# Fishing with Pinfish



## Fireline20 (Oct 2, 2007)

Any of you guys ever fish with Pinfish? I read they are on many game fishes' (reds, blues, trout) menu.

If so, how do u fish them, live or cut, free lining or bottom,,,surf or only in the tidal creeks.

The reason I ask is I caught a ton of them this past weekend back in the salt creeks, while fishing for other species, using a popping cork with a 2 in gulp shrimp on a 2 ft leader. 

I let them go and then found out they are good bait


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## inshoreangler95 (Jun 15, 2008)

Live is great, dont know about up there but down here you can catch anything on em, snook, kings, sharks, reds, etc. They are pretty hardy, hook them by the nose!


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## SnookMook (Jan 7, 2004)

Down here in Florida we use em all the time. Snook, redfish, speckled trout, snapper, grouper they love them. 

I use them live all the time mostly, but I'll use them cut up as chunks or whole fresh dead with some slashes in them to let out some scent for redfish. 

I don't do much shark fishing so I can't really comment on that. 

If you fish them live you can hook them sideways through the nose, up through the lips, or through the back behind the dorsal fin. They are very hardy on the hook and will live for a long time.


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

Live-lined, chunked, cut into strips, rigged whole for sharks.

You can use them just like any other kind of fish.

Evan


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

Cut the heads off and use them for bait......


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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Outstanding bait inshore for gator trout and reds. Offshore, good for grouper, amberjack and snapper.

Here on the Gulf Coast, we'll rig them under a popping cork for the big 5-10 trout.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Depends on what you're targeting and how you're doing it. Live works great, but if you want cut bait, I'd fillet it and cut each fillet in half. I usually leave the scales on but make sure you don't have a scale covering your hook point after hooking it. You can also use the head for cut bait. So that gives you 5 baits from 1 fish, great for blues, smaller for whiting, puppy drum, random trash fish, ect. 

The way I catch big blue cats in freshwater is take a bream or white perch, scale one side, put 3 slashes vertically, and toss him out lip hooked and hold on. If you need scent and bait is plentiful, that should work.


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## Fireline20 (Oct 2, 2007)

Thanks for all the info 

Now one thing I noticed about them is (and it really peaked my interest) is that they seem to live in a 5 gallon bucket with no aeration damn near all day.

Seems to make them hassle free...free bait, if you know where to catch them:fishing:


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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

I've caught tons of pesky pin fish this year and tossed them back. Never tried them for bait. I heard you can cut off the pointy dorsal fin to make them easier for the fish to swallow. Got stuck by one a few weeks ago.


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## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

you can fish those things just about any way you can think of, they will catch just about any game fish you can imagine, and even some of the trash fish like em


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## Drumdum (Jan 6, 2003)

Fireline20 said:


> Thanks for all the info
> 
> Now one thing I noticed about them is (and it really peaked my interest) is that they seem to live in a 5 gallon bucket with no aeration damn near all day.
> 
> Seems to make them hassle free...free bait, if you know where to catch them:fishing:


 They stay alive pretty good,but never had them stay alive that well.. Can keepem all day,but do use an aerator.. Caught pups and bluefish on cutbait.
Caught pups,kings,jacks,cobia,tarpon,alberts, and specks on them live. Very versitile livebait.. On the pier will take a good live pinfish over many other baits,because they are easy to catch,hang in there good,and fish WILL eat em..


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## Jesse Lockowitz (Feb 13, 2006)

sometimes in the fall/early winter, ive seen big schools of small pinfish, prlly 2" long , and trout seem to really engulf them...you can get some of the new mirros in a pinfish color pattern , the shorter/fatter mirros.....really like them 



Jesse


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## NC-Norm-WB (Jul 25, 2008)

I have caught flounder,blues,ladyfish and trout on pins. The way I see it, if a fish is lower on the food chain, it is considered lunch. As others have said, They are tough critters in and out of the bucket. I will use finger mullet first choice but have no problem with a pin.


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## Fireline20 (Oct 2, 2007)

Fish'n Phil said:


> I've caught tons of pesky pin fish this year and tossed them back. Never tried them for bait. I heard you can cut off the pointy dorsal fin to make them easier for the fish to swallow. Got stuck by one a few weeks ago.


Now that is one hell of a good idea.

Next time I am going to take a pair scissors and trip those puppies down.


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## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

also makes em less stable in the water, so they have a harder time swimmin, they still stay alive just as good but they have that hurt fish action that drives predators nuts


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## Entropy (Mar 9, 2008)

Catfish713 said:


> you can fish those things just about any way you can think of, they will catch just about any game fish you can imagine, and even some of the trash fish like em


QFT

cant go wrong with a pinfish on the hook.

ive netted them once in a blue moon here, but i ALWAYS used them for bait down in florida. sabiki rig up a couple. if the bite is slow, put the tiniest piece of squid you can cut on the hook and try again. but dont give them a lot to bite at, they are bait stealers. circle hook through the nose or treble through the back. i fished the flats down in the keys so id float them to keep them out of the grass. they dive strait for it because thats where they dwell, but when they die down there its a problem.

cudas, sharks, tarpon, snook, BIG mangrove, and the occasional red will tear them up. i prefer live, but cut works too... cut is going to bring in more trash fish. ive found that live will give you a higher likelyhood of catching your targeted species. want a small bait catch a small pinfish. want a big fish, catch a big pinfish. hell, once they get around 6 inches they arent bad to eat either, a lot like a panfish.


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## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

exactly like a panfish, all those things are is a saltwater sunfish, I caught my all time record speckled trout on a freelined pinfish in copano bay down here on the Texas coast, 32 1/4" and i was damn proud


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## Cerberus (Nov 1, 2007)

Back when I did more trout fishing over grass flats, the trick was to hang a cut pinfish tail under a popping cork and pop it.

Trout magic, the results were just unreal. If there were big trout around they couldn't resist.


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## Catfish713 (Nov 9, 2006)

Hmmmmmm ill have to try that one, sounds like a keeper :fishing:


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## cannotlogin (Sep 1, 2008)

Fireline20 said:


> Any of you guys ever fish with Pinfish? I read they are on many game fishes' (reds, blues, trout) menu.
> 
> If so, how do u fish them, live or cut, free lining or bottom,,,surf or only in the tidal creeks.
> 
> ...


Yaeh and i think the best way to get big ones is in small bays with shirmp little hooks and a yak at ockrockck island wow.


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