wild bait/ black nose dace any good instead of fat heads?

[Ironeagle]

I never used anything but store bought bait for ice fishing, i can get some black nose dace from local streams. are they any good or have you noticed any difference using them compared to fat head minnows?  i know suckers and stuff for for pike are one thing but im talking dace/ red fin minnows for smaller fish. perch, eyes, crappie, maybe bass... ect.

[captain54]

They will work.I seined thousands of them through the years.The young of the year dace are great perch and crappie bait 1-1 1/2 size,larger ones will work on tipups for bass. All wild creek minnows make good bait.

[pocono]

I used them and they work good, I found out they  sure can jump. I had a bunch in my live well and didn't close the like and they all jumped out.

[DasRottweiler]

Dace are notorious suicide leapers! Although you do need to vent your baittank to let harmful gases off, ya need a lid for these guys. They see light, they rocket right at it. Im from NH, but ya wanna check your local baitfish regulations before ya start dropping traps , not after. We lose a season for any infraction, so it`s good to do your reading prior not post. In NH they took bridle shiners off the allowable baitfish list 2 years ago, yet I see some guy still trapping em. He will learn the hard way. Dace are super rugged much like creekchubs and will tolerate more as a result. This makes it easier to keep them in your tanks as well. GL_ROTT