Pickerel Festival In New Jersey.

I've been visiting family here on my old fishing waters since the 19th of December in which time I think I've caught a gazillion Pickerel, a few Perch, 1 Crappie and 1 largemouth bass. Even when you target another species the pickerel will bite. This gives them sort of a bad rep with bass douches, but really they fight like monsters and are fun to catch. Barbless hooks make them easy to remove and they often are feeling well enough to bite 45 seconds after they've been caught. I've used streamers, jerk baits, spinners, jigs, beer cans, kittens and various other baits, all of which produce pickerel strikes. I've enjoyed catching a few Perch which we've started to call "not a pickerel"