Baitfishing advice

[mibur]

I'm doing a project for my college program and I was hoping you guys could help me out a little.

I need to find baitfish and then take a photo series of the specimen. So don't worry, I won't be taking any fish out of your favourite spots.

The allowed families I can document are as follows:
Minnows (Cyprinidae)
Sculpins (Cottidae)
Suckers (Catostomidae)
Mudminnows (Umbridae)
Sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae)
New World Silversides (Atherinopsidae)
Trout-perches (Percopsidae)
Gobies (Gobiidae)
Topminnows (Fundulidae)
Darter subfamily (Etheostomatinae)

I already have a Central Mudminnow (Umbra limi), Brook Stickleback (Culgea incostans), Northern Pearl Dace (Margariscus nachtriebi), Northern Red Belly Dace (Chrosomus eos), Creek Chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), White Sucker (Catostomus commersonii) and a Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys atratulus) from previous years.

I'm just using a minnow trap. For bait, I currently have treats I made for my dog in a tied-up sock. I've been fishing this year in a tributary that connects Park Lake to the Oxtongue River. I haven't had much luck yet, just a Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulous), and another Brook Stickleback.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, whether on locations or bait ideas! This is the only credit preventing me from getting my diploma.

This post has been edited by mibur on Apr 15, 2022 - 11:21 am

[Longshank]

good luck in your quest........you may want to check the baitfish regs as it's getting complicated to just go get your own

maybe contact mnrf and see if you can obtain a special permit

[woodie54]

Creeks running into one of the Great Lakes would have a lot of the species, but as Longshank says, you need to be in the BMZ where your home address is. You might be granted an exemption for your schooling but better determine that first.

[Fossil Fish]

Where are you located? Have a look at the baitfish species thread pinned at the top of this forum. I've either caught on hook and line or seen most of what you're looking for. I can provide locations, but you'd need to drive - a lot.

[mykola]

I have a bucket full of vigorous common shiners here. Maybe ask a bait shop if you can “study” their river minnows… usually when they say chub or river minnow they mean whatever they got outta the river… usually a mix of chub, dace, and common shiner. Sometimes fatheads and suckers. Fossil-Fish is the one to talk to though.

[Flukes]

If you are killing and keeping what you catch for this project, you may be okay from the BMZ rules since you are not using them as baitfish and for most of the baitfish, there are no season closures on species (there are some that are threatened species).
I agree with Woodie54 that some of the rivers/creeks into the Great Lakes would offer up a bunch of species. I know in the Spencer Creek that runs into Cootes Paradise (Hamilton) often has a bunch of interesting species.
Gobiidae....you've got an easy one there with the invasive round goby in Lake Simcoe and probably other lakes as well (but Simcoe is just choking with them). And there use to be many more sculpins in Lake Simcoe (occasionally get one when fishing deep water with small bait and hook for smelt). Haven't seen a sculpin from Simcoe in a long time but then again, I haven't fished for smelt in deep water for a long time.
Interesting project. I took an ichthyology course a long time ago and was given 50 preserved freshwater fish from Canada in a large jar and had to submit their species IDs by the end of term to get the grade. I had access to the ROM's fish collection to help with IDying them. Got all correct except one cyprinid (missed the species but got the genus right)...it was one of those species that ended up being so closely related to a sister species that the only way to know for sure was to dissect it and look at a few internal structures....but I was pretty proud of getting 49.5 out of 50 on the project. Good luck with yours.

[Sabotfish]

lol sounds like a struggling Fleming student...

Sculpins, cold spring-fed creeks leading into deep lakes... try near the mouth and even dip net (check the legality though ...)at night they're more active.

Suckers, any creeks with flowing water into lakes, ponds, trust me you could knock out 4-5 species by fishing suckers at the right spot...

I got by seine netting and throwing traps into small creeks with decent pools.

Come late April, early May that's when you'll start to see more showing up in the creeks. Pay attention to your spawning habitat and use google earth to find decent runs and pools. Use the Fish online app and find some small ponds/lakes that don't have any species of fish listed, you'll be more likely to find new species.

Bait wise, throw some meat into a trap as well, you'll find some other species will be attracted or cut up some worms and put them into a mesh bag.

Based on what you've got so far you've been trapping a lot of the same habitat...

Fire me a PM if you're still struggling.

[Limacharley]

"a photo series of the specimen"

just a simple photo at different angles etc...or something else?

Can we take said photo and email it to you? I catch minnows for myself for fishing in my BMZ.
What is your email?

I use the heel of a loaf of bread. Catch 20 or so dozen in a 24 hour period in a creek on my land. red and yellow belly dace, sticklebacks, mudminnows.

At the moment, only the sticklebacks and mudminnows are active in my creek.

I can't help you with the other species but maybe someone living close to a Georgian bay trib can.