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spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:38 pm
by cyril1974
Caught a bunch of these at John U. Lloyd today, just wondering how good these were for bait? are they as good as regular pinfish?
Thanks,
Charles
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:05 am
by fishnfool73
I have tried them numerous times over the years only to catch a few cudas. They are not very good bait in my experience at all.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:23 am
by Boca Jetty Rat
If we are talking about the silver ones with the buck teeth and black spot on the tail, then yes I have done very good using them over the years for snook.

Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:47 am
by Chevy Juan
Post up a pic if you can of what you've got.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:50 am
by fishnfool73
Intresting Boca as I have tried them numerous times for snook and never done anything on them at all. I have always free lined them in the surf to no avail. I know of a few people who have nabbed cobia on them as well. Not my bait of choice but may have to retry them in the future if nothing else is around.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:11 am
by cyril1974
Did not take any photos, it looked just like a pinfish, only with a spot on its tail instead of the usual spot, so I googled it and it looks just like the photos of the spottail pinfish. Just wanted to know if they were as good as the regular pinfish for bait... they were simple to catch on gold hooks and some small chunks of tilapia my buddy had with him.
Thanks,
Charles
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:13 am
by fishnfool73
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:26 am
by cyril1974
exactly, but the ones we were catching were like 10x smaller.. perfect little bait sized! also, a bunch of baby snapper were in the area, finger sized, never saw them that small!!
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:06 am
by PhishingPhanatic
I've caught snapper on them before but I prefer regular pins hands down.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 5:54 pm
by Boca Jetty Rat
The ones I liked were a little smaller than palm sized. It is my go to bait at night on jetties. Pin them in the current to the bottom with apropriate sinker and wait. Use large rods heavier leaders typical pier style rod reel combo like a 9 foot custom torium 30 type set up. I've never tried in the surf only night jetty work caught on bikis tipped with squid at the end of jetties. Hook threw bony nose with circle hook.
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Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:21 pm
by rshields
Boca Jetty Rat wrote:The ones I liked were a little smaller than palm sized. It is my go to bait at night on jetties. Pin them in the current to the bottom with apropriate sinker and wait. Use large rods heavier leaders typical pier style rod reel combo like a 9 foot custom torium 30 type set up. I've never tried in the surf only night jetty work caught on bikis tipped with squid at the end of jetties. Hook threw bony nose with circle hook.
. .
I have to give this a try... I've used them before but not much luck.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:44 pm
by chris21
Pompano pier is absolutely loaded with those spot tail pinfish, I caught a ton one night and had a googan moment with one of them, didn't know they had buck teeth, so I barely put my finger in its mouth to remove the hook assuming it had the same kind of mouth as a regular pinfish or grunt, seconds later it clamped down very hard on my thumb and it hurt, I lifted up the lips and saw the buck teeth, ouch, never again, they're great eating though, I fry them whole
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:05 pm
by james380
chris21 wrote:they're great eating though, I fry them whole

Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:49 pm
by chris21
You don't like them James?? They're pretty tasty

Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:00 pm
by fixed80
eating no but for bait yes. i think they do well offshore though and have tried it too once.... but once is not enough I'll say.
Re: spottail pinfish... any good for bait?
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:13 pm
by Phatman
When I was a kid my old man and I would catch them surf fishing.
He would make me clean them, scale, gut and remove the heads, then he would deep fry them for the family.
I ate so many of those buck tooth turds they turned me against fish.
I always loved to fish, but the thought of eating one of those makes me a little
