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Bait fish
 
 
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Bait fish are small fish caught for use as bait
Bait (luring substance)

Bait is any substance used to attract prey, e.g. in a mousetrap....
 to attract large predatory fish, particularly game fish
Game fish

Game fish are fish pursued for sport by recreational anglers. They can be freshwater or marine fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers practise catch and release to improve fish populations....
. Species used are typically those that are common and breed rapidly, making them easy to catch and in regular supply. Examples of marine bait fish are anchovies
Anchovy

The anchovies are a Family of small, common salt-water fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans....
, halfbeak
Halfbeak

The halfbeaks are a geographically widespread and numerically abundant Family of epipelagic fish inhabiting warm waters around the world. The family Hemiramphidae is divided into two subfamilies, the primarily Marine Hemiramphinae and the fresh water or estuary Zenarchopterinae....
s, and scad
Atlantic horse mackerel

The Atlantic horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus is a species of mackerel in the family Carangidae. It gets its common name from the legend that other smaller species of fish could ride on the back of it over great distances....
. Freshwater bait fish include any fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 of the minnow
Minnow

Minnow may refer to:...
 or carp
Carp

Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish originally from Eurasia and southeast Asia....
 family (Cyprinidae), sucker family (Catostomidae
Catostomidae

Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fish. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia....
), top minnows or killifish
Killifish

A killifish is any of various tiny, oviparous cyprinodontiformes . All in all there are some 1270 different species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species....
 family (Cyprinodontidae), shad
Shad

The shads or river herrings comprise the genus Alosa, fish related to herring in the family Clupeidae. They are distinct from others in that family by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers....
 family (Clupeidae
Clupeidae

Clupeidae is the family of the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa and menhadens. It includes many of the most important food fishes in the world....
), sculpin
Sculpin

A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the Order Scorpaeniformes, Suborder Cottoidei and Superfamily Cottoidea that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species according to though these totals will likely change as more molecular work is done....
 of the order Osteichthyes
Osteichthyes

Osteichthyes , also called bony fish, are a taxonomy group of fish that includes the ray-finned fish and lobe finned fish . The split between these two classes occurred around 440 mya ....
 or sunfish family (Centrarchidae
Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, and crappies....
), excluding black bass
Black bass

Micropterus , is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is M. dolomieu, the smallmouth bass....
es and crappie
Crappie

Pomoxis is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie....
.

Bait fish can be contrasted with forage fish
Forage fish

Forage fish are small fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish are small, Filter feeder fish such as herring, anchovies and menhaden....
.






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Encyclopedia


Bait fish are small fish caught for use as bait
Bait (luring substance)

Bait is any substance used to attract prey, e.g. in a mousetrap....
 to attract large predatory fish, particularly game fish
Game fish

Game fish are fish pursued for sport by recreational anglers. They can be freshwater or marine fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers practise catch and release to improve fish populations....
. Species used are typically those that are common and breed rapidly, making them easy to catch and in regular supply. Examples of marine bait fish are anchovies
Anchovy

The anchovies are a Family of small, common salt-water fish. There are about 140 species in 16 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans....
, halfbeak
Halfbeak

The halfbeaks are a geographically widespread and numerically abundant Family of epipelagic fish inhabiting warm waters around the world. The family Hemiramphidae is divided into two subfamilies, the primarily Marine Hemiramphinae and the fresh water or estuary Zenarchopterinae....
s, and scad
Atlantic horse mackerel

The Atlantic horse mackerel, Trachurus trachurus is a species of mackerel in the family Carangidae. It gets its common name from the legend that other smaller species of fish could ride on the back of it over great distances....
. Freshwater bait fish include any fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 of the minnow
Minnow

Minnow may refer to:...
 or carp
Carp

Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish originally from Eurasia and southeast Asia....
 family (Cyprinidae), sucker family (Catostomidae
Catostomidae

Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fish. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia....
), top minnows or killifish
Killifish

A killifish is any of various tiny, oviparous cyprinodontiformes . All in all there are some 1270 different species of killifish, the biggest family being Rivulidae, containing more than 320 species....
 family (Cyprinodontidae), shad
Shad

The shads or river herrings comprise the genus Alosa, fish related to herring in the family Clupeidae. They are distinct from others in that family by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers....
 family (Clupeidae
Clupeidae

Clupeidae is the family of the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa and menhadens. It includes many of the most important food fishes in the world....
), sculpin
Sculpin

A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the Order Scorpaeniformes, Suborder Cottoidei and Superfamily Cottoidea that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species according to though these totals will likely change as more molecular work is done....
 of the order Osteichthyes
Osteichthyes

Osteichthyes , also called bony fish, are a taxonomy group of fish that includes the ray-finned fish and lobe finned fish . The split between these two classes occurred around 440 mya ....
 or sunfish family (Centrarchidae
Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, and crappies....
), excluding black bass
Black bass

Micropterus , is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is M. dolomieu, the smallmouth bass....
es and crappie
Crappie

Pomoxis is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie....
.

Bait fish can be contrasted with forage fish
Forage fish

Forage fish are small fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish are small, Filter feeder fish such as herring, anchovies and menhaden....
. Bait fish is a term used particularly by recreational fishermen, although commercial fisherman also catch fish to bait longlines and traps. Forage fish is a fisheries term, and is used in the context of fisheries. Forage fish are the small fish that are preyed on in the wild by larger predators for food. The predators can be other larger fish, seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s and marine mammal
Marine mammal

Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of mammal that are primarily ocean-dwelling or depend on the ocean for food. They include the cetaceans , the sirenians , the pinnipeds , and several otters ....
s. Bait fish, by contrast, are fish that are caught by humans to use as bait for other fish. The terms also overlap in the sense that most bait fish are also forage fish, and most forage fish can also be used as bait fish.

Bait fish are consumed by larger, aquatic predators. Swimming in ocean water with bait fish can be dangerous, as these fish attract sharks. Bait fish will sometimes use whale sharks as a shield from their other predators such as tuna
Tuna

Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tunas are fast swimmers?they have been clocked at 70 km/h ?and include several species that are warm-blooded....
, as tuna are usually wary of approaching the shark. The shark cannot attack the bait fish easily, as they constantly swim above its back and are too fast for the shark to maneuver its mouth into position. However, the shark eventually dives deep, where the bait fish cannot follow, and as the other predators finally dare attack the stranded bait fish, the shark comes back to eat numerous bait fish who are already preoccupied with the attacking tuna.

Fly fisherman
Fly fishing

Fly fishing is a distinct and ancient angling method, most renowned as a method for catching trout and salmon, but employed today for a wide variety of species including Esox, bass , panfish, and carp, as well as ocean species, such as Red drum, Common snook, tarpon, bonefish and striped bass....
 use artificial flies
Artificial fly

Artificial fly is an angling term closely associated with the sport of fly fishing although artificial flies may be used in other forms of angling....
 resembling different species of bait fish to catch other fish on a fly rod.

Management and conservation


Bait fish are often short lived and proliferate spawners. This means their populations can fluctuate rapidly
Population dynamics of fisheries

A fishery is an area with an associated fish or Aquatic animal population which is harvested for its Commercial fishing or Recreational fishing value....
, and they can often recover quickly when depleted. Regulations may exist to prevent overexploitation, as in and . Studies by fisheries and conservation agencies monitor the health of bait fish populations, allowing regional governments to set quotas .

See also

  • Angling
    Angling

    Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" .The hook is usually attached by a fishing line to a fishing rod. A Float such as a Float is sometimes used....