How and where to catch a Pickerel?

You can fish Scotts run from the bank but be careful wading the muck in the upper end. I got stuck there once and my fishing partner had to pull me out. Only caught one tiny pickerel that day. I've had OK results there. Not sure I'd drive from Hburg to fish Scotts Run.
 
You can fish Scotts run from the bank but be careful wading the muck in the upper end. I got stuck there once and my fishing partner had to pull me out. Only caught one tiny pickerel that day. I've had OK results there. Not sure I'd drive from Hburg to fish Scotts Run.
Nice, is there anywhere you would drive to for pickerel?
 
Nice, is there anywhere you would drive to for pickerel?
Besides schuyllkill county or pocono’s around us there is not many places you can go target them and expect to catch them that i know of.

But theres a real reason I drive to the pine barrens. It can be VERY remote and the size can be very very large in some waters.

 
Nice, is there anywhere you would drive to for pickerel?
I'm not familiar with most of the water closest to you - others will have more insight. Mike's posts are usually goldmines of information...

In general, I've found having a boat (or canoe or in my case, paddleboard) drastically improves the odds of having a good pickerel outing. I've only ever caught one or two in an outing on foot. A lot of the places I target them are swampy ponds and tidal creeks in southern MD, so my experience may not apply to PA, but it seems they prefer areas that are too soft bottomed and weedy to make for good bank fishing or wade fishing.
 
I haven’t been to Memorial, so someone more familiar with that lake’s lay-out may be able point you in the right direction, such as to stumpy areas and weedy areas, if any. With the present ice- free conditions you may even be able to catch cp in 4-6 ft of water because when we ice fish we do the same, especially from 3 pm onward if not much of the day.

As for Scotts Run, the upper end of the lake has traditionally been the CP location in summer, as that was the weedy area. In Hopewell, which is in the same park, they could be almost anywhere since weed beds are extensive, although in winter weeds are less of a requisite. The weeds are a good place to start, however, but as an example of an exception, Tuscarora hardly has any weeds except a patch at the upper end, but it has a fairly good pickerel population throughout. Kaercher Ck Lk in Hamburg also has a small CP population. Given your fishing time, I would not recommend wading any of these lakes in the dark for the first try.
 
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I haven’t been to Memorial, so someone more familiar with that lake’s lay-out may be able point you in the right direction, such as to stumpy areas and weedy areas, if any. With the present ice- free conditions you may even be able to catch cp in 4-6 ft of water because when we ice fish we do the same, especially from 3 pm onward if not much of the day.

As for Scotts Run, the upper end of the lake has traditionally been the CP location in summer, as that was the weedy area. In Hopewell, which is in the same park, they could be almost anywhere since weed beds are extensive, although in winter weeds are less of a requisite. The weeds are a good place to start, however, but as an example of an exception, Tuscarora hardly has any weeds except a patch at the upper end, but it has a fairly good pickerel. population throughout. Kaercher Ck Lk in Hamburg also has a small CP population. Given your fishing time, I would not recommend wading any of these lakes in the dark for the first try.
Memorial also has muskies or toger muskies i forget. Its not a good wade fishing lake for pickerel with a fly rod. Lots of trees. I have waded it in the shallows and LOTS of stumps and down timber. Don’t know about weeds. Get a Yak and fish memorial and if you fish it regularly with some wire leader and a white game changer or clouser my guess is you will get one. I had a follow from a small musky to my feet last time i was there but have never caught a fish out of memorial only fished it twice and was using 12” long flies wouldn’t expect pickerel would nail those necessarily
 
Such valuable info everybody! Thanks! It seems like it will take a pretty concerted effort and a decent sized trip to make this worth while. I’ll be keeping this info for a reference in the coming weeks. Thanks again!
 
You could also do a split trip and come up to State College. You could fish for pickerel in Colyer Lake (plentiful) and then head over to Spring Creek for trout. It's probably 75-80 miles from HBG, but would likely be worth it. Since you said you were hitting YB in Carlisle, it would be worthwhile to check out Opossum Lake since it is nearby. I haven't fished Opossum since the drawdown and dam repair, but it used to have plenty of pickerel and some musky.
 
