Are these bait suppliers completely insane?

[plumbertom]

I tried to find sardines for bait.
Every place I looked carried the same bait, and they are asking over$5 for 5 smallish or 4 slightly larger 'dines.
Do people actually pay that kind of robbery?
I've bought huge scoops full of live sardines for $15 from the bait sellers in SoCal harbors.
Unless there's been a worldwide sardine population crash that I haven't heard about, these bait suppliers are simply ripping off fishermen.

 

[troutdude]

Sorry bro; but nothing is cheap anymore. For anything.

How much did you pay, the last time that you bought some? If it was around $4 per pack. A 20% increase since then, would be inline with how we have to now price stuff here where I work.

 

[plumbertom]

Last time I bought sardines, was in CA, and I paid about $4 for a bag that weighed a pound.
It wasn't 4- 2oz sardines for $5.50.