This is my first year gardening and my container garden is flourishing! I have quite a few picklebush cucumbers and a couple of "burpless bush hybrids". I keep reading that you have to pick the cukes before they get overripe or the vine will stop producing but how do I know when they're ripe enough but not overripe? I don't want to pick them too soon but don't want to wait too late either.

According to Burpee, the picklebush grow to 4.5" long and the burpless bush to 6". I've got quite a few that I think are about 4" now. The vines have gotten all tangled up and it's hard to tell which are which so should I just start picking now? I plan to pickle them so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Do you just pick when they get to a good size or is there some other indicator of readiness?