Catching leeches

[slingshot]

Does anyone catch there own leeches?I was wondering how difficult it is and what you use to catch them. All info will be apreciated.

[SamSteele]

I did as a kid. Wasn't anything fancy. Drilled a hole in the top edge of a large coffee tin and tied a string on it. Put a piece of beef heart or liver inside the tin. Squished the tin opening down to be about an inch across or so. Small enough that the meat couldn't be pulled out. Toss it into the nearest beaver pond/slough/body of water with leeches in it. Tie the string to a tree and come back in a couple days to collect them.

SS

[fish99]

1 gal ice cream pail put some raw hamburger meat inside and a rock cut some small holes in lid and put in lake bottom by rocks with a rope on the handle to a float or tied to a tree if close by. works great.

[moose maniac]

I use a burlap sack with some bloody meat and a rock to sink it, tie a rope on it and chuck it out in the water it catches an amazing amount of leaches.

[-JR-]

Interesting, how long does it take to get a dozen.

[BuckCuller]

I used the same tactic as the ice cream pail with liver we had a real good pond we would easily get 70-80 over night. I ran three pails.

[Sooner]

My cousin had a very small but deep pond on their acreage. Loaded with leeches and they used the burlap sack way. They always had free leeches when fishing.

[JareS]

They seem to be much more plentiful in sloughs that don't contain game fish rather than lakes/rivers

[thenaturalwoodsman]

Seems to be a tricky sport! I have Tried with little to no success. Only ever Catch a couple leeches at a time. Not sure if it's the ponds them selves, Trap depth, Trap type, Bait type. Etc. Lots of variables I guess!

[BuckCuller]

Originally Posted by thenaturalwoodsman

Seems to be a tricky sport! I have Tried with little to no success. Only ever Catch a couple leeches at a time. Not sure if it's the ponds them selves, Trap depth, Trap type, Bait type. Etc. Lots of variables I guess!

Maybe you need to find a better slough the best ones are the ones where you walk the edge and the ground moves for twenty feet around you be careful though.
Another thing is to check your traps at first light as the day heats up a lot of them will leave the trap.
Good luck.

[trouter]

Last year I used pie plates folded in half with a chunk of deer. Put out 4 plates and when we pulled them i filled a mayo jar. Was to hard to keep alive to use that many through the year.

[thenaturalwoodsman]

Originally Posted by BuckCuller

Maybe you need to find a better slough the best ones are the ones where you walk the edge and the ground moves for twenty feet around you be careful though.
Another thing is to check your traps at first light as the day heats up a lot of them will leave the trap.
Good luck.

You walk and the ground moves with leeches?

[hockeynut]

As a kid we rode our bikes to the boat launch at Lacombe Lake and simply walked the shallow lakeshore. Flipping over logs, rocks and any other debris you could find them. Scoop them up with your hand and fill a jar. Then bike down to Burbank and fish all day!!

[BuckCuller]

Originally Posted by thenaturalwoodsman

You walk and the ground moves with leeches?

The skeg under your feet moves the skeg is on top of silt and water.

[Habfan]

Originally Posted by BuckCuller

The skeg under your feet moves the skeg is on top of silt and water.

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[HowSwedeItIs]

Originally Posted by Habfan

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Originally Posted by thenaturalwoodsman

You walk and the ground moves with leeches?

He said that he finds that good places to check are out in the muskeg, boggy wet places full of moss and rotting vegetation. The ground is spongy and soaked with water, hence the movement of the ground when you walk on it. Its a big mat made up of decaying plants. The reason he said to be careful is that depending on the strength of the skeg you could break through or get stuck in it. Could be a big risk.

I found a leech in a freshwater clam once, but that has been about the extent of my leech collecting experience. Best of luck to OP, I would recommend trying the shallows of a small lake, safest way, unless you find yourself in line with me at the bait shop

[BuckCuller]

Some people call them bottomless sloughs because the bottom is a very deep silt. And yes you explained it perfectly as a mat of vegetation around the pond. You have to watch out for thin spots and beaver runs.