A Little Dock Talk: Those "Toothy Critters"

One of my earliest recollections about chain pickerel wasn't very pleasant. It involved a young guy who, without taking a good look at a pickerel's mouth, rammed his thumb inside to hold it open. The only way I can describe the results is that the fish basically skinned his thumb. That incident left me with a sour taste in my mouth for the fish known as pickerel. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to understand why I decided to lump everything like pickerel, gar and bowfin under the category of "toothy critters."

As I lay in bed last night, thinking about how cold the weatherman had said it was supposed to get for the next few days, I started thinking about something I could put together for the blog to take up at least a few of those hours today. An idea came to me in no time, thanks mostly to the incident I just identified, as well as some things I remember my kayaker buddy, Charlie Bruggemann, having shared with me over the past few months.

If you follow Charlie's blog or maybe recall a story I did about him a few months back, you know that, while he catches his fair share of bass, he doesn't shun anything with fins and gills. Case in point: As I was checking the Internet this morning for photos of Charlie, I came across several of him with some real nice bass--also a couple showing him holding up a H-U-G-E gar. There even was one in which he was all smiles as he held up none other than "ol' rubber lips" himself in front of the lens. Say what you will, but Charlie Bruggemann just truly loves catching anything and everything that swims.

One accomplishment he points to with pride is this citation chain pickerel he caught back on Jan. 7, 2008, in West Neck Creek. According to records of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, it tipped the scales at 4-2.

And 2012 was a banner year for numbers of pickerel that Charlie caught. They weren't all as seemingly docile as the one laying across his boots here, either. "I got bit a lot last year," he said. Those sore fingers, however, didn't slow him down.

As a result of all those bites, Charlie eventually decided to take steps to put an end to them. He went out and bought a gripper tool (similar to the one at far left), as well as a long-nosed hook-removal tool (seen next to it).

I, too, carry a gripper tool in my boat, as well as a couple of different hook-removal devices. Anytime I have a pickerel, gar or bowfin alongside the boat, you can bet those tools will be in my hands. Also at the ready, especially for bigger specimens, will be a "taming tool." I don't use the club unless I absolutely have to, but I don't plan to fall victim to a rowdy "toothy critter."

If you've never visited Charlie's blog, I urge you to check it out. Here's the link: http://vbfishguide.blogspot.com/. He posts video of all his trips, so it's really neat.