Decided to try a new park pond to change thing up a bit. I had 1 hit on a timber doodle ( awesome on lily pads) and lost my split double tail grub. Switched to a spinnerbait and then a jig with a swimbait on it. used that for about an hour. then pulled out a booyah top secret buzz bait in white rigged with white curly tail grub. First cast on a steady retreive with a quick one inbetween and saw a big pickerel jump out and smash it. Pulled out drag and swam into the pads an got stuck. A nice tug and another fight and brought him in. Fantastic and very unexpected as I bought it recently. To be honest I did'nt like how it swam but now am hooked. It was 22 1/2 inches more or less. He darted off as Soon as he touched water.

nice fish.

Nice pickerel

Awesome!  Those big picks put up a heck of a fight.

Pickerel seem to love buzz baits.  I had a banner day fishing in november a year or so ago when the bass bite was slow but i couldn't keep the pickerel off the buzz bait.  I stopped counting at 20 and i know for a fact i caught the same fish more than once in the same set of lilly pads.

Nice Pickeril, congrats! They can save the day sometimes when the bass are turned off. Personally I love having a big Pickeril on the end of my line. The only advice I would lend is try not to let them touch the ground or handle them unless absolutely necessary. Their slime coat is their immune system & when you handle them or let them touch the ground, it really stresses the fish & can kill them. The best way to release a big one is to grab its head right behind the gill plates & carefully remove the hook. Nice catch tho man, that's a good lookin fish.

Nice catch. I miss those pickeral.

 

NJ sure has pretty water. Despite the jokes that go around, NJ is a VERY pretty state. Not to mention the fact that it grows some nice fish.

Thanks! It was very exciting to see a calm quiet water explode when you least expect it.

 

Christain- Appreciate the advice and will keep that in mind for next time. He swam off strong and hopefully not too much slime was removed.

 

Paul- Completely agree. There are a couple bodies of water that has a very pretty greenish blue tint. Hard to explain. Also enjoy fishing city ponds, a small peice of nature where peoiple can take a walk, bbq, or just sit by the bank and read.

Nice Pic! Caught most of mine on either crappie jigs, wacky/TX rigged worms, or cranks.

Caught this one accidentally in a tourney... My biggest...

 

Looks like a pike to me.

Looks like a pike to me.

 

Don't believe there are any pike in the lake I was fishing...

Don't believe there are any pike in the lake I was fishing...

 

Looks like a chain pickerel to me.  Seems like that's all I catch anymore.  Instead of bass fishing, my new strategy is to go pickerel fishing.  Then maybe I'll catch some bass as a bonus.

It's a pickeral. They look a bit different from a Northern Pike.

 

Nice pickerel! Mines a bit short of that, im starting to go pickerel fishing more often

Very nice, congrats. Did you get an exact measurement ? 24" is the minimum for the NJ Skillful Angler catch and release award for Chain Pickeral.