Capt. Rick Stanczyk

Pilchard bait overview

Pilchards are a great bait for all kinds of different species in many different areas.  In Islamorada, Florida they are a favorite of both offshore and inshore captains.  In the backcountry they are often used for species such as mangrove snapper, snook, trout, tarpon, and more.  They also work in the gulf for mackerel, cobia, and other predator fish.  On the ocean side they use them for tunas, sailfish, snapper, and more.  The nice thing about pilchards is you can chum with them which is very effective for certain species.  This really fires the fish up and gets them congregated behind the boat.  Some fish such as tarpon, snook, or tunas that can be tricky to get to feed will often go nuts when thrown handfuls of pilchards and can be hooked easily.  Catching pilchards in Islamorada and throughout the Florida Keys can be done in many different places as well as in a few different ways…[sociallocker id=”692″]

Netting pilchards

Using a cast net is the way most captains obtain pilchards in the florida keys.  A small mesh net is best as it will prevent gilling of them.  It also doesn’t beat the baits up as much so they will live more hardily throughout the day.  However in deeper water you may need to increase mesh size for it to sink quickly enough to get the baits.  I typically use a 1/4 inch square mesh net, though again I am primarily a backcountry fisherman so I am not catching big pilchards most of the time.  Most of the time we look around shorelines and island moats where we have caught pilchards in the past.  Certain times of year they tend to show up in certain places.  When it starts to cool down in the fall they can often be found on the oceanside shorelines.  Throughout they year they can also be found around many of the backcountry islands and moats.  Other times of year larger pilchards show up offshore of Islamorada.  This is often around certain structural areas, and often you must mark the baits on a bottom machine and blindly throw your cast net.  Often times you will see birds bombing on them.  If it is calm weather you may also see them visibly flipping and disturbing the water on the surface.  Typically the early morning is the best time to catch pilchards, right at daybreak.  Birds often find them at this time and are the first to disturb them.  You can also often find pilchards in marina basins and canals up and down the florida keys.

Chumming for pilchards

There are plenty of areas where boats chum for pilchards.  These are often on the edges of channels and flats in the backcountry as well as on the oceanside.  It may take a bit of experimenting to find the right areas, but often once you find a place you can chum the baits to you on a regular basis.  Again the early morning is the best time to do this.  Simply put a chum block out and shake the bag.  Look for the water to ripple almost as if it is raining and that is usually a sure sign pilchards are in the chum slick.

Catching pilchards on rod and reel

You can use a sabiki rig to catch pilchards for bait too.  Often offshore boats will do this to catch real lively baits that they plan on using for species such as sailfish that may be a bit more picky as to what they eat.  These baits can be fished longer and generally are hardier as they don’t get beat up in a cast net.  They also can be caught, put in a live well, and saved for a later day.  Simply find a school of pilchards and jig the sabiki rig through them.

Keeping pilchards alive

A good livewell setup is critical for keeping a good number of pilchards alive.  Make sure you have good waterflow.  Also make sure to keep the drains from getting clogged with grass or scales.  If the pilchards you are catching are sandy keys, be wary as they die much quicker and scales fall off and often clog up well systems.  The better type of pilchards is called a ‘razor belly,’ aptly named for the sharp, strong angle of their belly.  Pilchards can also be penned up and saved for a later date.  Typically sabiki fishing them is best for this as the net doesn’t beat the baits up, however if your using a very small mesh net and catching razor bellies, you can often pen these baits up to save.  Again make sure the pen area has good water flow.

Fishing with pilchards

You can fish a pilchard in any number of ways.  In the backcountry I generally either free-line them with a small 1/0 J hook, put them on a small jig-head similar to a shrimp, or put them on a knocker rig with a circle hook if I am leaving them sit on the bottom.  I generally hook them through both lips in the mouth.  If the baits are very small though often they make get stolen off the hook with ease.  In this case try simply hooking them somewhere in the meat, or maybe even put a couple of baits on one hook.  Another trick is to belly hook a pilchard, this will make him swim down as opposed to up, if your trying to get a bait to a fish in deeper water.  You can also try cutting pilchards in half and throwing them out for some species, to give the injured appearance.  Remember in most cases to let a fish eat the pilchard and don’t jerk right away when you feel action.  Slowly reel and come tight, then give the fish a slight tug to set the hook while continuing to reel.

