Prime Time for Pickerel in South Jersey
Lost in the sauce on the springtime freshwater fishing platter is the chain pickerel (not to be confused with its much smaller kin, the redfin pickerel), and this aquatic assassin certainly demands attention for its savagery, gameness and willingness to strike lures and inhale live baits (minnows/shiners) with suicidal abandon. It’s especially active from early spring well into June, and it seems the feed bag is always on.
All these plus, in south Jersey, it can be found just about anywhere, including the acidic rivers, streams and bogs in the Pine Barrens.