Bream (Lepomis spp.) may not be taken as bait for sportfishing purposes in any form of trap except at Toledo Bend Reservoir, where a minnow trap not exceeding 24 inches in length and having a throat no larger than one inch by three inches may be used to take bream for non-commercial bait This is strait off the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries web site I asked a game warden that i know and he said if you catch them on rod and reel you can use them as bait. I checked into this a few years back after someone told me that it was not legal to use them.