I have not been on here in years, so Hi! I found this, dead, in a city steam, FB watershed, in Henderson County. I am pretty sure it is a Chain Pickerel (vertical black eye stripe). It looks like maybe it got pecked on the head by a Kingfisher. There are maps that show this area to be on the very edge of it's range. I caught these a long time ago in MD, on red and white anything, but have never seen or heard of them being caught around here. Has anyone caught or heard tell? I may be starting a mission to find them.
Edit-Adding pictures is are hard.
20190502_162810.jpg
20190502_162813.jpg
20190502_162818.jpg
That is an odd looking chain.
What else can it be? The vertical eye stripe is is distinct.
I don't disagree, it just looks a bit odd probably due to it being a juvi.
Looks like what we see down here occasionally called a Yellow fin Pickerel.
A cross between a Red fin Pickerel and a Chain PickereL.
It is totally confusing since this trib, and the ones that it joins, are not grassy, vegetation rich envions a pickerel is supposed to like. Lots of sand, lots of steep banks, lots of downed trees; Piedmont type streams that aren't very rich. On the other hand, I guess that matches the maps... Back in MD, you can cast shallow areas with lots of underwater vegetation and bang them all day. Red and white.
I've caught pickerel in some sketchy small creeks that have no veg. There is a creek here in Durham that has no water willow and is loaded with em. Fish it with some streamers to find out.
Quote from: ajhock on May 02, 2019, 20:20:13 PMIt is totally confusing since this trib, and the ones that it joins, are not grassy, vegetation rich envions a pickerel is supposed to like. Lots of sand, lots of steep banks, lots of downed trees; Piedmont type streams that aren't very rich. On the other hand, I guess that matches the maps... Back in MD, you can cast shallow areas with lots of underwater vegetation and bang them all day. Red and white.
Chains seem to thrive in in slow clean water, and tend to chill around logs that parallel the stream bank especially if shallow weed beds are nearby. Rock vs sand does not seem to be an issue.
Piedmont chain water:
Rocky River above Rives Rd
Tar River between Moriah and Culbreth Rd
Eno between Fews Ford and Pleasant Green
New Hope Creek at the lower and, and just downstream of Duke Forest