Walleye Message Central

Walleye Message Central (https://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/index.php)

- Strictly Fishing (https://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16)

- - Leech traps (https://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136043)

could someone please inform me on how to construct a leech a trap, I realize that they are probably excessively simple and I read instructions on it but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Ho Soolkyut

I catch a lot of my own leeches. I use a tin foil pie plate folded in half, I punch a hole through the lips of the pie plate to tie it shut and to retrieve it. Inside I place a piece of raw liver and a rock to weight it down. I leave about an 1/8" to a 1/4" gap between the lips of the plate for them to get in. I find the tin foil pie plate method to be very economical and simple. You simply bring it in, open it and slide the leeches into a pail. I have tried the coffee can with holes punched in it but its very difficult to get those little suckers out without cutting up your knuckles. The gunny sack idea I also found to be difficult to remove the leeches. I do this in the dark so I find the tin pie plates a lot easier. I usually trap leeches in sloughs and dugouts. I try to pick places that don't have fish. I usually throw the traps in about 1.5 to 3 feet of water. I usually put them in in the dark and pull them out in the dark. Usually in a 24 hour time frame. Hope this helps.

I gotta ask, why set them in the dark?

The leeches usually move around alot more when it's dark out.

When is the best time of the year to go leechin? Can a guy get leeches right after ice out? Thanks.

It's usually a little slow right after ice out, but it does pick up fairly quickly as the water warms a bit.

Sool.
Used to work for a commercial fisherman one high school summer. Friend of my Dad's who ran a catfish trot line. He used Blood Suckers for catfish bait. In most cases Blood Suckers are bigger and are usually red or orange on one side. We'd catch a few leeches with the blood suckers, but they are not pleantyfull around my neck of the woods. All he'd do is take a fresh dead carp and put it in a burlap bag. Throw it in a pot hole in the local swamp and check it every two days or so. Lot of them bad boys stuck all over the inside and out.

i guess your from Manitoba by the jets logo,i have seen the trappers along #1 hyw what they use is a small black plastic bag apx 3in wide by 18in long bag has a lot of 1/4 in holes in it, they put a peice of liver in it with a rock and a peice of rope with a peice of styrofoam sm tied to it with there trappers # on it,they collect and place them with a canoe in those little mud holes