Now why couldn't you use minnows?
There are heaps of minnows in the Delaware River.

Or young shad.

A shad's awfully decent eating when he's grown up, and so it stands to reason that he'd make a perfectly elegant sardine." "Nothing but bones," objected Ossie.
"A young shad, say a week-old one, wouldn't have any bones, you chump.
At least, they'd be nice and soft.

It's a dandy business, Ossie.

All you have to have is some fish and a lot of oil and some tin cans." "Sounds easy the way you tell it.