Chumming with pilchards

Chumming with pilchards is pretty simple and straightforward.  This is where these baits really come in handy.  If your fishing an area and you want to get the fish fired up, simply throw out a handful of pilchards.  Snook, for instance, will come out and often pop these baits and you will know they are there.  You can stop around an area and simply throw out a few handfuls to see if fish are there or not, then quickly move on without wasting too much time.  You can also pull fish to you, if your sitting up current in a creek or at the mouth of a channel, for instance.  One trick is to pop the pilchards eyeballs as you throw them out.  This injures them and makes them swim around in circles on the surface, and awaiting predators often cannot resist this temptation.  After you do this, simply cast your hooked baits out in the same area.  Continuing to chum will keep the fish in the area, though no need to overdo it and go crazy.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com

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Pinfish bait overview

Pinfish are a great bait choice for fishing both offshore and inshore in Islamorada as well as many other locations.  While often not the first choice of many larger predators, most anything that will eat a bait fish will eat pinfish.  Fish such as redfish, snook, and tarpon will all take a pinfish.  They work great in the gulf or on the reef for things such as cobia, grouper, mackerel, and snapper.  Offshore they can even be used for dolphin or tuna.  They are a hardy fish which can be easily caught with hook & line, bait traps, or a cast net.  One beautiful thing about the pinfish is how easily they are kept alive.  I regularly have my bait pen loaded with 200 pinfish ready to go and as long as the pen is big enough you don’t really have to worry about feeding them or anything.  Also once in the boat a simple aerator will keep them alive in most live wells.  One downside of pinfish is they are tough to chum with when compared to things such as shrimp or pilchards.  When thrown out alive they will swim back down to the bottom and hide, so you can’t get fish really ‘fired up’ by throwing freebies as you do with other baits.  However with as easy they are to catch and keep alive, they are a great back-up bait to have when other preferred baits are not available…

How to catch Pinfish

Trapping Pinfish with a Pinfish Trap

My preferred method is using a pinfish trap.  These small traps are built out of chicken wire and have multiple openings which pinfish can swim inside and then get stuck as they can’t find the way out.  You can find them online pretty easily or pick them up at your local bait & tackle store.

Pinfish Trap

Using a pinfish trap is pretty straightforward.  I like to take a frozen chum block and cut it into 5 or 6 pieces.  This winds up being about 1.5 lbs bait per trap.  Simply place the chum inside the trap and close it.  Many of the flats and grassy bottom areas of the bay will hold pinfish, simply put the trap out and let it sit for a couple hours then retrieve it.  Generally speaking the colder months (winter time) you will likely have to let the trap soak a bit longer as the chum thaws slower and their are often less pinfish around then.  I’ve had to let them sit for up to 6 hours during a cold front when the water was ~65 degrees, and I’ve let them sit for only 1 hour when the water was ~85 degrees.  I recommend getting a few traps, and fishing them in different areas until you find one area that is productive.  Then you can put all your traps in the same general area.  Also this way if one trap doesn’t produce the others may do better, and if you decide you can fish different areas too.  Fish carcasses will work for catching pinfish too, though you may have to let the traps sit for a day or so.  This method may be preferred if your leaving the trap out all the time and just picking it up in your boat when going out.

Hook and line fishing for Pinfish

You can catch pinfish easily on hook and line in many areas.  Simply put out a block of chum near a grass flat or in the bay where you think pinfish may be.  You often will see them swimming around or notice them stealing bait when fishing with shrimp in fishing areas, so try these.  For tackle a light leader is best close to 12 # test.  Use a tiny hair hook with a small split shot weight.  Just about anything will work for bait, though something like squid is great as it will stay on the hook for multiple catches.  Shrimp is good too but you have to rebait often – just cut the shrimp into small pieces and use a little bit of meat.  Cut bait such as mullet or any other fish should work too.  A small dehooker is recommended for removing them, you’ll save yourself getting poked and it is healthier for the bait too.  Once you get the process down you can often catch them quickly in no time.

