A slim, bright silver, deeply forked-tailed fish, sometimes called "skipjack" for the way it
cartwheels across the surface when hooked. The Florida Museum of Natural History gives a maximum of
about three feet and 15 pounds, a range from Cape Cod to Brazil including the Gulf, and a life spent
in brackish lagoons, bays and mangroves, sometimes several miles offshore. Ladyfish share the
tarpon's strange larval stage: a transparent, ribbon-like leptocephalus with fang-like teeth that
grows to 40–45 mm and then shrinks before turning into a small fish. They are excellent sport and,
by universal agreement including the Florida Museum's, poor eating — bony and dry. Recorded from
Holly Beach in the UTRGV survey.
Source-backed field notes
- TPWD lists red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, common snook, fat snook, jack crevalle, gray snapper and ladyfish as the fish of the South Bay paddling trail. (South Bay Paddling Trail (TPWD))
- The Texas state record ladyfish — 7.00 pounds, 29.50 inches — was caught in the Brownsville Ship Channel, immediately inland of the South Padre Island area, on August 25, 2020. (State Saltwater Records: Rod and Reel — TPWD)
- The Lower Laguna Madre record ladyfish is 4.81 pounds, 28.50 inches, caught October 4, 2012 by William Tichy. (All-Tackle Records for Lower Laguna Madre — TPWD)
- The Texas fly-fishing state record ladyfish — 4.20 pounds, 26.88 inches — was taken in the Lower Laguna Madre on October 18, 2003 by Skipper Ray on a Clouser Minnow. (State Saltwater Records: Fly Fishing — TPWD)
Observe responsibly
Wildlife, tides and access conditions change. Keep a respectful distance, do not feed wildlife, stay out of dunes and marked nesting areas, and use current official rules before fishing or handling any catch.