Pickerel/jacks in Piedmont nc

bshobbs

Old Mossy Horns
Yellow or chartreuse spinners in and around brush, grass beds and cypress knees. Old school Snagless Sally’s are a good choice.

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oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I didn’t win at all. Ended up with a gaping hole between my thumb and index finger. I love catching mudfish and jacks. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt that “tick” only to reel down and my line already be cut in two with very little tension. Back in the day at currituck on a hot calm day we would see them sitting in the holes in the grass and we would wear them out. I like catching anything in the pike family.
I meant your "stuck to a fish tale" was more gruesome than mine.:)
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Those jacks are aggravating on Mayo. Agree that the more you like the lure you're throwing, the more likely they are to trash it.

Jim
 

ddavenport

Six Pointer
Contributor
Reminds me of a story from my youth. I was fishing in a pond near home with a jointed minnow and a ragged Zebco 33 one morning and a jack that looked like Jaws hit it and broke my line. Literally sounded like a shotgun blast when the line broke. So I went to the local store and told everybody about how big he was and of course nobody believed me. Went back that evening with a friend and was fishing with a spinnerbait. Guess who follows my bait up to the bank? Same fish with my bait still in his mouth. We threw everything we had and eventually, my lure somehow got tangled in the line trailing off the bait that he broke off. Wound up catching him and he was 36 inches long. Biggest one I have ever seen.
 

nekkedducker

Ten Pointer
Biggest I've ever seen caught was at Harris. My dad caught it on a black and yellow beetle spin. That was years ago. The ponds around Woodlake golf course are full of them. We used to catch then on jerkbaits and any in line spinner like a rooster tail or panther Martin.

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oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
back when it had grass we caught a bunch of jacks at Harris. My dad caught the Biggest one I’ve ever seen out of the water that weighed 7.5 lbs. idk how many are in it now. It was close to the state record as I thinks it’s only like 8 lbs.
like buggs they have diminished as the grass went south.
we fished harris before there was a public ramp and never caught a jack. but that was pre grass.
 

Dick

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Did some maintenance work at the old rest station on Hwy 17 just south of Vanceboro years ago. During one of the storms swift creek (I believe) flooded the entire back field and there was pickerel coming up through the storm drains and darting through the flooded grass. Took a while to find one still enough to tell what it was dating around. they blended very well in the grass.
 

tbear2

Spike
I would love to catch one of these. It looks like it would be fun!!!
Once did a lot of pickerel fishing in Chickahominy Lake near Richmond. My largest was 5 pounds
The fish on the right(excuse the poor pictiure) weighed 4 pounds.
Caught them on minnows in the winter & mepps spinners the rest of the year. This lake was grassy so I used weedless hooks on the mepps. I filleted just like walleye & the meat was great. Ate lots of great pickerel filets.
 
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