Setting Pinfish Traps

DSMNoles

Will be in Marathon next month .... would appreciate any advice on if there is any advantage to setting a pinfish trap on the Atlantic side vs the Gulf side.....or if either work well.

Thank you

Dodger

I am not the one to ask but I will give you a word of caution.  I set my trap out on Bay side straight out from vaca cut about a mile in March.  Checked it one day and had a few smalls crabs no pins.  Reset it and somebody smashed the crap out of it and basically it is not useable anymore.  Followed all the rules and some A hole decided I was in their spot I guess?  Anyone know why somebody would do this?  I was at least 100 yards from any other traps.

Drewvale21

Any areas with grass and sand spots work well for me. Place it in the sand next to the grass. I use old fish carcasses but chum works well too. Be prepared to have it stolen. I don’t leave it more than a day. I set it at dusk and pick it up first light next morning. Any longer than that and it’s gone. I’ve “lost” four. I’ve tried buoy floats, coconuts, bottles and it still gets taken. You can Set it without a anything and gaff it but it’s hard if you set it past 3-4ft. Just an FYI. Hopefully nobody takes yours. Goodluck. 

Black Water

I set a couple of modified eel traps down for pins. Put one on the gulf and one on the atl and wound up with puffers, snappers, everything but pins. 

striperphil

This  past winter I set one all over Tarpon Basin, and Buttonwood Sound. Baited with chum, mackerel, oats, etc. Never caught the first pin. Don’t know what the hell I was doing wrong. 

Drewvale21

I live in BPK. I guess we have a good run of pins down here. 

bone

I do multiple traps on gulf side marathon every year.  Use frozen sardines or threadfins for bait. defiantly dont use a buoy that floats on the water. tie it 2 feet from trap so it stays underwater. grab it with a boat hook.  Mark it on gps and put it in 3-5 feet of water.  should have 30-100 pins every morning 

kayakerinkeywest

You can always drive around spots you think are good and look for actual Pinfish.  If you see one there will be more.  Also, just look for the Pinfish schools flashing.  When there are a bunch of them, when they twist and turn, they look like the shine off of a silver dollar in the water. Just a bunch of flashes.  You can also anchor, put a chum bag out in a spot and give it five minutes.  If Pins show up, drop the trap.  If none show up, then they are not there.   Move on.  Once you find a couple of spots that hold them, you are good pretty much your whole trip.

dvnelson72

I use google earth to find potential spots.  Their coverage gulf side of marathon looks spotty.  Bing looks better.

The last two summers, this one was money for me off of stock island.  It’s a nice mix of turtle grass and sand in good tidal flow.

Based on the advise of someone at our marina, I tie through the middle of about 9 inches of pool noodle so that there is a nice triangle loop to grab with my long gaffe.  I set the length so it will be 2 feet below the water and mark it.  It can take a couple of tries to get the loop with the gaffe.  But no one has messed with it.

I had a lite one that I made from chicken wire.  A shark destroyed it trying to get to the chum last summer.

while I’m thinking about traps - I’m staying in lighthouse point (north of lauderdale) this year for the summer.  Anyone know if you can trap pinfish in Lake Boca or near the Hillsboro inlet?  Or anywhere else.  I know it isn’t the right forum, but curious if anyone knows

CaptJ

In the winter we used to get the pins in the ocean along the beaches in pretty good numbers.

One Drop

dvnelson72 said:

I use google earth to find potential spots.  Their coverage gulf side of marathon looks spotty.  Bing looks better.

The last two summers, this one was money for me off of stock island.  It’s a nice mix of turtle grass and sand in good tidal flow.

Based on the advise of someone at our marina, I tie through the middle of about 9 inches of pool noodle so that there is a nice triangle loop to grab with my long gaffe.  I set the length so it will be 2 feet below the water and mark it.  It can take a couple of tries to get the loop with the gaffe.  But no one has messed with it.

I had a lite one that I made from chicken wire.  A shark destroyed it trying to get to the chum last summer.

while I’m thinking about traps - I’m staying in lighthouse point (north of lauderdale) this year for the summer.  Anyone know if you can trap pinfish in Lake Boca or near the Hillsboro inlet?  Or anywhere else.  I know it isn’t the right forum, but curious if anyone knows

Lake Boca is dead and especially now that there's a party there every weekend. Pilchards are a possibility in the inlet near the dredge or on the bend. If you head a little north in Boca to Lake Wyman park you can get pins there. There's not a lot and sometimes they are the size of bluegills. You will probably get more mojarra's than pins but there's some bait up in those two little bay's within the park if you get there early before the boat traffic breaks it up. 

dvnelson72

Thank you guys.  That’s some valuable info.

MGD

striperphil said:

This  past winter I set one all over Tarpon Basin, and Buttonwood Sound. Baited with chum, mackerel, oats, etc. Never caught the first pin. Don’t know what the hell I was doing wrong. 

Yup it sucks in there. Have tried for years too. But if you go into Largo Sound just S of Adams cut there are some anchor balls there for Penneycamp. 
Put a half block of chum in there and u will get plenty