Bait Profile - Banded Killifish

I can’t help myself from another “bait profile” on a little known species in my area. This is another one that you’ve probably never heard of or seen. Although unlike the deepwater sculpin, this one isn’t hard to find and is often hiding in plain sight. Before I started working in West Michigan as a fisheries biologist, I had never seen one but as it turns out they are pretty common in Lake Michigan. Often found right where you are swimming on the beach!

They do have a solid set of camouflage that really blends into the sand and is generally just hard to differentiate between all the other nearshore life. But you can usually find them in small schools and right near the shore where they feed on aquatic invertebrates and zooplankton. We see them in the early spring while seining beaches for larval whitefish, all through the summer, and they seem especially prevalent when we have a warm fall. The biggest ones I’ve encountered are around 4 inches but they are usually 2-3 inches long and just kind of a cool interesting fish.

I’ve got to imagine they might collide with shallow brown trout and steelhead in the coming weeks. I know they’ve been encountered by largemouth and smallmouth bass all summer long too. At least I see that interaction going on in places like inside the Muskegon break walls. If I were a fish I don’t think I’d hesitate to snack on one and they would be an interesting pattern for a lure company to emulate.