Weakfish

Hey i was fishing with my dad and some guy next to us kept catching weak fish and now im intreasted in catching some to

Does anyone know what to use to catch them and where???

Snipe, glad to hear there are weakies around. I haven't caught one in years. Back in the day you could hit the Cape May jetties with a small bucktail and "almost" be assured to bring home some fillets. 6-7' rod, paired reel, 12 lb. test, bucktails, lead heads with shrimp tails. Jelly worms were the latest fad back then fished on a small jig head. Good luck, great news if they are making a strong comeback.

artificals....... curl tails or thumper tails or paddle tails any soft plastics really



use sandworms or shrimp also for real baits



good luck snipe.... they sure are alot of fun to catch on light tackle

Try fishing the bridges at night and your sure to hook in to some be sure to use smaller tackle

Maybe it's not a good idea to keep weakfish these days. Catch and release would be better. I believe they are in danger of being fished to no return. They have been over fished for years, some believe it's just a down cycle. but I think a moratorium should be put on them like was done with the striped bass a while back when they were severely over fished till they closed the season for a few years. Alot of ppl forget that fact. Just my $.02 tho

That said a good time to look for weakfish is at dawn or dusk and at night in spring when they spawn or fall when smaller weakies (spikes) head south. Rubber jigs like finesse fish in pink or white is a good bait for them or bloodworms. Also don't try to set the hook to hard on them as they have soft mouths. That's where they got their name "weakfish" years ago.

Can I ask what size the weakfish were that the man was catching ???

And did you see what he was using cause it must have been working on them that day. They can be very tricky to catch. They always seem to key onto a certain color and lure or bait and not hit other presentations then.

There are tons of spike weakies around - unfortunately, they do not seem to be making it to adult size very much


I remember the days of catching tiderunners underneath the slashing bluefish - man that was some fun


DE already has a 1 fish weaky limit but I fear that it is too little too late - they are not coming back unless they do something quickly and even then who knows


Caught some striper last fall that had spike in the belly so i know where some of these little ones are going

while i was on vacation a guy caught one about 7 lbs under the townsend bridge at 4:30 in the afternoon. it was a beautiful fish. havent seen one that big in a long time. got it on a small bucktail. he said he was getting them for a few days that week and they were all around that size. so there is some hope. smitty i hope this isnt spot burning as this was a month ago and im sure they have moved on by now. if so please delete it. i remember back about 10 years ago we would catch them around back of the inlet (before they rebuilt the rock jetty) at IBSP right at dusk. it was pink finesse on a small jig head and no other terminal tackle. light leader and very slow retrieve. they were all very big fish back then also.

Charlie G. wrote:Maybe it's not a good idea to keep weakfish these days. Catch and release would be better. I believe they are in danger of being fished to no return. They have been over fished for years, some believe it's just a down cycle. but I think a moratorium should be put on them like was done with the striped bass a while back when they were severely over fished till they closed the season for a few years. Alot of ppl forget that fact. Just my $.02 tho

That said a good time to look for weakfish is at dawn or dusk and at night in spring when they spawn or fall when smaller weakies (spikes) head south. Rubber jigs like finesse fish in pink or white is a good bait for them or bloodworms. Also don't try to set the hook to hard on them as they have soft mouths. That's where they got their name "weakfish" years ago.

Can I ask what size the weakfish were that the man was catching ???

And did you see what he was using cause it must have been working on them that day. They can be very tricky to catch. They always seem to key onto a certain color and lure or bait and not hit other presentations then.

13 inches about

Thanks guys and i will be sure to catch and release!

Soft Plastics are the way to go with them and I like sandworms as well. Jelly Worms are my favorite soft plastic to use.

best way to go for weakfish where im at or anywhere is shedder crab and be there at first thing in the morning just getting light out and in the eveing also helps if its quite not rough out or alot of boats running around just what i know about it if it helps ya out