Where are the Bluefish?

This is the one and only blue I have caught this year.
It was a three pound bluefish landed in Sept.

Since Sept. 1 I have caught exactly ONE three pound bluefish from shore. I know many fishermen who have caught none.  I'd have to go back 40-50 years ago to find a fall with so few blues. I remember fishing with my father about 50 years ago in Narragansett when a guy fishing on a rock next to us got a strange looking fish while striper fishing.  My father told me the guy had a rare fish....a bluefish.
I have no idea what is going on. There were good numbers around last year and the year before.  They usually appear when large amounts of bait are present.  At times we have had big numbers of bay anchovies, but no blues after them.  I will admit that I have caught some from the boat, but there have not been big numbers.  Last week I was talking to a guy who sets out trap nets along the 'Gansett shoreline.  He even says he has not netted many blues this fall.
Strange fall thus far..... it's been up and down with stripers, though schoolies have been around in big numbers, there were NO albies and there have been NO bluefish.  With colder weather settling in, it is unlikely we will see big numbers of bluefish unless ocean herring come ashore big time.  But, there have been NO herring spotted thus far.