From what I hear, in NY you have to have a receipt from a bait shop to show that the little critters are disease free. Catching your own and then using them in a different lake is illegal.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is issuing this update on the presence of Viral Hemorrhagic Septecemia (VHS) Virus in New York State waters and a new federal order that restricts the interstate transport of certain live fish. The virus is a pathogen of fish and does not pose any threat to public health. It was first confirmed in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and has now also been confirmed in Lake Erie and Conesus Lake.

VHS is a fish disease that causes the hemorrhaging of the fish's tissues, including internal organs. Often, fish do not exhibit any external signs of having the disease. The disease affects all sizes of fish and not all infected fish develop the disease, but can continue to carry it and spread it to others. There is no known cure for VHS. The impact of this particular strain of VHS on fish populations is uncertain. It has caused fish mortalities ranging from a few fish impacted to thousands of fish impacted

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/12713.html

Due to the potential adverse effects of this disease on fish populations and the desire to prevent or delay its spread to other states, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a Federal Order on October 24, 2006, that prohibits the importation of certain species of live fish from Ontario and Quebec and interstate movement of the same species from eight states bordering the Great Lakes, effective immediately. The states included are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Fish species included in the federal prohibition are: Atlantic cod, black crappie, bluegill, bluntnose minnow, brown bullhead, brown trout, burbot, channel catfish, chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, emerald shiner, freshwater drum, gizzard shad, grayling, haddock, herring, Japanese flounder, largemouth bass, muskellunge, Pacific cod, northern pike, pink salmon, pumpkinseed, rainbow trout, redhorse sucker, rock bass, rockling, round goby, smallmouth bass, sprat, turbot, walleye, white bass, white perch, whitefish and yellow perch. Additional fish will be added to the order as they are confirmed to be carriers of this disease. Additional information on the Federal Order can be found on the APHIS website www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/aqua/ .

VHS can be spread from waterbody to waterbody through a variety of means, not all of them known at this point. One known mechanism is through the movement of fish, including bait fish.