Got my first pickerel, was fishing off the dock.  He took it about 10 feet off the dock so didn't really have a chance to see how he fought.  I caught big northerns in canada though so i know these suckers can pull when they get big!  Had a tough time getting the hook out, so I didn't snap a picture.  Got him back in the water asap.  Was just about 2 feet long, pretty skinny.

cool!

i love catching pickerel, i don't know why most people don't like them...they fight really hard on a nice long cast.

I used to catch them (and bowfins and gars) while bass fishing in Florida. They're all fun to catch. I enjoy catching nearly all species.  ;D Happy fishing.

~B.A.S.S.~N.A.F.C.~BoatU.S.~N.R.A.~

I've always thought that pickerel fight better and stronger than largemouth.

cool!

i love catching pickerel, i don't know why most people don't like them...they fight really hard on a nice long cast.

they only fish I don't like catching are babies... other than that, i don't care what it is, if it puts up a fight it's fair game!

24 inches is a darned big pickerel.  Congrats on that.  A lot of people around here don't like them but I love them.

I wish we had pickerel around here.  they seem to give some action on a slow day.

Nice size Pickerel   I love catching them   I actually caught them on a trout spoon    was a nice surprise

Where I fish, the place is packed with pickeral...some are big.  Biggest I've caught is 24''; so fat you can barely grab them.  They're fun to fight, until you realize it's a pickeral, then then you realize you have to get that hook out of their mouth.  They like to bite.

Yeah, they're a blast for sure. Our lakes here in the Pinelands are LOADED with them. Anything that bends the rod is OK by me. Just be sure to have a good pair of pliers and lots of extra baits....

Congrats!

The meat is really good, just too many bones.  A long time ago, I whizzed some up in a blender, the consistency of canned salmon and mixed and pan fried them like salmon patties.  Really good, as I remember.  I gave that up along with turtle a while back, too much work.

Congratulations, 24" is one hawg chain!

My wife and I spent many years hunting chain pickerel in New Jersey.

Our motivation was the fact that Jersey set 2 out of the last 3 world records (little known fact).

Roger