How to Catch Pinfish on a Sabiki Rig

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Why pinfish

Pinfish are one of the best live baits in Florida. They are hardy, they stay lively on a hook, and almost everything inshore and nearshore eats them: snook, redfish, trout, tarpon, grouper, and more. The catch is that you usually have to catch them yourself, and the easiest way is a sabiki rig.

What a sabiki rig is

A sabiki is a ready-made leader strung with several small, flashy hooks, built to catch baitfish a few at a time. You tie it to your line, add a weight at the bottom, and drop it into a school. The tiny hooks and shiny skirts do most of the work.

How to catch them

The whole thing takes only a few minutes once you are over fish.

1. Rig the sabiki. Tie the rig to your line and clip a 1 to 2 ounce weight to the bottom loop. Hook sizes 4 to 8 are right for pinfish.
2. Find the bait. Look around structure: mangrove edges, bridge and dock pilings, channel markers, and grass flats. Pinfish hold tight to cover.
3. Tip the hooks. Pinch a small piece of fresh shrimp onto each hook. Shrimp out-fishes squid for pinfish by a wide margin.
4. Drop and jig. Lower the weight to the bottom, or to the depth where bait is holding, then lift the rod tip slowly. When you feel taps, a gentle raise sets the small hooks.
5. Keep them lively. Move your catch straight into an aerated livewell or bucket. A sabiki is gentler than a cast net, so the bait stays frisky longer.

Keeping bait alive

Pinfish are tough, but they still need oxygen and cool, clean water. An aerated livewell, or a bucket with a battery aerator, keeps them swimming. Crowd them or let the water warm up and they fade fast, and healthy, kicking bait gets bit far more often than tired bait.

A note on bait limits

Even baitfish have rules. Florida sets limits on the number of baitfish you can take, and some methods are restricted, so check the current bait regulations with FWC before you fill the well.