New member and a pickerel question

I have been checking out this board for a while and have been on kentuckyhunting.com for a while as well but just decided to sign up for this one today.

I fish mainly for muskie and would like to catch another member of the family. I know there are pickerel in KY, though not any information about them. I have heard of two being caught out of trammel creek. Anyone have any info on pickerel in KY? Location (specifically near BG)? How to catch them? I know they cannot be that common. I fish three days a week and have never caught one. I have heard they are in Ky lake too.

Thanks

You're probably going to have to head down to the far western tip of the state. There's two different species of Pickerel ... Chain Pickerel & Grass Pickerel. Forked Lake in Carlisle County has a recorded catch of a Chain Pickerel, at 5lbs 6oz ... and Wilson Creek in Bullitt county has a recorded catch of a Grass Pickerel at 0.63lbs from Wilson Creek. Both of these "records" are from the 1980's, though.
You need to look for small, weedy lakes &/or ponds ... as this is their natural habitat.

Catching them requires "finding" waters that have them .... then it's pretty much "shallow water Bass fishing" techniques for catching them. In/around weeds, try spoons w/plastic trailers, buzzbaits, & minnow shaped baits ... live minnows & frogs work, when artificials fail.

I've only caught ONE Pickerel in my life ... and that was at Lake Marion, SC ... and I believe it was on a live minnow.

... pappy

I've caught them in KY Lake before. Both times I caught them, they were in really shallow water, way back up in the bay, and caught them on a SPRO bronzeye frog. You always know when you hook up on one as they are the most aggressive fish I think I've ever seen...they literally leap 3 ft out of the water when they strike that frog! One hit right beside the boat and scared the heck out of me!

Thanks for the replies. If anybody has any more info about them on ky lake I would appreciate it. I might just have to plan an early summer camping trip to KY and see what I can do. I have been trying to catch every type of fish in the state and am pretty close to having it all covered. That and a pickerel would be a trophy to me.

In my own effort to help the Striper situation at Lake Cumberland, I have started targeting Walleye more and more over the past two years. The best success for me has come using the Bagley Walleye Shad crankbait. I tie it on using 8-lb mono and troll with the big engine, which usually runs at about 2.4mph. I let it waaaay out the back. I figure the crankbait runs about 25-ft deep so I target 28-30ft of water. I specifically use the white color with the orange belly. Be sure to set the drag properly or you'll lose a $9-$10 crankbait.

Because they're so proud of their product that they price it so high, I would suggest getting a bait retriever. I get pretty greedy trying to get close to the bottom, so I get hung up pretty frequently. The bait retriever probably saved me 10 baits last summer alone.

There's always the old bottom bouncer method with nightcrawlers or minnows. Just drop to the bottom and drift and bounce.

Those are my two go-to methods. Both are fairly successful. Some people might think it's lazy fishing but if it puts fish in the boat thats all I care about. Works great with cold beverage intake as well. Good luck, best eating fish hands down in my opinion, fresh or saltwater. Getting hungry just typing this up.

I caught quite a few pickerel on KY lake last fall using smaller suspending jerk baits in the back half of the bays. I had a couple of days where I caught 3 or 4 per day which was a little surprising to me because I have caught them here and there on KY for years but more at the rate of 3 or 4 per year. I used to catch them around the weed beds when they were present on KY but there haven't been much in the way of weeds on the north end the last few years. None of them are much on size with the largest maybe being 2 - 3 lbs.

Many moons ago when I spent more time splashing around in creeks I did catch a few in some of the small streams near Louisville.

[QUOTE=kc;478248]I caught quite a few pickerel on KY lake last fall using smaller suspending jerk baits in the back half of the bays. I had a couple of days where I caught 3 or 4 per day which was a little surprising to me because I have caught them here and there on KY for years but more at the rate of 3 or 4 per year. I used to catch them around the weed beds when they were present on KY but there haven't been much in the way of weeds on the north end the last few years. None of them are much on size with the largest maybe being 2 - 3 lbs.

Many moons ago when I spent more time splashing around in creeks I did catch a few in some of the small streams near Louisville.[/QUOTE]

Awesome info. I am going give this a try this summer. Don't know how much fishing I can handle during school.... Maybe spring break.....

Here's a photo of the one I caught:
[url]http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v282/19/39/38302605/n38302605_33542301_1189.jpg[/url]

It was at the end of June in 2008, and in Clay Bay I think...the one with the rope swing at the mouth of it.

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;478315]Here's a photo of the one I caught:
[url]http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-ash1/v282/19/39/38302605/n38302605_33542301_1189.jpg[/url]

It was at the end of June in 2008, and in Clay Bay I think...the one with the rope swing at the mouth of it.[/QUOTE]

I'd bet $10 that's a Northern Pike.

(Edit - maybe not. They're closer in appearance than I thought.)

I used to catch them back in Delaware, bass fishing at a little place called Trap Pond. They're a blast to catch! I took one back to the campsite and ate it once. I wouldn't recommend that.

[QUOTE=kc;478248]I caught quite a few pickerel on KY lake last fall using smaller suspending jerk baits in the back half of the bays. I had a couple of days where I caught 3 or 4 per day which was a little surprising to me because I have caught them here and there on KY for years but more at the rate of 3 or 4 per year. I used to catch them around the weed beds when they were present on KY but there haven't been much in the way of weeds on the north end the last few years. None of them are much on size with the largest maybe being 2 - 3 lbs.

Many moons ago when I spent more time splashing around in creeks I did catch a few in some of the small streams near Louisville.[/QUOTE]

I was wondering what the best streams to wade through or bank fish would be near Louisville.

[QUOTE=KYpondhopper;478357]I was wondering what the best streams to wade through or bank fish would be near Louisville.[/QUOTE]

If You have access to ft Knox, otter creek on post is awesome. Its highly fished in the park, but the base side of the creek is amazing fishing. Havnt caught any pickerel there but plenty of smallmouth and trout.