Rigging Cut Pinfish

For many species rigging cut pinfish can turn the day around in many cases.

I'm sure everyone has went fishing with live bait and had a day where you hardly catch anything or catch absolutely nothing at all.

On certain days cut pinfish can be extremely productive.

I remember a time, a few years ago, where I was fishing a mangrove shoreline in Tarpon Springs Florida at the entrance to the Anclote River.

I could see at least a dozen redfish sitting on the shoreline under the mangroves right in front of me.

I tried gold spoons, and soft plastic jigs with no luck, I then switched to the only live bait I had which was pinfish.

After about 30 minutes of no luck with my live pinfish I realized that the redfish wanted nothing to do with anything I had tried so far.

So I took a pinfish out of my livewell and cut a strip off of it and about 10-15 seconds after I casts it out I had my first fish of the day on, this kept on for about an hour.

My total for that day was 17 mid to upper slot redfish in about an hours time.

That being said, next time either when nothing is biting or if you just want to give it a shot, it might just be what they want.

Here is the way I cut my bait but really there is no wrong way.

First remove the head of the pinfish and discard. Using the head of a pinfish is last resort but that's only my preference.

You can either cut the body into little steaks or cut the body parallel along the backbone of the fish and make it into two pieces.

When rigging cut pinfish you can either put the piece on a regular hook or a jighead depending on the situation.

I try to insert the hook through a part of the skin, this will help keep the cut piece of fish on if there are any bait snatchers around.

Also make sure to clear the tip of your hook of no scales. You don't want any reason to miss a fish when you get a bite.