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I'll need some help from #'r on this one, but has anyone else noticed a shortage of what I call rain minnows or red minnows this year? I think they are a type of anchovy. Anyway, I just never noticed them this year....at least not in their usual numbers. I could have just missed them and was curious of others' observations.
I concur Tom.
The specific species is named Broad-striped anchovy Anchoa hepsetus
And their numbers do typically suffer in drier years.
Also, lack of water flow into and out of Little Lagoon this summer may have affected their numbers in the Lagoon and nearby Gulf waters.
Earlier this week was the first time this summer i have seen any at the GSPPier.
Good news is there appears to have been a bumper crop of LTs (Scaled herring) aka Harengula jaguana
Be very thankful for that bumper crop of little lys at the pier. They have done a bang-up job of concentrating the Spanish for pier fishers. Elsewhere, I would describe the spanish numbers as decent, at best, this year.
+I wondered about the presence of spanish mackerel elsewhere this summer.
My only firsthand was two hours at a platform a couple of miles south of the old Dauphin Island Pier.
There, numbers and sizes of Spanish were about like the pier.
They were in tight schools that would only reveal themselves when some tiny baitfish drifted by.
Availability of forage minnows is key for mackerel.
Are you seeing many sailfish out there Tom? I wonder if all the small ballyhoo we had earlier this year helped with the nibble!?
We haven't seen a sailfish. Yesterday, Larry, Paul and I went deep water fishing and caught one fat blackfin tuna and a Mahi. We stopped on a reef on the way in and caught a limit of snapper and a king. The day before, Laurie, Paul and I trolled all the way to Navarre looking for a sailfish, but only caught a couple bonito. Water is unusually quiet. I don't think we saw a single fish break the surface on that trip except for flying fish. There are tons of them both near shore and offshore.
So since we had that rain about a week ago, the little anchovies are around my dock in the east end of Little Lagoon. #'r did the rain cause that or just a coincidence? Also, my grandson has caught 3 Spanish in the last two days off our dock on baby lys, which is quite unusual.
Honestly, I am not sure Tom.
But your speculation has merit as recent rains would have brought an influx of nutrients into eastern LL and a subsequent increase in macroscopic life feeding on that which would be fodder for anchovies and LYs, which would then attract predators.
But spanish mackerel that far into LL does sound unusual. I would expect mostly small trout, rat reds, and croaker.