Non-Commercial Bait Regulations

These rules pertain to the taking of bait by licensed anglers or individuals less than 18 years of age for personal use.

IMPORTATION OF FISH

Anglers may not import live fish into South Dakota without a Department issued importation permit.

RELEASE OF BAIT PROHIBITED

It is illegal to empty receptacles containing bait into public waters.

LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Residents and nonresidents age 18 and over need a fishing license to take, possess, or transport bait.

TRANSPORTATION OF BAIT

Bait may not be transported in water taken from a lake, pond, stream, or river.

PROTECTED SPECIES

State and federally listed threatened and endangered species cannot be used as bait. For a comprehensive list of threatened and endangered species visit gfp.sd.gov/threatened-endangered. Any game fish or threatened and endangered species taken in traps, nets, or seines shall be immediately returned to the waters from which taken.

PROHIBITED BAIT

Common carp, goldfish, protected species, freshwater mussels and clams, and game fish species may not be used as bait; except bullhead (all species) and sunfish of genus Lepomis (green sunfish, pumpkinseed, orangespotted sunfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, Lepomis sunfish hybrids) may be used as bait in hook and line fishing.

LEGAL METHODS

Legal methods of take for all fish species not protected or prohibited from use as bait include legal hook and line, speargun, spear, bow and arrow, and crossbow, during established seasons and in areas open for specific methods of take.
Seines, lift nets, cast nets, dip nets, and traps can be used to take fathead minnow, white sucker, creek chub, flathead chub, western silvery minnow, plains minnow, golden shiner, emerald shiner, spottail shiner, gizzard shad, lake herring, rainbow smelt, crayfish (all native species), freshwater shrimp, leeches, tiger salamander (all subspecies combined), and leopard frog (all subspecies).  See Waters Closed for the Taking of Bait Using Seines, Nets, and Traps below.
Dip nets may be used to take all rough fish species.
Licensed hoop nets, slat catfish traps, setlines, and floatlines may be used to take all rough fish species in areas where use of those methods is allowed.

LEGAL SEINES, NETS, AND TRAPS

There are no mesh-size or size restrictions for traps, seines, dip nets, lift nets, or cast nets used to take bait for noncommercial use.

USE OF GAME FISH AS BAIT

Eyes, gills, entrails, and scales of all game fish species may be used as bait, if fish were taken by legal methods. Bullhead (all species) and sunfish of the genus Lepomis (green sunfish, pumpkinseed, lake herring, orangespotted sunfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, Lepomis sunfish hybrids) can be used as bait if taken by legal methods.

WATERS CLOSED TO TAKING OF BAIT USING SEINES, NETS, AND TRAPS

All permanent or temporary creeks, streams, or rivers in Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brown, Clay, Davison, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jerauld, Lincoln, McCook, McPherson, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Spink, Turner, Union, Yankton counties (except that portion of Lake Lewis and Clark and the Missouri River above Gavins Point Dam in Yankton and Bon Homme counties) and these individual waters:

Brookings County – Interstate

Beadle County – Byron and Mud 

Butte County – Newell

Deuel County – Alice

Edmunds County – Mina

Pennington County – Deerfield, Pactola, and Sheridan

Yankton County – Yankton Lake

All other public waters, except those where baitfish use is restricted and those posted as game fish rearing ponds or special waterfowl management areas, are open to the taking of bait by lawful anglers.

TRAP MARKING

Bait traps must be clearly marked on the top of the trap with the user’s name and address.

LOST TRAPS

Lost or stolen bait traps must be reported to a GFP Conservation Officer within five days of discovering the loss.

TRAP SETTING

Bait traps may not be set to block more than one-half the width of a stream. Any trap throats exposed above the surface of the water must be blocked by a solid shield or mesh to prevent the entrapment of waterfowl.

TRAP CHECKING

To prevent unnecessary fish loss, traps must be checked and emptied at least once every 48 hours, May 15-Sept. 14 and at least once every 96 hours, Sept. 15-May 14.

FRESHWATER MUSSELS AND CLAMS

All waters of the state, including waters bordering with other states, are closed to the harvest of freshwater mussels and clams. Except for threatened, endangered, or Aquatic Invasive Species, dead mussel shells may be possessed. A person may not buy, sell, barter, or trade any species of freshwater mussels or their shells.