Revenge

Since moving to Lake Mohawk, I have been casting a 7-inch power worm.  It has been extremely convenient and I had actually grown attached to my little 7-inch power worm.  So much so, I had named him Charlie.  Last week I was driving down East Shore Drive and saw a little stream dumping some fresh water into Lake Mohawk around Beach #5.  On a whim, I elected to throw my 7-inch power worm from the boat launch dock.  For whatever reason, I was satisfied with fishing the drop, this time I retrieved the worm with a   'flick & drop'.  I would flick the worm and then let it settle.  No expectations.  All of sudden, halfway between the boat docks and the boat ramp docks, "BAM!", I got a strong hit!  And when I set the hook, nothin.  In fact, not even the worm; clearly what I had hooked was a pickerel and he took 'Charlie' on a little ride.

So this week, on my way to get a haircut, I thought I would hook up my perch patterned Rat-L-Trap and give it a couple casts.  I over estimated the number of casts, because on the first retrieve, "BAM!", I got the strike I was looking for!  Let me tell, I was quickly reminded why I love fishing for pickerel because the fight between myself and this 22-inch pickerel was epic on my light tackle.  I eventually landed him and I had to ask him a question, "Mr. Picks, you know anything about a green 7-inch power worm who disappeared around these parts about a week ago?"

 Mr. Picks, "HA, HA, HA!"

Filleting a Esox Americanus (Pickerel)

Last year was my first big year fishing in many years and my first big year fishing in Northern New Jersey.  I got an opportunity to eat some perch, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, pickerel and walleye.  My personal favorite (and yes, I am bias being born in Minnesota) was the walleye, however my wife's favorite was the pickerel.  So this means two things for me in 2013:

1) If I want to be allowed to do more fishing next year, I better catch more pickerel

2) If I catch more pickerel, I have to do a better job of filleting the thing than I did last year

So I searched Youtube for some tutorials on filleting a pickerel.  I also search for videos on filleting a northern pike as they have the same bone structure.  Youtube is a tremendous resource for learning new skills and I was not let down again.  However, although most of the videos were pretty good, I never got that "A-HA" moment of exactly what the Y-bone looked like, exactly where it was in the fish and which direction the Y-Bone was positioned.  So I tried searching for images and I came across this very useful image.  As they say, a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

This image was created by Canoe Camp Fish