Understanding Minnow as Bass Forage

Minnow, relevant definition, “1. any fish of the family Cyprinidae, including the carps, goldfishes, and daces. 2. any of various unrelated, small fishes.”  not including carp, also called shiners, chub, with the most common species being: Silver Shiner, Pearl or Northern Dace, Golden Shiner, Central Stoneroller, other include: Bluntnose, Fathead, Bigeye Chub, Bigmouth Shiner, Bridle Shiner, Cutlip Minnow, Eastern Blacknose Dace, Emerald Shiner, Fallfish, Fathead Minnow, Hornyhead Chub, Lake Chub, Longnose Dace, Mimic Shiner, Pugnose Shiner, Redside Dace, Tonguetied Minnow. There are over 3000 species of minnows are found all across the world and 241 in North America.

Why is Understanding Minnow Important?

It is important to understand minnow to:

  • Select a Lure: Selecting the best lure based on mimicking the look of the specific minnow species. 
Understand Minnow as Bass Forage
  • Behavior: Generally minnows school and feed on algae, small insects, larvae, zooplankton. Some have seasonal migrations from streams to lakes. 
  • Diet: Plankton and fish eggs.
Additional Considerations
  • Silver Shiner
    • Locations: Most waters east of the Mississippi and throughout eastern Canada.
    • Color: Silvery body has bluish-green iridescence and a mid-flank stripe. The species has a green or blue back with silver or blue overlain.
    • Similar Looking: Looks the same as a Silver Shiner except it has two dark crescents between its nostrils, on the top of the head.
Silver Shiner
  • Pearl Dace or Northern Dace or Northern Pearl Dace
    • Locations: Widespread in northeastern North America often located in muddy water
    • Color: Coloration is dark olive on the back with lighter sides, and the belly is white. Many of the scale pockets on the sides are darkened, giving a mottled look, and a lateral band is distinct on the young, but fades in adults. Nuptial males have a rosy color below the lateral band, and females may also show some color during spawning
Northern Pearl Dace
  • Flathead Minnow
    • Locations: Most of United States and Canada.
    • Color: The body is dark olive above with a shade of copper or brass behind the head and along the sides. The sides are lighter with a silvery hue, and the belly is white. A dusky band or blotch appears in the front and rear rays of the dorsal fin, which helps distinguish them from the Bullhead Minnow and Bluntnose Minnow. The lateral band is faint in fish from turbid waters and prominent in fish from clear water.
Flathead Minnow
  • Central Stoneroller
    • Locations: Eastern, central, and midwestern United States and in some locations in Canada and Mexico.
    • Color: Body is brownish-olive with a brassy luster above and silvery to white beneath. Body sides are marked with scattered dark scales, giving the fish a mottled look. Spawning males develop a dark bar across the anal fin and have tubercles on their back, top of the head, and between the nostrils.
      Spawn: Circular or cup-shaped depressions are excavated by the pit-digging minnows to receive the eggs. Two to five male stonerollers work together on a single pit as they remove material by thrusting their snouts into the gravel and jerking their heads sideways. Stones are occasionally picked up in the mouth and carried upstream. Depressions are up to a foot in diameter. Males fight continually during the operation, even to the point of blinding one another with their breeding tubercles.
Central Stonerroller
  • Bluntnose
    • Locations:  in Mississippi River basin (the states around the Mississippi) from Canada to Louisiana, United States. They are also found from the Hutson Bay basin Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada.
    • Color: A prominent, dark, lateral band extends from the snout to the tail, which ends in an intense dark spot that distinguishes them from fathead and bullhead minnows. The body is pale olive-green above, with silvery-bluish sides and silvery beneath. A faint spot appears in the first few rays of the dorsal fin.
Bluntnose Minnow
  • Golden Shiner
    • Locations:  Central and Eastern United States and Canada.
    • Color: A prominent, dark, lateral band extends from the snout to the tail, which ends in an intense dark spot that distinguishes them from fathead and bullhead minnows. The body is pale olive-green above, with silvery-bluish sides and silvery beneath. A faint spot appears in the first few rays of the dorsal fin.
Golden Shiner
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