AMERICAN BAIT MINNOWS 



To-morrow we will go a-fishing ; do thou go now and fetch the bait. 



— Hymir to Thor. 



The great majority of the " bait minnows " used by anglers 

 in America belong to the Cypr/mdce, which is the carp or minnow 

 family proper. Two or three are catfishes, three or four are 

 darters, one or more species of killifish are used to some extent, 

 the skipjack {Labidesthes sicculus) is used in some places for 

 certain kinds of fishing, and the young of several species of suckers 

 are seen in the live-box of the dealer in "minnows" or in the 

 bucket of the amateur angler. The mud minnow {Umbra limi), 

 which, of course, is no minnow at all, any more than that it 

 is a young dog-fish {Amia calva), as many a fisherman will 

 assure you, may also be found among the species offered for sale. 

 And all these have their advantages, — that of Umbra being that it 

 will live and remain vigorous under any kind of treatment ; even 

 the game fish will let it severely alone. 



Even young bass, perch and blobs may now and then be seen 

 in the live-boxes, and unsophisticated anglers may be inveigled 

 into paying a good round price for them upon the recommendation 

 of the conscienceless dealer who asseverates that they are "just 

 the thing." 



With these few exceptions, however, all the small fishes used 

 for bait belong to a single family, the Cyprinidce, an exceedingly 

 large family of fishes, usually small in size, found throughout 

 North America, Europe and Asia. The number of species found in 

 each of these three continents is very great, and the total number 

 of known species in the family is very large. In North America 

 alone the family is represented by about 40 genera and 130 species. 

 There is scarcely a stream or lake which has not from 2 or 3 

 to 30 or more species of this family. The streams of the Upper 

 Mississippi basin are most abundantly supplied; not only are there 

 numerous species, but individuals abound. In the Wabash basin 

 alone not fewer than 30 different species are found. 



Though most of the minnows are species whose individuals 

 attain only a small size, this is not true of all members of the 



