Pike Fishing/Ice reports

[scotttaylor]

Hope you guys all have a great Christmas or whatever you celebrate w/ your families.
I plan to look for the Pickeral on the Severn River creeks and ponds. Do I have it right that in general, the drill is to cast into the shoreline where the toothy buggers are in hiding out in brush and weeds? What is the go to lure for this tourney? Are the ponds icing over yet?

Merry Christmas!
Scott taylor

[goose70]

I'm in a food/church coma at the moment, but the part of my brain that's still functioning says that the ponds/shoreline may be iced in. At any rate, some Pickerel may be off the shoreline this time of year...maybe a couple dozen feet off, near drop offs, pier ends, etc. I'd try a minnow and small bass spinner or dart combo, or maybe a wacky worm, or slow sinking hard or plastic jerk bait. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

[27 sailfish]

Pickerel are a funky fish to catch. I've watched them sit close to a live minnow under a bobber for 1/2 hour - then for whatever reason , grab it.

Keep in mind the water temp. and how that affects fish. They will be sluggish and not need to feed often. The tide can help/hurt you. A high tide around noon is great on a very sunny day. The water will warm up 1-5 degrees - then as the tide lowers - the warmer water will be pulled off the shallows. This sometimes triggers fish to bite.

Try the areas that gave up fish in summer - sometimes there are weeps/springs. These can be warmer and hold bait - that draws Pike in.

Watch for Herons - these birds eat minnows -so do Pike. All things equal - I like the sunny part of a creek/cove. Casting to shore at a 45* angle let's you work the drop off slower then casting straight in. Sometimes casting right onto the sand works - Pike will sometimes be in 6 inches of water on a warm winter day.

One old trick. Keep a big live minnow about 3-4 feet under a bobber right at the boat. Often a Pike will follow your lure to the boat and sink off at the last minute. That big minnow is just too tempting for them most times.

Wear good sunglasses - often you'll see the Pike. If it does not hit - try it again later. Sometimes you'll go hours without a hit - then get 4-5 Pike in an hour. No idea why - they just decide to hit.

If we get a hard wind that blows the water from the creeks - take time and a camera to explore/record the exposed logs/rocks/etc.

There is a long shoreline in Valetine creek. I used to have a rowboat and would fish every inch of that creek. Had to without a motor. This shoreline gave up a Pike or a few Perch most trips - but only in one area. On a super low tide - I finally learned why. There was a big rock/sand stone about 6 foot around- maybe a foot tall. This was the only thing along that shore.

As far as lures - minnow type stuff works well. Shiny/flashy is good. Try fishing one normal speed and one very slow. Lures that look like Yellow Perch are deadly too. Before it was illegal - 4-6 inch Perch were great bait. Live minnows are still good -3 to 5 inchers are perfect.

[scotttaylor]

Thanks Skip for the head start; I can't wait for the first sunny day and 40 degree temps....I know it's just around the corner!!
S.T.

[Capt.Nick]

Is there ice on the Severn now?The wind blew most of the skim off up here on the GP.

[mill686]

Forked and Yantz were iced over when I pulled my boat right before the big snow...not that I fish any of these areas. :-D

[Megabyte]

Is there ice on the Severn now?

There was on Sunday.
I looked as I crossed the Rt 50 bridge, and it appeared that ice had formed on almost every point as far as I could see in the open river.
Whitehall Creek and Whitehall Bay are already iced.

With the sustained cold this week, it'll only get worse.

[Capt.Nick]

Forked and Yantz were iced over when I pulled my boat right before the big snow...not that I fish any of these areas. :-D

They bused to be good creeks back in the 70s. for YP & picks.Round Bay up to indian Head used to be good for 'pan rock" when it was legal,& Jumbo white perch in jan/Feb.

[Capt.Nick]

http://fishdeepcreek.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=912185

[Capt.Nick]

That was an 18 1/2 # pike caught last week.