Grass Pickerel

[zippyFX]

I just found out that the lake we will be camping at this weekend has a good chance for Grass Pickerel. I just wanted to get some opinions about how to target them.

From Kens recent reports it would seem that small spinners, small spoons, and small cranks and small top waters are my best options. My biggest challenge will likely be keeping away from small/largemouth bass. There is a bait store near by and from what I read, medium sized minnows should be OK.

I take worms on a bobber are a non-starter. Do these guys need a leader or will 6 pound fluro be OK?

There is a very slim chance at bowfin and yellow bullhead but not sure I will target these.

[MuskieBait]

Yes, small lure...think along the line of the smallest spoons and #1 or smaller spinner. I would focus more on subsurface lures over topwater. With they small size, their habit is likely to stay near bottom to avoid aerial predators...like heron, kingfisher...etc.

Medium sized minnows are too large. Use the smallest minnow you can find that are less than 2" long. Just imagine how big a 2" minnow is to an 8" Grass Pickerel. An average Grass Pickerel is usually 7-8" long...12" individuals are uncommon.

Bycatch will be there...sunfish, bass, bullheads...but just keep working all the area.

Check in the shallowest, swampiest areas...if you find lots of snags (fallen branches, leaf litter, grass, shallow weeds...etc), that's the place to focus on. The small Grass Pickerel will want to stay away from other predators like bass...so find areas where it is too shallow for bass to visit, but still enough water for Grass Pickerel. Think water less than knee deep.

They also seem to like a mucky, muddy bottom...and tannic water.

6lb fluoro is more than OK. Don't need steel leader. In fact, I simply with with 6lb mono.

[Eli]

Don't bother. They're not catchable.

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Also, which lake is that again?

[zippyFX]

(06-26-2014 04:04 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Yes, small lure...think along the line of the smallest spoons and #1 or smaller spinner. I would focus more on subsurface lures over topwater. With they small size, their habit is likely to stay near bottom to avoid aerial predators...like heron, kingfisher...etc.

Medium sized minnows are too large. Use the smallest minnow you can find that are less than 2" long. Just imagine how big a 2" minnow is to an 8" Grass Pickerel. An average Grass Pickerel is usually 7-8" long...12" individuals are uncommon.

Bycatch will be there...sunfish, bass, bullheads...but just keep working all the area.

Check in the shallowest, swampiest areas...if you find lots of snags (fallen branches, leaf litter, grass, shallow weeds...etc), that's the place to focus on. The small Grass Pickerel will want to stay away from other predators like bass...so find areas where it is too shallow for bass to visit, but still enough water for Grass Pickerel. Think water less than knee deep.

They also seem to like a mucky, muddy bottom...and tannic water.

6lb fluoro is more than OK. Don't need steel leader. In fact, I simply with with 6lb mono.

Thanks ken!

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(06-26-2014 06:38 PM)Eli Wrote:  Don't bother. They're not catchable.

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Also, which lake is that again?

I guess it's note that much of a secrect

This report indicates that lower Beverly lake has a good population throughout the lake.

http://www.grwa.ca/Final%20Report_ph_1.pdf

[MuskieBait]

"In this study Grass Pickerel was significantly positively correlated (α=0.1) with Bog Willow (Salix pedicellaris), Broad-leaved Arrowhead (Sagittiria latifolia), Common Cattail (Typha latifolia), Duckweed (Lemna spp.), White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata) and Burweed (Sparganium spp.). They are also significantly positively correlated (α=0.1) with Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides) and Brook Silverside (Labidesthes sicculus). Grass Pickerel is also positively correlated with young of the year (α=0.1)."

Note the type of vegetation the Grass Pickerel were associated with...

Details, details...this is where you need to pay attention, notice the fine details, and read between the lines...

Also note the type of baitfish they are correlated with...small prey species...

Their data came from 149 seines. A total of 13,483 individuals were caught...of which 22 were Grass Pickerel. Seem like a really tall order, huh?

But when you look further at the type of vegetation were the seines were found (or set)...Bog Willow (4 seines), Broad Leaf Arrowhead (10), Common Cattail (5), Duckweed (65...which we'll ignore since Duckweed is really common), White Water Lily (61...which we'll ignore too), and Burweed (2)...with really strong correlation...although the author appropriately caution the reader that the strong correlation could be due to low sampling of sites where these vegetation occurred...but still...what does that tell you?

If you want to find Grass Pickerel on this lake, find areas that has Bog Willow + Common Cattail + Burweed...and your likelihood of finding them may very well increase.

You could potentially narrow your search to just a handful of sites...instead of all 150 of them...and 22 Grass Pickerel sampled from 4-5 sites...the fish density doesn't look so terrible after all.

"They are also found with Emerald Shiner and Brook Silverside which are likely prey items. They have an affinity with areas that are rich in young of the year, which also may be areas that provide prey. "

Like I said...shallow, boggy water...too shallow for bigger predators...but good enough for the small Grass Pickerel.

Just gotta breakdown all that data and info into something you can use...and helps you to focus your search

I don't want to discourage you...but the water where I fish for Grass Pickerel, over 2000 had been sampled in the past 5 years...one sampling area had over 100 sampled.

Your search will be tough...but if you know where to look, you could be successful too. This is the amount of attention and work I put in to search for species. A lot of time, I spend more time searching and reading sampling report than I actually go fishing. Since I've been fishing almost every weekend, you can just imagine the amount of "spare time" I put in to read about my target species. In between lab work, during lunch, after dinner...I usually have one browser window open with some kind of info on some target species I'm after Catching 391 species is a lot of hardwork...

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(06-26-2014 06:38 PM)Eli Wrote:  Don't bother. They're not catchable.

You must be referring to the River Redhorse Yes, I agree...

[Eli]

Interesting find nonetheless. I had no idea they were in that lake.
Good luck zippy. May the fish gods smile upon you.

[Dropshot]

Nice target species !

This is part of the whole adventure of fishing... I know Largemouth are fun to catch and such a great gamefish but I've caught probably tens of thousands in my lifetime. Now trying to catch lifer fish which I've never caught or seen yet has sparked my interest more....

Couple years ago I wanted to catch a Northern Longear sunfish, now designated it's own species and is referred to as Northern sunfish or Great Lakes sunfish. At first it was difficult to find a waterway which held them but once i did finally find the right waterway I caught about 50, and have since found plenty of waterways that hold them.

I have yet to catch Grass pickerel, I was fishing at the Pinery on the weekend and was using tiny crankbaits to try and target them but alas, caught 11 largemouth! But it was packed there being the long weekend, so all that canoe activity on the river probably had them all spooked. I think the best bet to catch Grass Pickerel though would be using a live minnow with light line and dropping it in to open pockets amongst the thick weeds.

http://fishinenvy.wordpress.com/

[MuskieBait]

Cool Dropshot. I've only caught one Northern Sunfish so far...but I haven't really search for them hard. The Upper Thames area is supposed to have many of them...just need to put in the footwork to find the right spots

[zippyFX]

Had fun with the kids but this turned out to be a heavily cottaged/trailered area and not so easy to explore with kids in tow.... Caught plenty on rock bass, blue gill, pumpkinseed and a perch.

I got to practice with my UL lures, spoons and spinners.