diff --git a/nipype/utils/filemanip.py b/nipype/utils/filemanip.py
index 44654c0197..26859196fc 100644
--- a/nipype/utils/filemanip.py
+++ b/nipype/utils/filemanip.py
@@ -689,8 +689,6 @@ def loadpkl(infile, versioning=False):
             pkl_metadata_line = pkl_file.readline()
             pkl_metadata = json.loads(pkl_metadata_line)
         except (UnicodeDecodeError, json.JSONDecodeError):
-            pass
-        finally:
             # Could not get version info
             pkl_file.seek(0)
 
diff --git a/nipype/utils/tests/test_filemanip.py b/nipype/utils/tests/test_filemanip.py
index 7eaa8b9c86..ecfd477504 100644
--- a/nipype/utils/tests/test_filemanip.py
+++ b/nipype/utils/tests/test_filemanip.py
@@ -587,3 +587,13 @@ def test_Path_strict_resolve(tmpdir):
     # If the file is created, it should not raise
     open('somefile.txt', 'w').close()
     assert '%s/somefile.txt' % tmpdir == '%s' % testfile.resolve(strict=True)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("load_versioning", [True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("save_versioning", [True, False])
+def test_pickle(tmp_path, save_versioning, load_versioning):
+    testobj = 'iamateststr'
+    pickle_fname = str(tmp_path / 'testpickle.pklz')
+    savepkl(pickle_fname, testobj, versioning=save_versioning)
+    outobj = loadpkl(pickle_fname, versioning=load_versioning)
+    assert outobj == testobj