Give Flyfishing for Pickerel A Shot (And Use This Fly)

By Joe Cermele

Whenever I tell people I love chasing chain pickerel on the fly, they look at me funny. I don’t think they disrespect the species, but they just think there are much better things to catch in late March and early April. To this I say find me a 10-inch stocked trout that slams a fly as violently as a pickerel or fights as hard. If you’re jonesing to catch members of the Esox family on the fly, I promise chains are much easier to find and hook than pike and muskies. You still get the V-wake, the follow, and the slam, but you get to do it with a 4-weight outfit instead of an 8. Perhaps the video below will inspire you to give it a go. I put it together partly to spread my belief that flyfishing for picks will be the next flyfishing for carp (snicker) and partly because I wanted an excuse to ditch the office and go pickerel fishing last Friday. Enjoy