# Menhaden?



## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

Caught about 7 or so large pinfish and a few of these. Menhaden I believe...right? The menhaden were sitting in my bucket of water about 20 minutes or so in 90 degree heat at most. Do you think they are still ok as cut bait (spoiled?) Seems like the saltwater should preserve them that long.


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## mantriumph (Sep 12, 2006)

looks like a bluefish


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## hokieboy (Jan 19, 2006)

Thats not menhaden. That there is a blue runner. Often confused with a bluefish. 

http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/jackblue.html

Will work great as cut bait. Really good live bait but since its dead now will work fine for cut bait. REal bloody fish.


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

thats a bluefish. and its fine for bait. waters got a real high specific heat 20 min is def ok.


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## hokieboy (Jan 19, 2006)

Might have been a bluefish. Did it have teeth?


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

That looks like a blue to me and is that a flea in its gills? 
any ways i wouldnt eat it, and if its spoiled i guess just add it to the chum bucket.


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## NTKG (Aug 16, 2003)

thats not a bluerunner. its definatley a bluefish and its a parasite in the gills.


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## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

You're right, it is a blue. I checked out it's teeth. And that IS a parisite... 
So, this is good cutbait for reds..anything else bite on this?


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

I'd stake pretty much anything on that being a bluefish, but the real way to test is to check for teeth. If it has chompers like a piranha, it's a blue. (And that's the nastiest effin' sea louse I've ever seen on its gills. Blech.:--| ) 

Blue runners have teeth, but nothing like a bluefish. They are members of the jack family and look like this.










Menhaden are schooling filter feeders that look like this:


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

*Yep*

That looks like a blue to me.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

u can see the toofers in the pic


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

I hear blues are good for catching (i assume ur fiishin in florida) shark, cobes, heads for reds, strips for flounder and chunks for big bluefish (cannibals)


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## SkunkApe (Dec 9, 2006)

*No way*

With all do respect, that is not a Bluefish. I'm sure exactly what it is...but look at the tail. Blues have a very pronounced V. That fish doesn't. Compare the pix...


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## Surf Fish (Dec 16, 2005)

Pat, I'll vote for small bluefish. There's a Florida kink for using blues for bait. The rules don't specifically say you can't use them for bait, but they do specifically say that it's illegal to have any bluefish in your possession that have been cut up, if you are fishing "while in or on state waters" (which includes boats, piers, and jetties).

_Chapter 68B-43.003 Size Limit; Bluefish to be Landed in Whole Condition 

(2) All bluefish shall be landed in a whole condition. The possession, while in or on state waters, of such fish that have been deheaded, sliced, divided, filleted, ground, skinned, scaled, or deboned is prohibited. Mere evisceration or "gutting" of such fish, or mere removal of gills before landing is not prohibited. _

Supposedly (depending on which FWC officer you ask), you can cut up blues (which are legal sized to keep) if you are fishing on the beach. But the question is how do we know if the fish was legal size if he's now in pieces. 

I have seen FWC issue tickets to people using cut up bluefish on the pier for bait.


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## jettypark28 (Jun 23, 2006)

*Sorry*

but its a small bluefish....A bluerunner "pectoral fin" will go right up to his "Second dorsal fin" length wise, and if you look at a bluerunner gill plate he will have a black spot right where the "Pectoral fin" meet it, also a bluerunner "lateral line" will show more, (almost sticking out) And Bluerunner tail is even more V shape then a bluefish......and another thing some more info to know....a bluerunner belongs to the jack family....really good bait
Bluefish is his own famliy, the "Jack the ripper of the sea" it was once said, that if "Bluefish" grew to bigger sizes, men would be on his menu  These guys will go thru a school of baitfish, and sometime, throw up the fish they just eaten, to kill again( proven fact).....:fishing:


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## okimavich (Nov 13, 2006)

Looks like a blue and a louse to me.


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## patindaytona (Jun 17, 2006)

It's a blue alright. I checked it's teeth..sharp! This thing is only about 6 inches long. I thought it was a menhaden. Caught it on a sabiki rig. I never saw a blue so small before.


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## SkunkApe (Dec 9, 2006)

*Well...*



patindaytona said:


> It's a blue alright. I checked it's teeth..sharp! This thing is only about 6 inches long. I thought it was a menhaden. Caught it on a sabiki rig. I never saw a blue so small before.


Then I stand corrected. I couldn't see the teeth in the pic, and have never caugt a Blue that small, so I would assume the larger they get, the more their tail forms a sharp vee. I don't know everything...but my wife sure does


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## jettypark28 (Jun 23, 2006)

*There*

should have been alot more in the water....Blues swim in schools and always the same size...because bigger blues would have eaten them.....Pat i know you are still learning, but one "Big Tip" If you don't know what type of fish you have, its better to turn him loose. Then face getting a ticket, i have seen game/fish stay off in a distance...watching people. Then walk up on a pier, wearing a jacket so people don't know who they are....and walk up to someone, ask to see thier bucket....and handcuff them...i have seen this happen at "Jettypark" and "SI". Another point if you don't know what kind of fish it is, for all you know you might be grabbing a "loinfish" ...off to ER.....But bottom line is better to be safe then sorry.....i have use gamefish for bait in the past yes i have...but i am better about it now.....cause you never know, if you will run into that "Green horn" cop that wants to give anyone a ticket....:fishing:


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

I've caught a ton of blues about that size in the cast net before in 2-3' of water in the inlet. Definitely a blue. 

Far as using him for bait, if the Fla. law says don't do it, don't! Game wardens are sneaky. If there is a size limit on the fish, this is why they don't want you cutting them up. Game fish with no size limit, you can generally do what you want with them long as they were caught on hook and line, but if there's a size limit they've gotta be intact.


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