Pinfish are great bait for a wide variety of species; they are easy to catch and are found all over all shallow waters of our Sun-coast. Put a little bit of bait (squid works very well) on about a #2 or #4 hook and toss it over some grassy bottom - it won’t be long before the well is full of ‘pins. You can also chum them up with cat food and bread and throw a cast net over the whole lot - ‘pins are fast though, and often can run faster than the net can sink.

Pinfish are very hardy as baitfish go, often outliving everything else in your live-well. When handling them, watch out for the very sharp dorsal spines - they can really stick you good (that’s how they get their name). Hook them just under this fin and fish them with little or no weight inshore. Offshore, a live pinfish will often get grouper to bite when nothing else will. This is a great baitfish that will also give beginning fishermen a very nice tussle on super-light tackle (nice way to entertain the kids on a windy day).