Any quiet, shallow water with a mud bottom, an abundance of aquatic vegetation and food fishes is ideal for the chain, or Eastern, pickerel. Their optimum water temperature is apparently 80 to 90 degrees. Pickerel like to hide in weeds waiting for a meal to swim by.

The chain pickerel is a voracious carnivore. Its diet includes golden shiners, brown bullheads, yellow perch and sunfish. The pickerel’s popularity peaks during the winter, when considerable numbers are taken with ease through the ice. Most ice anglers fish with a "tip-up" device, using a live minnow. Pickerel fishing in open water is also profitable. Trolling, still fishing with a live minnow or frog, or spincasting with plugs, spinners or spoons all produce good results.

information on this page gathered from NH Fish and game website, Illustrations © Joseph Tomelleri