bait with ticks. should we worry??

[wildman]

hey all.
wondering....tried a new type of minnow last trip (new to me anyways) and noticed that they had lots of ticks.
they were the black oval ticks just under the skin...looked like pepper corns. The bait in question was the Candle Lake Shiners...seen them for sale at all the major tackle shops in town.
My concern is that the gamefish that eat these ticks will then get infected with them...
Does the freezing process kill the ticks and eliminate the issue or is more concern and action warranted???
last thing we need is an introduced parasite in our lakes!!!
any thoughts????
thanks and cheers, gw.

[kbtrucking]

The black spots in question are worm parasites. I have caught many fish with these black spots on their fins and later found the same spots in their meat. If you found these worms in bait they would have been killed in the process and don't worry about transfer it has to be pretty warm for them to live and the minnows i guess would be frozen when purchased. That would kill the worms. It comes from birds, ducks more so, and the worm eggs need a period to hatch and cling to the host so if they are in the bait no worries.

[FishHound]

I've always found that a good rule of thumb is don't eat your bait!! Unless your fishing with corn, shrimp or cheese.