Baitfish questions

[nitecrawler128]

...I was just reading the salmon thread and noticed you guys are marking baitfish in 80-90' ranges. I don't fish Salmon, but I noticed a couple nights ago while on a walleye mission that the lower bay is FILLED with baitfish (30-40' during the day)(5-18' at night). The night I was out, they were STACKED from surface to 18' down, even over 40' of water, with a bare naked screen below that 18' mark. I think there are WAY more baitfish in the lower bay than I remember from last July. My question is, does anybody have an educated guess as to which (if any; or all) of these are alewife?...or if some are not, what species are the rest of them? I guess ultimately it may or may not matter, but being relatively new to the LBDN fishery, I have an insatiable curiosity of the ecosystem out here.
FWIW my fishing report is as follows: There are walleyes biting in the lower bay if you're willing to troll and wait sometimes over an hour between bites at night. It's sure not fast fishing, but I don't have anything better to do anyways!

[DooFighter]

I would make a guess they are all alewives. Alewive are pelagic spawners, meaning they spawn suspended. When you see the suspended clouds, thats usually what they are. Are you trolling cranks? Often times pulling cranks thru these clouds you will snag some on the cranks. They make the fishing tough might be one way to verify though.

[nitecrawler128]

Yes, I was trolling cranks, but I didn't snag any. I forgot to mention that there was nothing at all in the bellies of any of the walleye I caught, but according to my Lowrance screen, it looked like there was a never-ending buffet off every breakline. That's kinds why I was curious as to if it would be the same species of baitfish (alewife) I was looking at on my fishfinder, as what you guys are marking in 80 or 90 FOW. Even with empty stomachs though, the 'eyes I did catch were all healthy looking, well-fed de Noc walleyes!