Favorite Pickerel Lure? 2025

Tugmaster reply :

I know some people turn up there noses at Pickerel but I don't mind them a bit. I'm sure there are a few others here that are like minded. So what's you favorite lure? I kinda like a chartreuse spinner bait but they will hit a lot of different things it almost seems like the fasterthenretreive the better sometimes. One of the locals swears by a Red Devil.

What's you favorite?

Todd

tomustang reply :

Anything i use on bass

NEjitterbugger reply :

Anything that doesn't catch pickerel!

EdsBar reply :

Large Phoebe always seems to land a pickerel. Here in CT we have a place called "Pickerel Pond." There are some monsters in there which are always fun to catch!

Another lure that catches Pickerel decently is a medium sized Wiggle Wart. My blue/silver seems popular.

jhoffman reply :

a white fluke with the head dipped in red dye or colored with a marker to be "clown"

Tartan34 reply :

If I were to target them, anything white.

Caught a nice one on a frog last week in really shallow water in deep cover. That was interesting.

flyfisher reply :

Whatever the most expensive bait you own is always a good choice....at least for me it has been as they bite through my line and swim away grinning...

the few times i targeted them specifically, with a bite leader, i had success with anything shiny and moved fast seemed to do the trick. really it seems like speed is more important than anything though in my experience.

Marty reply :

I would go with a spinnerbait by a very small margin, but they'll readily hit anything in your tackle box.

Felix77 reply :

Pickerel seem to bite on just about anything. I have caught them on frogs, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, LCB, CB's etc. All while targeting bass.

One lure which seemed to kill them one day was the Havoc Subwoofer fished as a topwater bait. They hated that thing! I went through 2 packs one day targeting them because I wasn't getting bit by bass from the bank.

PAGreg reply :

Buzzbait! Most fun way to catch them. Especially in shallow water where you see the wake coming.

RoLo reply :

We've done lots of chain-chasing in New Jersey.

If you're serious about catching a trophy chain pickerel, I know of no lure better than a jig & dead minnow.

The minnow can be any species: a chub, sucker, shiner, saltwater killy....all a pickerel asks is that it's fresh.

A good delivery is a slow bottom drag with occasional twitches.

Pickerel will hit virtually any artificial lure, but all artificial lures are not equally effective (big difference there).

Our best artificial lures were various forms of spinner & fly and spinner & bucktail combinations,

(Think miniature musky lure).

Roger

Wbeadlescomb reply :

God i must have a caught a million of those things at the lake below the house trying to crappie fish. The old timers always called them jacks

Tuckahoe Joe reply :

I've caught them on everything except topwater but they seem partial to spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps

Pz3 reply :

I've caught them on a lot of different things I will say this though. You really want to make them go crazy? Here is the setup......

Bait:

Zoom Trick Worms (Black)

1/4oz Bullet Weight

Texas Rigged.

Technique:

In my opinion the best way to catch them is on cool days with a fast retrieve (subsurface). The Trick worm can be off set slightly on the hook and shake the rod a bit as you reel it in. This will make the trick worm have a lot of wiggle action going on (can twist line you may want a swivel and leader). This absolutely drives them nuts. I found their fun to catch and usually target them this way when I have no bass biting. Keep in mind I am in Florida. Your pickerel may act differently.

Darren. reply :

I never target pickerel, but they seem to have bitten just about everything I've thrown for bass, panfish, etc...

Mike2841 reply :

Flukes and tubes

Teal reply :

Any fast moving lure. Spinnerbaits ans crankbaits in a fire tiger or blue girl pattern

KritterGitter reply :

Most people have nailed it here, but honestly anything and everything I have thrown for bass Ive caught pickerel on. I dont target them specifically due to the 100% fact that I will catch them no matter what when Im fishing for bass. When I go bass fishing Im also going pickerel fishing, not complaining tho, love catching em. This winter the jerkbaits have been the best producer followed by jigs, I even had a day in early January when I was killin em with the super spook topwaters...

Jigfishn10 reply :

They hit a wide variety of lures but for me, watching them turn over on a spinnerbait has to be my favorite way to catch them.

Jar11591 reply :

You can't beat a small classic red & white DarDevle.

thehooligan reply :

I've caught my largest on a jackall flickshake, but when I target them I use Sammy's, buzzbaits, and frogs.

Tugmaster reply :

Thanks for all your feedback. I appreciate it! Todd

Thatbasstardbrent reply :

I'm an avid pickerel fisherman, it depends on the settings. Always use a slow retreive though because they are looking to ambush, not fight. Wacky rig with a nail weight is excellent.

bigbill reply :

Go to www.overstockedbait&tackle.com

I use the mepps Anglia inline spinner #5 steel leader.

I also have the super sized pike lures from over stocked bait.

At one swamp I fish at its Fed from Batam that's known for great northern pike. I was throwing a #3 mepps Anglian then the bite slowed down. I put on a number #4 mepps Anglian and caught a 32" pickerel. If the bite slows down with bass or pickerel, pike upside your lure the big ones come in to see what the little guys are doing but won't hit the smaller baits.

BassWhole! reply :

I've caught LMB on just about every lure I use for pickerel...

Comfortably Numb reply :

Used to fish for the Slimers in a shallow weedy lake in Pa. Flukes were bait of choice. We would rig them on a 3/0 offset hook with the point in the pocket so totaly weedless.

As someone else said seeing that wake charging from 30' away with their back out of the water and them the explosion is very exciting.

Caught a 4 pounder last year with a 1.5" 1/16 #8 crappie jig and ultralight.

bigbill reply :

Ok my first big 30"+ pickerel here's my story.

First we don't target pickerel they target us when fishing for bass.

When this site was still in its new stage Glenn here was nice enough to help me out with spinnerbaits. He taught me how to tune and set them up. I added my own touch by going one size larger in the Colorado blade. I added a mister twister split double tail grub as a trailer with a trailer hook. I did not write down my first spinnerbait setup.

I was finally catching bass on a spinnerbaits. I was having a great morning. My success had me saying one more fish, just one more cash. I was about to take the spinnerbait out of the water when a big pickerel came parallel the shoreline on the exposed rocks and took my spinnerbait while shaking his head he ripped it off my line. My morning of success turned into a bummer for the rest of the day trying to figure out which blade I used to get more thump out of my spinnerbait. I nailed the perfect tweeked spinnerbaits for my area. I finally figured it out. The mepps Anglia is still the lure of choice. But that spinnerbaits is hot too.

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