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ok ok ok...please dont laugh...but have been reading so much about using pinfish under cajun thunders, I thought i better ask......

1, besides using a sibikki(sp) rig to catch them, how would you go about it??? buy a trap?? bait it with what?? just put it out on the flats with a float on it hoping someone wont steal it????

2, what rig do you use??? cajun thunder with a small sinker or no sinker??

3, what size and type of hook would you recommend???

4, what is the best way to hook them ?? lips?? eyes?? through the back behind the dorsal???


now that I have my new 22' bayboat, I am also hoping to do a little offshore out of Keaton and spring warrior on good days, so I thought it would be best if I learned how to catch live bait, so I can have that and cut squid....

any info would be appreciated............

breambuster rigged for bream with the smallest size true turn hook u can find. I like a size 14. cut a gulp , shrimp, or squid up in very small pieces and just bream fish for pinfish. Really simple. Hook em thru the lips. Pins about 3 to 4 inches long are best for trout. either fish em under a ct like you would a gulp or hang one , no lead,on a ct behind the boat. Just let them drag with your drift. Reels with bait clickers work well as you dont have a fish on for ten minutes before you realize it. When I do fish them, very rearly, but when I do, i like a small circle hook under a Ct on a reasonable length leader for the depth your fishing. its a good way to catch a big trout, along with every other species in the ocean. This method is how Bow'd Up caught that 56# Cobe this weekend. Good Luck and when you catch that 30' monster, I ll be looking for some kudos!!

Gulp is good Chicken gizzards cut in tiny bits on as long a shank little hook, on the trap most any fish will do ly's blues a trout carcass whatever the longer the trap soaks the better overnite is best.

Ultralight rod with a bream-size jighead tipped with a cut piece of gulp strip (half a gulp strip). Find the pins, throw a trap out, and catch some with the rod too. Its best if you can leave the trap out a day or so ahead of time.

As far as fishing them, I usually hook them throught he lips and toss 'em out with a little weight on the line under a float varying from 2'-5' or so dependig on the depth of water.

One other though one of the coolest ways to fish them is take the big ones and a cutting board and slice the top & bottom 1/3 and then shape and use them on a jighead like a plastic body this is deadly.

I like to use a #8 cricket hook, it has a long shank and it easier to unhook them because they tend to swallow the hook. and for bait I use squid, it stays on the hook good. Last time I also used some left over gulp peices that work fairly well. I like to work the bait along the bottom alot like plastic worm fishing and fan cast around the boat until you find them. The sabikis work too, but often the pins will bite the bottom hook time after time and can tangle easilly. If your sitting still I like to hook them under dorsal but if your moving, up through the lips keeps them from spinning.

When running a pin fish, what # and leangth leader do ya'll use? I was running pins and and got broken off three times last weekend. Not a line snap but literally at the hit...saw a swirl...set the hook...and swish snap there goes my float floatin away.

One tip I have been given regarding leader length is to use a leader under a CT that keeps the pinfish just above the grass in the area you are fishing. Otherwise, the pinfish will swim down and hide in the grass. Although we have caught some really nice trout drift a pinfish behind the boat, sharks seem to be more common. Perhaps I am not the one to take advice from.

Good ole chicken gizzards....
Cost- about .25 a trip.

Redfin wrote:Good ole chicken gizzards....
Cost- about .25 a trip.

These look more like hemorrhoids.

My experience with fishing pinfish under a CT has not been good. I have had much more success using a 4-6" mullet or any whitebait, LY, threadfin, pigfish, etc. Almost anything but a pinfish. Rigged with a number 4 kahle hook at a depth just above the bottom. I usually put a little weight about a foot above the hook to keep the bait from swimming in circles on top.

GatorBaiter wrote:When running a pin fish, what # and leangth leader do ya'll use? I was running pins and and got broken off three times last weekend. Not a line snap but literally at the hit...saw a swirl...set the hook...and swish snap there goes my float floatin away.

I normally use a 25-30 lb leader for live bait on the flats, and that even gets broken off once in a while. You can go heavier, but you'll get fewer bites. It was probably Spanish Mackeral cutting you off, they have a nasty habit of ruining a good trout rig.

Jumptrout51 wrote:

Redfin wrote:Good ole chicken gizzards....
Cost- about .25 a trip.

These look more like hemorrhoids.

hemorrhoids work as well when available fresh...