Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

Hello Everyone,

Has anyone ever tried keeping pinfish alive for a day or 2? I was thinking about using a 15 gallon jug with a nice aerator (car battery powered) and having a 5 gallon bucket to change in and out the water every so amount of hours. Planning to catch some Thursday after work or Friday after work to bring up to the keys early saturday AM trip in a few weeks. But before I even try anything, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this?

I usually buy my pin's at Jacks but wanted to see if i'll be able to catch some on my own.

Thanks in advanced!

p.s. I was thinking about catching em out somewhere in Dade County in the grassy flats as I am not a Broward Local and not familiar with places there.

if you change the water ,you should be ok when you see the water with a brown foam its time to change it.

Pins will last a long time, especially wild caught ones. The ones that have been sitting in a bait tank for a long time are a little more delicate. I routinely keep them alive for 48 hours with no problem in a 5 gallon bucket and a regular Bubble Box, just change the water out every 6 hours or so and keep them in the shade.

Pinfish are very good baits and should stay alive fine if you change the water and make sure the aerator is working.

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Pins will last a long time, especially wild caught ones. The ones that have been sitting in a bait tank for a long time are a little more delicate. I routinely keep them alive for 48 hours with no problem in a 5 gallon bucket and a regular Bubble Box, just change the water out every 6 hours or so and keep them in the shade.

just put the bucket in a spare bedroom so the water stays cool an you wont have any problems

but seriously why go through all that work of luginh all that down when you can catch them on almost the start of every bridge down there

rare wrote:

phino wrote: I was thinking about catching em out somewhere in Dade County in the grassy flats as I am not a Broward Local and not familiar with places there.

Phino, I will PM you with a place where you can get all the pins you want in 20mins in dade and dont have to deal with anyone. You can get them pretty much anywhere, but at times I will get them there before heading to the keys or pier. We pretty much keep them alive 2+ days on the bridges as long as they have enough room and you got clean water. The small ones might die, but those are the ones that I catch and stay with are 2-3 inch and topping out at 4in. Pinfish are strong and will outlast any other bait out there. They stay with me for at least a day at home 10pins in a bucket till I leave the next day to the keys

awesome thanks. i'll reply back to you.

PhishingPhanatic wrote:Pins will last a long time, especially wild caught ones. The ones that have been sitting in a bait tank for a long time are a little more delicate. I routinely keep them alive for 48 hours with no problem in a 5 gallon bucket and a regular Bubble Box, just change the water out every 6 hours or so and keep them in the shade.

yeah i plan to keep them indoors in shade and of course i'll be switching out the water every 6hrs. thanks for the info. i'll make sure to follow by that

gruntking wrote:just put the bucket in a spare bedroom so the water stays cool an you wont have any problems

but seriously why go through all that work of luginh all that down when you can catch them on almost the start of every bridge down there

well, i dont mind catching them up there, but usually we leave around 3am to head over to the keys, settle in and get things out. past few times i've tried for some pinfish a little before the bridges, i haven't had much luck. i like to have all the bait prepared and just head out there and get down and dirty.

everything above is how too go about it water temp is your big issue cold water holds more o2 and if you know your gonna be on the bridge for a couple of days bring a down bucket to cut down on the amount of bait in the well also just good too have incase your well fails or battery dies while your out there

rare wrote:

I will PM you with a place where you can get all the pins you want in 20mins in dade and dont have to deal with anyone.

could you also pm me about that spot?? I'd appreciate it, thanks.

I shall never drop my Juve avatar!! we are going to the Coppa Italia final!! PM sent rare!

Have access to beach and bay how many pinfish in a flotroll overnight in the water.