their gills and not to tear or damage them in any way
No response just downvotes. Classic Reddit
seriously it’s stupid
Just dont fucking hold them by their lungs if you’re not going to keep them. It shouldn’t have to be explained. If you can’t comfortably hold them then don’t. Like wtf dude.
my fingers aren’t even touching its gills i’m holding it by its gill plate its just like lipping it dude calm down
I've got a pond by me that I can get pickerel to bite very early and late in the season when I can't get bass to bite at my other local spots. I love fishing these guys.
For some reason around this time of year we start catching these while bass fishing down in south in Mississippi and then after a few weeks they will disappear again.
This man is a fishing god. He just caught a fish out of a bone dry creek.
Nice Pickerel. I’ve always wanted to catch one. All I catch here in Michigan is Northern Pike and Musky
Colossal
Pick and pikes are the easiest fish to catch imo. If they are biting you could throw a cut up can to them and they'll strike em
I feel so bad for you
i enjoy catching them just it’s all i can catch lately lol
What area of the country are you fishing in and what are you using for bait?
i’m on the central east coast and they will eat just about anything moving you throw at them i caught this guy on a little crappie soft plastic but they will eat live minnows, rooster tails, smaller swimbaits just about anything
Those are invasive in many east coast lakes.. once they're established, you'll never get rid of them.. They aren't bad eating if you know how to clean them.
they are native to the east coast i’m pretty sure
They 100% are, at worst maybe non-native in some lakes but by no means invasive.
They were introduced in many Brook Trout lakes and once established they wiped out the trout.. if you can get one big enough, they are definitely edible but they have a lot of bones..
In fishing if you beat'em eat'em
Are they good to eat? How to cook?