The chain pickerel has a distinctive, dark, chain-like pattern on its greenish sides. There is a vertical dark marking underneath the eye, which helps to distinguish the chain pickerel from redfin pickerel (Esox americanus americanus) and grass pickerel (E. americanus vermiculatus), in which the mark curves posteriorly. [8]

Feb 3, 2017 · The chain pickerel (Esox niger) is the heavyweight of thetrio and the only pickerel with widespread status as a gamefish. It ranges fromeast Texas north to the Great Lakes and from Maine to Florida, inhabiting abroad spectrum of waters, from small natural lakes and tiny creeks to sprawlingman-made impoundments and big-river backwaters.

The chain pickerel (Esox niger) is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (E. americanus) belong to the Esox genus of pike.

Feb 27, 2025 · The chain pickerel has an impressively wide range. They can be found along the East Coast from southern Canada down to Florida and west to Texas, in addition to the fresh and brackish waters of the Mississippi Valley, and in Lake Michigan as well as the lower portions of the Great Lakes.

Chain pickerel are deep olive-green on the back, shading to a creamy yellow on the belly, with the back and anal fin about the same size and located far back on an elongated body. A distinct black chain-like or interwoven marking on the sides give them their name.