Off Topic walleye and pickerel difference
- Thread starter scrimmy
- Start date
No they don't deny it today either. The MNR 2022 regs states Walleye and Sauger combined, no mention of pickerel anywhere, not even the real pickerel.
anonymoose
Well-Known Member
Actually, if you go to the actual regulation (rather than the summary document) you will find that it does reference grass pickerel and says "Walleye (yellow pickerel)" to refer to those delicious beasts we chase around Erie.
I'm sticking with Walters.
Trevor M
Well-Known Member
When I lived out west, Alberta and the NWT 1986-2008 (in the NWT is where I first heard'em called "dore" and had no idea what kind of fish the guy was talking about at the time, but figured it out PDQ.) and in all my extensive travels across western Canada, I heard them called both Walleye and Pickerel. BUT, when I lived there, it was more common to hear Walleye than it was pickerel.
As I said in the post you responded to, "The reality is, whether here in Ontario, or elsewhere in this country (and I AM speaking from experience) doesn't really matter whether you call it a walleye or a pickerel, they KNOW what kind of fish you're speaking of, and it has NOTHING to do with Canadian vs Americanisms...it DOES however have everything to do with where you were brought up, and WHAT you were brought up calling this particular fish likely since you were old enough to hold a rod yourself. " It really depended on who I was talking too. Younger people called'em walleye, the older people who have been calling them pickerel since long before I was even a thought called them Pickerel. I didn't care either way because I KNEW what fish they were talking about.
I grew up calling them pickerel because that's what the person who taught me how to fish, my dad, called them. Today, and since long before I moved back here from out west, because I've learned there IS a difference between the walleye and a true "pickerel" they're not even in the same family, I call them walleye because it's "technically" correct. Ultimately tho, I prefer to call'em LUNCH. It's easier and NOBODY gets upset with me about it.
But when someone refers to it as a pickerel when talking to me, I don't get all upset and correct them. No need, because like probably almost, if not everyone else, I KNOW what fish they're talking about. It's NOT a big deal and I don't understand why it seems to be each time this topic of discussion comes up in the forum.
Trevor M
Well-Known Member
Now that said, a lot of people misidentify a white perch as being a silver bass (and vice versa.) There's a difference and I've posted that difference at least once a year for the past few years. They are two very distinctly different fish in both appearance and taste, but THAT is never argued here like the debate over do you call it walleye or pickerel, that technically also are two very distinctly different fish.
Why is that? Because even though some do keep either or both for the table, most people don't care and consider both the white perch and the silver bass to be "undesirable" and throw them back despite the fact neither is regulated and you can catch and keep as many of those two fish as you want.
Until this year, I always threw them back because I don't particularly like them, but my neighbors do, and specifically asked me to bring them some IF I caught any, but I still throw them back when I know I'd just recently given my neighbors some fish because I don't want to clean those and then put'em in my freezer until the next time I decide to give some fish to my neighbors.
Why is that? Because even though some do keep either or both for the table, most people don't care and consider both the white perch and the silver bass to be "undesirable" and throw them back despite the fact neither is regulated and you can catch and keep as many of those two fish as you want.
Until this year, I always threw them back because I don't particularly like them, but my neighbors do, and specifically asked me to bring them some IF I caught any, but I still throw them back when I know I'd just recently given my neighbors some fish because I don't want to clean those and then put'em in my freezer until the next time I decide to give some fish to my neighbors.
done working
Well-Known Member
I the prairies they also call pike "jackfish" and roughed grouse "prairie chickens" so I guess it is understandable when they call Walleye "pickerel".
Trevor M
Well-Known Member
yes they do. Been a long time since I've heard either of those terms
They also called the Ptarmigan "prairie chickens" in the NWT.
AND unlike here, where they're referred to as "greasers" many people actively target Lake Trout for the table. The smaller ones are quite good.
Catfish is another one that people generally just lump into one category, but there are several different kinds of catfish as well. Blue, Channel, Bullhead, Flathead, White......and there are more.
Last edited:
The ministry?
No pickerel listed here: https://www.ontario.ca/document/ontario-fishing-regulations-summary/fisheries-management-zone-19
So does that mean no limit/open all year?
Trevor M
Well-Known Member
THAT would be a fun case to sit in on in a courthouse, wouldn't it?
THAT would be a fun case to sit in on in a courthouse, wouldn't it?
That is the damage it can cause. Ignorance is not a defense.
What the MNR calls them is what they're called.
spincast
Well-Known Member
Its Ole Blueyes, of course
Just don't call me late for supper, Oh wait is that supper or dinner?
Now you've done it. Prairie Chickens are sharptail grouse. Roughed grouse are partridge or 'fool hens' (say's the ex-Manitoban).
King Joe Outa Here!
No one knows what it's like to be the bad man...
Hitler had blue eyes!! 
He definitely was a, “BAD MAN!!” 
done working
Well-Known Member
Actually, not to put to fine a point on it, but Prairie chickens are prairie chickens and are extinct in Canada, sharptails are grouse, like roughed grouse and spruce grouse. https://projectupland.com/grouse-sp...ie-grouse-on-the-hunt-on-the-wing-and-in-hand. The only true partridge in Canada are Hungarian partridge, though I did grow up calling roughed grouse partridge as well. Sharpie's and prairie chickens are completely separate species, like walleye and pickerel, but at least they are in the same family, unlike walleye and pickerel. Also and ex-Manitoban.
@Red Hering Is that what that song is about?
It’s Fauci, Tam and Gates at it again!
Trevor M
Well-Known Member
Chow?