I caught pickerel in Mountain Creek below Laurel Lake. That would be close for you.
I've probably caught the most in Mountain Creek above Laurel Lake (maybe 5 or 6 over my lifetime) but I wasn't targeting them; they were byproducts of trouting. I'm sure I picked up 1 or 2 more in other creeks and the biggest I ever caught was out of Black Moshannon Lake.
 
I don't know how this escaped me but you will find nice CP on Lower Sherman's Creek in Duncannon upstream from the mouth of the Susky. I've caught some nice ones in there on both fly/spin tackle. I've also caught several in Little Buffalo Lake in Perry County but I don't know how abundant they are there? Someone else that fishes there more than I might be able to chime in. I caught mine at the very end of the lake where it's narrow and weedy/stagnant.
 
For a small lake, Holman Lake (Little Buffalo) is packed full of muskies of all sizes. I have never encountered a chain pickerel there, though, but they probably are. Chain pickerel are a pretty cool fish native to much of central and eastern PA. The Poconos is pretty filthy with them. Locally where I am in Mifflin County they can be found in the Aughwick and Tuscarora Creeks, but not really in the mainstem of the Juniata. As far as lakes, Poe Valley, Colyer Lake, and Black Moshannon are all pretty polluted with them. They seem to like those medium sized warm water creeks in these parts. Water that isn't quite trout water but not quite ideal bass water, either.
 
I have always heard sweet arrow but when I fish the dam end of it I don’t seem to get em
 
Like many fish species, there are days when they just totally shut down. Even if you're somewhere with a really strong population, some days you can swear they aren't around. Then the next day you can catch 10. They are also sensitive to very warm water and I've observed them vacate warm main lake areas (on shallow mill ponds) in mid summer and stack up in the sluggish feeder creeks. I guess in deeper lakes they can also head deep in those conditions. If searching for them in a stream, look for logs, big eddies (especially if there are any weeds), and depth along banks with just a hint of current passing through.
 
Has anyone ever caught them on the Conodoguinet?
Yes. DM me and I'll give you some information on that and a few other places for CP, Musky, Trout.
 
My dad has stories and pictures of catching bucket loads of Northern Pike out of untouched lakes up in Ontario, Canada.
I’ve always dreamed up going up there sometime but until then… I’ve just recently noticed people catching Pike, Pickerel, and musky around here and it made me wonder how one would go about targeting them with a fly rod?
I have a 4 weight rod so I’m sure I won’t be able to handle musky flies but is there a way to target smaller pickerel or pike? Also I live in Harrisburg, is there a creek that would be my best bet?
I know this is a broad question but I appreciate any advice you all would have to offer!

I target pickerel often, but with conventional tackle.

A couple of things I can suggest for fly fishing based on my results with things like 5" soft stick baits, size 3 & 4 in-line spinners & 2" - 3" long spoons is to offer them a mouthful and move the flies FAST through the water.

I fish a couple of lakes with good populations of both Largemouth Bass & Chain Pickerel and can decide what I want to catch just by varying the speed of the retrieve. If I want to catch pickerel, I rip my cast & lure through the water, if I want bass, I work it slower & more deliberately.

There are several fast stripping techniques for fly fishing. I suggest if you don't know them, learn them and tie some LONG flies with white and/or silver flash in them. In addition, make sure you have a rod & reel combo capable of throwing big flies soaked with water and use a heavy fluorocarbon bite tippet or wire.

As far as colors go, excluding spoons & big spinners I catch most pickerel on Senkos or other soft stickbaits in the watermelon/cream color combination. BTW - I never target them on the surface mainly because I do so well catching them below the surface.

Another thing I've discovered is that pickerel can hold in water that is surprisingly shallow. When I fish lakes from a boat I often cast right on to the bank and rip my lure back to the boat and if fishing from the bank, I work my lure ALL the way back on to shore.

Good luck & have fun!!
 
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