Killie/Minnie Spot Shortages
North of Barnegat Inlet, they’re killies. South of the Ocean County tempestuous ingress, they are minnies (or minnows).
By either moniker, this fave flounder bait is in short supply along with different parts of the Jersey coast, including Delaware Bay, and with the full moon coming next Tuesday, well, it’s going to be a challenge, for sure as the killie behavior gets really funky during this period.
Oddly enough, the situation seems localized to certain areas. In parts of central and southern Ocean County, it’s been famine time, with some bait and tackle shops not having any kind of supply going on for two weeks. Ditto down around Ocean City south through Sea Isle. In Cape May there is a bit more of a supply, but it’s still slim pickings.
To be sure, suppliers are having a tough time. And at up to $40 a gallon of minnies to the bait dealers, they are losing a ton of dough.
Yet, up around Absecon and Atlantic City, there are all the killies you want. On the shop end, Absecon Bay Sportsman Center and One Stop Bait & Tackle, it’s an “All you want” scenario. Those catching their own are also having no problem, as Capt. Scott Newhall from Time Out Sportfishing Charters in the Absecon area checked in saying he caught in excess of a gallon this morning checking his traps.
Theories abound as to the reason for the shortages (do you have an afternoon?). Some are plausible, some not so much, and some of the marsh. No matter. Suffice to say that the shortage problem will work its way out as it does every time this happens. Seems like a two or three-year cycle, and we’re in one now. From this corner, in a couple of weeks, one can expect to see this hardy bait in the shop tanks once again.
In the minnie stead, anglers are scoring keepers with spearing, squid strips, spearing/squid, mackerel strips, and, of course, the various Berkley Gulp! Shapes and sizes. One Gulp! Killie impostor is the four-inch Mud Minnow, and it’s been catching a lot of flatties. Flounder-like crab and shrimp feasts as well, and the Gulp! Peeler Crab and three and four-inch Shrimp in the new penny and molting patterns are also catching fish.