Pinfish
Pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: a distinct dark spot on the shoulder just behind the gill cover. The look-alike to rule out is Scup: scup have no shoulder spot and no gold striping, and are a more northern fish.
Last updated
| Scientific name | Lagodon rhomboides |
|---|---|
| Also called | sailors choice, pin perch, bream |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Porgy |
| Temperature | Common between 65 and 85 °F. |
How to identify a Pinfish
- A distinct dark spot on the shoulder just behind the gill cover.
- Gold horizontal stripes over a silver body crossed by faint darker vertical bars.
- Very sharp dorsal spines — the pins the fish is named for — and small incisor-like front teeth.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Scup | Scup have no shoulder spot and no gold striping, and are a more northern fish. |
| Spot Croaker | Spot have a shoulder blotch too, but no sharp dorsal spines, no gold stripes and a distinctly forked tail on a softer body. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Scup and Spot Croaker.
Where it lives
Atlantic and Gulf grass flats, docks, jetties and nearshore structure from the mid-Atlantic to Texas, in enormous numbers.
Temperature
Common between 65 and 85 °F.
The conditions that matter
Pinfish are the most-used live bait on the Gulf coast and the most persistent bait thief on the flats, which makes recognising them useful in both directions. They swarm grass edges in warm water and thin out sharply as temperature drops, so a flat that stops producing pinfish has usually cooled below the point where the fish you actually want are feeding there either.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about pinfish into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.