I tried wire last year, couldn’t get a decent knot in it and gave up. As I had been using straight braid I went to a 20 lb fc leader, much better at handling pickerel teeth, just need to check it after you catch a few as it does get nicked up.

 

Just get tieable leader and stop whining, lol.

 

wow.  never knew Pickerel needed better PR.,  interesting.

 

around here, my friends act like they have a spider in their kayaks when they hoist in a pike minnow.   its just a fish...no teeth even.  hahaha.

2 hours ago, padlin said:

I tried wire last year, couldn’t get a decent knot in it and gave up. As I had been using straight braid I went to a 20 lb fc leader, much better at handling pickerel teeth, just need to check it after you catch a few as it does get nicked up.

 

Which tieable wire did you try?  There's lots of options and some are considerably better than others.

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Just get tieable leader and stop whining, lol.

 

Yep.

I use Tyger Leader (out of business, but I have a huge stash of it), Rio, AFW, and occasionally, Knot-2-Kinky.  I hae some of that Cortland product around here too.

I even run it on Texas rigged soft plastics, not because I'm concerned about losing the bait, but because I want to catch the fish...

1 hour ago, Further North said:

 

I even run it on Texas rigged soft plastics, not because I'm concerned about losing the bait, but because I want to catch the fish...

These are my sentiments as well, If the water is notorious for pike I will be rigging some kind of leader. I might be trying for trout soon with small jerkbaits, with the lakes' potential for big pike I'm planning on using 30# floro leader line for a leader.

If I'm spin fishing for them I just tie the line either fluorocarbon or braid directly to the lure.  I tend to use longer minnow lures like Rapalas, Yo-Zuri, Bagley which may explain why I haven't had that many bite-offs.  Fly fishing, I just use a 5 or 6 foot piece of 25# fluorocarbon for my leader.  One trick I learned fly fishing for bluefish which have a much nastier set of teeth than a chain pickerel or pike is to use a long shank(3xl or 4xl) hook to tie my streamers on.  The hook shank serves as a bite protector.  I do make up wire leaders for the guys I fish with out of 30# Tyger Wire.

4 hours ago, Further North said:

Which tieable wire did you try?  There's lots of options and some are considerably better than others.

 

this is the only one I tried.

6 hours ago, padlin said:

this is the only one I tried.

That's pretty good stuff...what knot were you using?

I use a perfection loop most often (easy to tie, no stress on the wire), but if I want the knot to be tight to the eye of the hook/lure, I'll use a three wrap Trilene Knot.

I dont hate them. But they just tick me off. Pike and muskie more than pickerel. I don't catch that many pickerel, but pike and muskies have cost me a lot of money in lures, and time in tournaments over the years. Plus they stink. Takes 2 days to get the smell of pike off your hands. They get slime all over the place. 

 

They can be fun at times too though. I once caught a 52" muskie on the St Lawrence while bass fishing. He grabbed a paddle tail swimbait just right so that he was hooked through the lip and didn't cut my line. It was fun fighting it. Things can really pull. Also had a big northern steal a crappie I was reeling in one time. Right next to the boat. Actually startled me! Aggressive scoundrels!

 

On 7/27/2018 at 1:36 AM, Jar11591 said:

 

Could I do without the little snot rocket pickerel? You bet. But I would never advocate tossing them, or any other fish on the bank to rot like some people do with “undesirable” species. That’s not something I agree with. 

 

 

?? good job

1 hour ago, Jleebesaw said:

Plus they stink. Takes 2 days to get the smell of pike off your hands. They get slime all over the place. 

Its really bad in the warmer summer months.  Its just nasty and sticks to your hands for days even when you shower and wash multiple times lol

 

Smaller sized pike are decent eating out of colder water.  I am going tomorrow and if I catch a couple of smaller ones by accident, I just might keep them.  Properly fileting them will be a challenge though, as I'm not very proficient at removing the y bones.

8 hours ago, Jleebesaw said:

Plus they stink. Takes 2 days to get the smell of pike off your hands.

 

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

Its really bad in the warmer summer months.  Its just nasty and sticks to your hands for days even when you shower and wash multiple times lol

Try hand sanitizer, or the orange scented Goo Gone.  Rinse after the Goo Gone.

I enjoy catching the big ones, what I don’t enjoy is them making your $15 Lure vanish into thin air, the pickerel in the lakes around here are all heavy because they are full of my tungsten flipping weights lol

 

It can be annoying when they are biting really good and you can’t keep a soft plastic on the hook for more than 2 cast without it getting ripped to shreds.

 

Overall I don’t mind them, during the tough 90-100 degree days in the summer here they can entertain you when the bass aren’t doing anything, same for the winter time.