The police waited for the bank robbers to 'take the bait'. [=to be tricked into doing the thing that would cause them to be trapped or caught]
('chiefly Brit') The interviewer kept asking the politician whether he was lying, and he 'rose to the bait' by getting angry.
She 'baited' the mousetraps with pieces of cheese. = She used cheese to 'bait' the traps.
(..) - Please. I'm gonna find him. I'm gonna find him. We have to go back to the station. What? Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait. That thing is still in there. And we can't just sit here and let it get them, too. We can't. You still wanna try it out? (..)2016 TvShow: Stranger Things Title: Chapter Seven: The Bathtub Season: 1 Episode 7