St Marks - 7/13 and 7/15

[Dr. Jones]

Hi Everyone,

My brother and his three teenage boys were in town this weekend, so I rented a boat from Shell Island and we all headed out on Friday. We got out onto the East Flats about 7 AM and started hitting trout right away. Our most success came from bouncing Gulp! shrimp off the bottom in 8-10 ft. We caught a wide range of fish - lots of short trout, one short red, several shark, cats, ladyfish, etc. We only had one trout in the box for the ride home (through all the scallopers), but we lost another biggie because some dufus (me) forgot the net at home. We got off the water about 3 PM just as the lightening and thunder started to settle in on the Wakulla. A good time was had by all.

On Sunday my little boat was fixed so I took the two older boys out. We left the lighthouse around 7 AM and went right to the rock garden. We had a nice drift that kept taking us north into the rocks and into shorter water. Again, our best luck was with Gulp! shrimp on the bottom and under a CT. Three in the box (including a 23 incher) by about 9 AM then it all kinda shut off. We got off the water about 11 AM, before all the scallopers got sunsick and headed in.

I have a question:
How do people rig pinfish? Every time I hooked them through the mouth or just in front of the dorsal fin, I ended up pulling back in a head and the tail and half the body had been bitten off. When I tried to hook them through the tail the line was stripped. Anyone got any good advice? What kind of hooks do you u se and where (on the bait fish) do you hook them?


-Biill

[RodBow]

jsut behind the dorsel fin so it can swim around on its own

[Capt Reggie]

Yeah, take a page out of the "Kingfish" handbook - rig a "stinger" hook behind your main hook! You can make the things, but, instead...go easy on yourself and just go buy a couple of the pre-made rigs at the tackle shop (scaled down for trout sized fish)!

[mattfsu7]

For pinfish I go through the lips or just behind the dorsal. If I go through the mouth I rig a stinger hook as suggested by the previous poster. I also use the Cale (or Kale?) hooks for a lip hook-up, especially on a shark that I will probably want to release anyway.

[Dr. Jones]

Thanks for the comments and advice!

[Mook!]

I hook them through the tail with usually an 18" leader of 35 or 50lb strength (for flats fishing, stronger, usually around 100lb, if offshore). I tried this as an experiment after having similar symptoms when hooking through dorsal. Also, I started throwing them close to the boat and standing up high so that I could see what was doing this (taking a chunk out of the bottom or removing the rear half) and on that day, it was bull sharks 100% of the time.

When I hook thorugh the tail, I hang them off a barrell CT. For the first 20-30 seconds, the pinfish will take it under, but they quickly tire out and remain in the range of the leader without significantly pulling the CT under. I usually keep only palm-sized or larger pins, and with that size, I've had them remain active for as long as 2 hours when rigged this way.

Also, I've noticed that hooking through the tail when bottom fishing (like on a grouper rig) reduces the occurence of the pinfish swimming around your line and tangling up the rig. I think most fish we want to catch attack from behind when possible, so the tail hook will catch some of the smaller fish that don't swallow the whole thing on their first hit. Someone pipe up if you know any good fish that hit from another direction intentionally.

[Dr. Jones]

Do you use the stinger hook as a trailing hook (flying loose) or do you hook it in? In other words, do you hook one in the mouth and one behind the dorsal, or do you hook one behind the dorsal and let one trail around the tail?

[Vitz]

For me, it depends on how I'm fishing the bait. If drifting and letting the bait drift behind the boat, you need to hook it in the front, either through the eyes or lips so that it looks natural, as if it's swimming through the water. If you're not drifting the bait, I prefer to hook it just behind the dorsal fin. This causes the bait to try and swim down, towards the grass.

I don't usually use stinger hooks for pinfish as they are rather short baits and I don't typically have the problem of short strikes. I do use a stinger if I'm using a longer bait, such as a blue runner, greenie, cigar or sardine.

Also, if I had to guess, I would venture to say that gamefish probably tend to strike a pinfish headon. With it's spiney fins, it only makes sense that it would go down much easier if swallowed from the front.

[Reel Cowboy]

Glad yopu got out and the boys caught some fish.

I primarily hook pins through the eyes or nose, I've pretty decent luck with those.

[Mook!]

Also, if I had to guess, I would venture to say that gamefish probably tend to strike a pinfish headon. With it's spiney fins, it only makes sense that it would go down much easier if swallowed from the front.

The logic seeme flawless Vitz, but when using dorsal-only hook, I've pulled out one after another sans-rear-half, and never ever have I pulled one out missing the head...so I dunno. When I've had them hit but not swallow the whole thing, it's always the tail or the bottom/anal area missing like it was hit from directly behind or from underneath and behind.

That could always be explained by certain types of fish that frequently short-hit and attack that way, kinda like how pinfish and ballyhoo like to eat the legs and middle out of a shrimp while others gulp it from behind. no tellin since I'm not catching them when that happens. I mean, you don't often pull up a live shrimp missing the tail or head either.