I got one for you guys. For about a two weeks several substantial schools of fish ( think bait ball ) have been hanging out around and below Higgins island. Some balls 50 to 60 feet in diameter but others cover as much as an acre as far as I can tell. They are in shallow water and seem to just stay in one spot for some time before moving with the tide as water deepens. Not hard to see them as the water has that boiling look on steroids! No idea what they are but the Kingfishers are beside themselves with joy pigging out!


MS thought that there are a couple of possibilities, maybe peamouth or redside shiners. Both can tolerate brackish waters and typically spawn in May through July and will gather in schools before moving the spawning areas, graveling river edges. I wouldn’t think they’d be spawning down there though; they prefer freshwater. May be amassing before heading to spawning areas. If the fish are 6 to 10 inches, probably peamouth, if they are 3 to 6 inches, maybe redside shiner. Those are some pretty larger groupings of fish. You should try to catch one and take a picture. My first thought was shad, but than you mentioned the kingfishers, most shad are a little larger for those guys.

With my boat in the shop no way to catch them but judging by what I could see in the Kingfishers mouth they are not all that large. The bird gets airbourne easily enough.