Thread: Baitfish - when do they return?

This will be my first Spring as a resident and I was just wondering when baitfish will again show up? Scaled Sardines? Cigar minnows? Early-mid March, typically for "LYs", maybe?

Cigar-Minnow2.jpg

I usually come down the next to the last week in March and chase convicts and they are not there yet even though some Spanish and a few kings might have showed up. Then when I come back in mid April some bigger LY are there but not in huge numbers. There were some cigs around the pier but I don't remember if was April, June or August.

Late March to early April. About the same time the Pompano start running & Spanish show up. When the water temp gets close to 70 degrees.

LYs (scaled sardines) are 'very rare' at the GSPPier in March.
They first ones often don't show up until at least mid-April.
Even later for herring (spanish sardines) and cigar minnows.

look for sustained water temps above 72 degrees...

These show up about the same time as LY. I caught some on a tiny sabiki on the octi last year that were about 4" long. Excellent Spanish bait but very hard to keep alive.