Pickeral....

[Flukerr]

With bass season closed at most,not all of L.I. lakes,its my time to target the old slime-dart,waterWolves,chains,ect...

Some don't like picks,but I do enjoy catching them cause they are viscous..I call them blue-gill killers cause they really do love muching on them little pannies more so then other species I have seen..

When i target them I start to consider a "good" fish to be 22" +. Not the little guys that are so prevalent. When they start to get large they go through a change that makes them different then the little guys. Their mouth becomes more like a beak so to speak.

You will not find the large and small together. The small fear the large ones for their life. The bigger fish also have a much different feeding pattern then their smaller brethren..You don't find them hugging the shore-line like the smaller ones do..Think deeper..

Bluegill imitations are my go-to for the large.. Plastics,chatter-baits,cranks,ect...

They are on the feed now ! Go get yours...

 

[flounderjoe]

We had 7of them on Forge this past sunday in the rain all but one were of the slime dart size the bigger one maybe 20in.Although they were bycatch we were crappie fishing it seems to be a reaccuring thing there the overall size of the picks on Forge seems to have shrunk.

 

[Flukerr]

Not just Forge. Its seems they have been smaller and less numerous all over.Goes for bass and even crappie...Bites that I have had for years are a shadow of what they where just 15 years ago...Have to dig "deep" in the bag of tricks to get in on a good bite...I am not a Debbie-downer type of guy but, L.I. is being hit hard in alot of its freshwater lakes,ponds,streams,ect..But, still some good fishing to be had !

 

[flounderjoe]

So true Flukerr have you been to blydenburg on a spring weekend oh yea some places do get hit really hard.Then you have places like Deep Pond where the use is pretty limited and the pickeral just about dissapeared.and i doubt the scouts are having huge fish fries.As far as bag of tricks finess fishing helps .My bass tackle of today was my panfish and trout tackle of 20 years ago i still wont leave home without my pitching stick and my jig and pig box. 20 years ago if you heard me talk of a good bass i gererally ment a real 6lb lmb today its more like a real 4lb lmb.

 

[cany]

When I fished Forge yrs ago there was a spot we dubbed Pickerel haven they were a blast on top water

 

[flounderjoe]

Cany i know exactlly where your talking about you would see the wakes of the fish attacking your lure from 10 feet away

 

[cany]

Yup that was some fun we use too have a blast out there

 

[cany]

I miss the sweet water I gotta get back into it

 

[flounderjoe]

Devils horses, johnson spoons with a pork strip those were the days .P.s they sill work.

 

[cany]

My go too was always a chartreuse spinner bait

 

[Flukerr]

And the train kept a roll'in....

Highly aggressive fish rite now...

But, its back to chasing Larry's as the season opens up...

for now.....

 

[flounderjoe]

again with the hammer handle size picks for me on forge today about 7 or 9 largies and 4 skinny picks a few very nice crappie. well its off to colorado in the am for a few weeks .

 

[WillD]

Caught this guy on a little keitech looks a little skinny but nice anyway