Pickerel Not Being Pickerel

[eklayman]

So my backyard pond, about a couple hundred yards long, used to be heaven for LMB fishing. Then the common a**hole, known as the chain pickerel, decided to fix that. The pickerel have been here for almost a year now, have literally killed every other fish in the pond, and then went all out cannibal. Well heres my problem. Ive gone fishing for these little devils about 30-40 times in the past couple of months. While pickerel usually go for red and white daredevil lures, shiny spoons, and brightly colored spinners, these appear to be the LAZIEST pickerel in the history of their family. Now i've read tons about them, asked lots of great fisherman, and they all say they are predator fish, well these aren't. These go for absolutely nothing. I'm a pretty experienced fisherman, i've caught up to 15 bass per day on a good day. I have landed TWO pickerel out of the past 40 times ive gone fishing, and that is starting to make me very, very impatient. I have literally tried everything. I've dragged lures within an inch of their face, and they dont even see it. If anyone has any information that will help me not just pour 100 gallons of bleach into my pond and rid it's once beautiful waters of this nightmare, that'd be appreciated.
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[theangler]

Sorry to hear about the pickeral devastating your fishery!!

Have you tried live baits, likely small baitfish/minnows would work best.
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[davetclown]

fishing small ponds do have thier drawbacks. pretitor fish feed so well on everything else they are not intrested in any thing you throw at them.

the other problem is they can see you.... yep thats right they look right up out of the water and see you there so many times they have become acostom to you being there and doing that. This holds true for bass and other species as well. sept stunded gills, they hit any thing you throw at them any time of the day. "they are starving"

if it is a privet pond, you may want to drive them crazy or drawing their attention off of you or in to a more natural state by dropping a couple dozen live minnows near the shore. This will make them more active.

problem with ponds is so many people think once it is stocked it is good to go for ever. This is not true. there is a limited supply of food that all species must compete for. So it is vary important to feed your lake, either with pellets for the pan fish or a fresh supply of live minnows every year. Increasing the size of your gills will make your pond behave more naturaly.

and lets not forget the match the hatch rule. if they are feeding on stunted gills then that is what you use to catch them.