Pickerel
 

Hey guys first post on here and I’m trying to find any places in middle Tennessee that have any of the three pickerel that inhabit the southern us ie Redfin, grass, and chain. I believe the chain pickerel is the most prevalent of the three in the state, mainly inhabiting the west. So far my search has only led me to one lake close to Jackson which is nearly 4 hours from my home. I have been wanting to Mark pickerel off the list for a while now and have been more interested recently. I have also heard they make great table fair. If anyone knows any ponds, rivers, or lakes In my general region that have any of the three I would greatly appreciate it.

Pickerel is more of a northern fish, but I was able to find this for you...



https://www.aa-fishing.com/tn/tennes...r-fishing.html


As far as eating them ??? They're not all that good to eat, they will have a weedy taste to them... so its said.

Oh and welcome to the board :D

KY Lake has pickerel if that's close enough. Welcome!

I have caught a couple musky in KY Lake but not a pickerel. I hear Florida is a good place to catch pickerel. I use to catch grass pickerel in Ohio as a kid. I don't think they inhabit the stream anymore. To much agriculture runoff. Be sure to post you catch .

I caught a nice 24" pickerel in Ky Lake last year but it is a kinda rare catch would think it be hard to target just catching them.

Are you sure they were musky?

I am positive they were musky. It was probably 10 years ago in Harmon creek.

I am positive they were musky. It was probably 10 years ago in Harmon creek. I have caught Chain and grass pickerel. I have caught and seen a ton of gar. The one thing that confused me as this being a musky, it didn't have any marking along the sides. The color was right for a musky but there were no bars or any markings at all. I remember finding some pictures of musky on the internet that was like the ones I caught. As I recall it was said to be a subspecies found in western Tennessee. I wish I still had the pic.

It could have just been the temperature and water color. It amazes me sometimes when I put an old ugly brown smallmouth in the livewell and then it has the most beautiful markings when I pull it out

I'm pretty sure that the Duck river used to have pickerel. Maybe still does. Might give TWRA a call and ask. Good luck.

White Oak creek(ky lake) has Plenty of them in it..We used to wear them out..Trouble was getting them in before line snapped..

A buddy of mine had a camp on Crooked Creek and he used to catch pickerel regularly while bass fishing.
Also, TWRA stocked musky in the Duck river maybe 15-20? years ago. The Duck dumps at Cuba Landing, so for sure musky could be in Kentucky lake.

Duck River has Tiger Muskie in it for sure...fought one for some time before she won the battle before I landed her.

About 20 years ago or so TWRA stocked some muskies in the Duck. There were some nice ones caught several years later. I haven't heard anything in years about them. I guess they didn't spawn successfully.

Duck river from below Normandy dam to three forks bridge has a nice population of chain pickerel.

Chain pickeral may survive but Northern Pike populations start north of cincinnati, OH and they are few and far between. Musky on the other hand are all over the mid Atlantic because they are NATIVE to these rivers.

Chain pickeral I have no Idea about but I have caught 10,000s of thousands of northern pike.

Anything over 25 inches resembling an ESOX is 99.9% a musky south of the ohio river and its basin.

And most Yankee's think Walleye are a Northern fish yet we have the world record on Old Hickory/Cumberland River.

I just need to find those big boys as it is hard for me but I did get two Sauger this weekend a 15" and a 19"er!! Damn good on the Grille with butter,pepper and lemon!

As a kid in the 60’s my family used to fish for “Jacks” all the time in Old Hickory. Since I left Gallatin in 1973 I can’t really speak to the population in there now but used to be a ton of them.

Regards

That is an incredibly foolish statement. The Ohio River basin and Cumberland River basin hold all of the biggest walleye in the world. No yankee will disagree with you there. I know personally people who fly from Minnesota to dale hallow just to walleye fish.

Although the population and table fare is far far far far far better up north because of water quality.


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Southern atmosphere trumps the water quality in Yankee land. :) :)

Not in a million years. Weather, fishing, hunting, water, women and hunting camps are better up north.

The warm weather turns you into mush after too many years. When you don’t fear winter, you get lazy.


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Last year we kept some bass to eat while camping at Lake Cumberland, we had 2 smallmouth, 3 Spots and a Largemouth , when I opened the live well they all had the exact same markings, could tell them apart until they were out of the livewell for a while

Anyone else ever see this?

I can't think of a time I've noticed this. Usually it just the opposite, if they all look the same it's because of being very deep or muddy water but they usually color up nicely in the livewell

Here's a prime example. This is the same fish.

https://i.redd.it/ba64eu8qkaj31.jpg

This is what they all looked like when we opened the live well, all 3 species, I wondered if it was stress or maybe aggressive behavior causing it , not sure