Fish collectors and marine biologists have confirmed what nearshore divers have been saying since July.  There are an incredible amount  and variety of baby fish on the reef and flats.  This excerpt from Coral Magazine confirms it.  No wonder, back in July, I was complaining about weak strikes that scratched up my oamas instead of producing solid hookups.  Click here to read about my frustrations back on July 25th.

The oama schools have been large and replenished since late June.  Sardines have been in for a few weeks.  Baby fish like kala and file fish, that are not normally seen in large numbers are on the protected, shallow reefs. Tons of baby papio, kaku and aha are cruising with the oama and the oama are eying them warily.

Experts and hobbyists are theorizing the reasons for this boom. I personally think this spring was warmer than normal and that triggered some species to spawn, which then triggered predatorial species to spawn.  But what do I know, I’m just a guy that blogs about fish catches.

It’ll be interesting to see if next year is another boom due to El Nino/global warming, or a bust to counter balance this year’s surplus.

If you do catch undersized fish, do the responsible thing and return them to the ocean so they can help produce the next boom cycle.