Baitfish Species

Fathead minnow (Pimophales promelas). Blunt nose, round in cross-section and small, upturned mouth. This is a male with nuptial tubercules.

Blacknose dace (Rhinichthys atratulus). Tiny scales. Very similar to longnose dace. Blacknose upper jaw extends slightly past lower jaw, longnose upper goes considerably past almost looking like a sucker mouth.

Northern redbelly dace (Chrosomus eos). Tiny scales. I've only ever caught females and they can be easily distinguished by the pairs of lateral stripes. Gotta get a more colourful male.

Golden shiner (Notemigonus chrysoleucas). Very flat side to side. Upturned mouth and light coloured fins and tail. Most similar to invasive rudd which have red/orange fins and tail.

Mimic shiner (Notropis volucellus). Very similar to emerald shiner. Mimic has 8 anal fin rays, emerald has 10.

Rosyface shiner (Notropis rubellus). Also very similar to emerald shiner when not in spawning mode (red faces and gill plates). Rosyface has a much more elongated and pointy snout compared to emerald.

Spotfin shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera). Somewhat similar to common shiners but has a distinct dark spot near the back of the dorsal fin.

Hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus). Orange fins and tail and distinct spot at base of tail. Orange spot behind the eyes. This was caught in the fall and may be spawning colours. Similar to lake and river chubs.

Mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdii). Native species unlike very similar round goby. Sculpin pelvic fins are separated, gobies are fused like a suction cup. Gobies have a dark spot on the dorsal fin. Very similar to slimy sculpin which are also native. Mottled sculpin have 4 rays on the pelvic fins, slimy sculpin have 3. It took a lot of pics to get that clear enough to see.

Northern sunfish (Lepomis peltastes). Beautiful fish most similar to a pumpkinseed but has red eyes and fins and a longer ear flap that has more red around the edge than a pumkinseed. They don't get as big as pumpkinseeds and this one is near max. size. Formerly a subspecies of longear sunfish. True longears are not in Ontario. Their ear flaps go straight back while the northern sunfish flaps tilt upwards.

Ive caught huge fallfish in the crowe river. 14"-16" for sure. A friend of mine swears the fallfish are good eating, i used to catch them while visiting his house on the river below the rapids. Amazing fight with ultralight gear. They would hit almost anything.

I did get a mimic shiner, no darters yet. many chubs

Very cool looking fish. I have caught some of those, now I know what they are called.

That sunfish is beautiful.

Thanks for sharing..

Great hobby, love the little viewing container..

When I was a child and my father would taking me fishing in the early morning and I would love to catch sunfish and pumpkinseeds. Being nostalgic here. A quiet cool morning, mist rising off a dark lazy river, and an out-of-place red & white bobber floating among the many silent water striders. I loved those days.

One beautiful fish , but a taxidermists nightmare ... try to re-create those colors ..

Very interesting topic.