Weakfish
Weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: dark wavy, diagonal markings on the upper back that run together into irregular lines — not round spots. The look-alike to rule out is Spotted Sea Trout: seatrout carry distinct round black spots that continue onto the second dorsal and across the whole tail; a weakfish's tail is plain.
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| Scientific name | Cynoscion regalis |
|---|---|
| Also called | gray trout, tiderunner, squeteague |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Drum |
| Temperature | Feeds best between 55 and 75 °F. |
How to identify a Weakfish
- Dark wavy, diagonal markings on the upper back that run together into irregular lines — not round spots.
- A clean, unspotted tail fin.
- Two prominent canine teeth at the front of the upper jaw, on an iridescent purple-olive back with yellow-tinged fins.
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 |
|---|---|
| Spotted Sea Trout | Seatrout carry distinct round black spots that continue onto the second dorsal and across the whole tail; a weakfish's tail is plain. |
| Sand Weakfish | Sand seatrout are plain silvery-yellow with no back markings at all, and stay much smaller. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Spotted Sea Trout and Sand Weakfish.
Where it lives
The Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida, concentrated in the mid-Atlantic. Holds in estuaries, sounds, inlets and the surf, moving offshore and south as water cools.
Temperature
Feeds best between 55 and 75 °F.
The conditions that matter
The name comes from a soft mouth that tears easily, and the fishing follows the same theme of finesse: weakfish feed hardest at night and in low light, and stack on moving water in inlets and channel edges. Tide stage and time of capture logged together separate the productive two hours from the other ten.
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 weakfish 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.