Cast Netting for Pinfish

Finally a cast net will work for catching pinfish too.  If your chumming in an area and pinfish are around, simply load up your cast net and throw.  With as spiny as they are you can’t really help but get them stuck in the net.  I’d recommend a heavy net of maybe 1/4 inch mesh.  They also have a tendency to swim down and away and not come up to the surface, so often they will see the net coming and disperse quickly.  They also get beat up from the net and may not live longer than the day of fishing, so won’t keep well for later fishing in a bait pen.  These are reasons I don’t like cast netting pinfish, but in a pinch if you want to get them quickly, go ahead and try!

Fishing with Pinfish

Surface rigging Pinfish

Pinfish can be fished on the surface, on the bottom, or even cast and retrieved on a jig.  One thing to remember is they have a tendency to want to swim down constantly.  This is one reason why floating them can work very well – they will constantly struggle to get to the bottom which nearby predators cannot help but notice.  You can be anchored up or drifting while using this method.  Adjust your float to the depth your trying to fish.  A circle hook is a good option if your going to let the bait sit out and you don’t want to pay attention to it.  A J-hook I prefer when your actively fishing it.  Adjust the size of your hook to the size of your bait – bigger bait, bigger hook.  Circle hooks should pretty much set themselves, and left unattended often may give a better hookup ratio then a J-hook.  But hanging on to the rod I like being able to set the hook myself with a J-hook.  When fishing structure such as tree lines or underwater debris, hooking the pinfish in the upper back near the tail is a good option.  This way the pinfish will swim towards the structure and often underneath it, where big fish such as redfish and snook often hide.  However with this method if your reeling the bait in and recasting it often, the bait will not stay very hardy for more than 2 or 3 casts.  The other way to hook them is through both lips.  This will work in all other situations, and the bait will stay nice and hardy for a much longer period of time.  Also if your just leaving the bait sit out I would recommend this way as the bait will not be struggling constantly and become tired.  Some times people hook them through the upper shoulders too, this may allow the bait to swim down a little bit more which is preferred in some situations such as heavy current, though you’ll have to play around with different methods and presentations!

Bottom rig with Pinfish

A simple knocker rig will work for pinfish as well.  Generally you want to be anchored or stationery when fishing pinfish with this method as you don’t want your bait just dragging along the bottom while drifting.  Basically just have an egg sinker go straight down to your hook.  Adjust the size of the sinker to the amount of current your fishing in – go only as heavy as will keep you on the bottom in the spot your fishing.  A circle hook or J-hook will work, again a circle hook being good if leaving the rod unattended and a J-hook if your actively setting the hook yourself.  Adjust the hook size to the size of your bait.  I often fish multiple baits with this method and will just keep an eye on them to double over with a bite then just grab the rod and reel!  If fishing a J-hook remember to give a little jab to set the hook.

Jigging with Pinfish

Finally a simple troll-rite will work well fishing pinfish too.  Depending on the depth of the water and size of fish your trying to catch, vary the size of your troll-rite.  For deeper water, harder current, you will need a heavier troll rite.  Hooking the pinfish through both lips will work well and you can recast him often.  You can also try hooking them through the tail if your trying to get him to struggle more or get him to swim towards underwater structure or something.  Just remember if your retreiving him often or going to let him just sit out on the bottom, he won’t live as well this way and become tired much faster.

Free lining Pinfish

You can also try free lining pinfish in certain situations.  Simply just have a hook tied straight to your leader with nothing else.  The pinfish can be hooked any of the ways mentioned above.  This method will let the pinfish swim from the top of the water column all the way to the bottom naturally.  This presentation often works well when predator fish are skittish and spooky.  Often times you will cast the pinfish out and just let him swim out with the bail open.  After a period of time just reel him up and try again, or you can let him sit out there and wait for a bite!

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Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@fishingislamorada.com