[Topsail Angler]

Minnow is generally a term used to refer to a small fish used for bait. There are many different kinds (species) of fish refered to as minnows. Some of the baitfish species have the word minnow in their name, however not all baitfish are called minnows. Not all fish called minnows are even related to each other (unlike most types of jacks being related to other fish with that same name or mackerels, etc). To make it worse, the same fish will have different names in different parts of the country. So it can be a bit confusing.

As to your question regarding if some are better than others, it depends on what you are fishing for. Use the type baitfish that the fish you are targeting would normally eat. So if your are trying to catch a Kingfish you would use a pogie, greenback or cigar minnow for bait. A mud minnow probably would not work as well. However for a flounder a mud minnow would work fine whereas a pogie (menhaden) maybe a bit too large.

For saltwater baits, check out this link: http://www.flfish.com/baitfish/index.htm

Hope this helps without opening a "can of worms"

 

[Topsail Angler]

You are right Al and that illustrates the point on how confusing discusions about types/names of fish can be.

As to anchovies - I like them any way but on my pizza

 

[Topsail Angler]

A good way to decide on the type of minnow to fish with is to use whatever you can catch in a cast net close to where you plan to fish.

Al, thanks for reminding me of the good ole silversides. I made up a couple for my fall fly arsenal today. They might be a limited edition as I spilled some epoxy on carpet and this may cause some lumps on my head.

Nice looking lures there Forrest! Hope you didn't get an lumps on the head