I realize it's early in the year and only a handful of groups have made trips, but just curious as to where you may have bought your leeches? Two years ago I bought from Pronature, reasonable price ($45/lb) but a lot of tiny/small leeches. Last year we bought from Kipawa bait ($60/lb) but was much happier with the leech sizes. This year Kipawa bait is $65/lb....and Pronature is $51/lb. We order 2lbs for our group, so $30 difference for our order is a fairly big difference.
We've always got them from Kipawa bait and the size seemed fine (we've only been doing this for 4 years). We'll probably order 6 lbs this year - 7 fishermen, 5 day trip to Ogascanan. A $14 per lb. difference is significant. Looking for responses on the Pronature leeches - should go there to same some $$$, or stick w/ what has worked for us in the past? Just looked - Pronature in Temiscaming is in a furniture store??? Do they have bait there?
62.00 a lab at trout lake in north bay and the rest are the same. North bay were small get them in Kipawa at corinas
$70 a pound at Billy Bob's or $7 a dozen. Apparently good size ones.
Hope this is not a stupid question but how many leeches are in a pound of say the ones you would get at Kipawa bait? I have never used them before so not sure if I want to spend $70 for something I don't like. Maybe I will just get a few dozen... What do you keep them in while at camp on boat? I am just starting to Google about using leeches today.. my trip starts in 4 days!!
I read there can be anywhere from 12 to 30 doz depending on the size 12 doz if the really large to 30 doz for small - most probably will be somewhere around 20 doz average.
Doesn't matter if you like 'em - the walleye like 'em! The leeches at Kipawa Bait that we've bought have been decent size. Keep 'em in a cooler w/ a block of ice, change water every couple days. Ask Corina at the bait shop & she'll give you the details.
I always get my leeches at Trout Lake . To keep them alive I just put them in a leech lodge filled 3/4 with water with a bit of lettuce an put in the fridge. Use bottled water instead of tap water ( must ) and change the water every couple of days. I am able to keep leeches alive and well all summer and into October.
Thanks for the input everyone. Kipawa bait seems to be on par price wise with some of your other locations (minus Pronature). Kipawa bait it is! Tough to argue with success and last year the leeches we got from Corina at Kipawa bait seemed to be just what the walleye ordered haha.
@MikeFromTheSouth we keep them in a large plastic container with ice water (holes in the lid) in the fridge, change the water every couple day is very important, as well as keeping them cold. I believe if the water gets too warm they start to spawn, then die after. We just use a couple small styrofoam containers that Brian provides at Alwaki for the boat, one container at the front and back.
@Kyle Skelding we have always used Kipawa Bait since we started using leeches. Last year we tried Pronature to avoid the drive back to Kipawa Bait. We will never do this again. Corina definitely has much better quality and it also seemed like we got less for a pound then we normally do. And yes the walleye love them. We have definitely done better fishing since we switched.
Here is our method of keeping leeches alive while at camp. This process works great for us and came about from pieces of advice given from multiple members here.
The leech bag is awesome “thanks jayâ€. It corals the little buggers in a mesh bag and allows them to be removed all at once while changing the water. I also rise them while in the bag.
(http://i67.tinypic.com/erbi28.jpg)
We keep them in the bag in a lunch size cooler, like this one. Filled with fresh lake water, never anything chlorinated. We just keep the cooler in side camp and always out of the sun.
(http://i63.tinypic.com/15qunhe.jpg)
I have two water bottles and freeze them. One goes into the lunch pail, the other in the freezer. Then swap out everyday.
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2saxs7m.jpg)
While on the boat , each fisherman has a leech lodge. We have a small aquarium type fish net that we scoop them out of leech bag and then place them in the insulated leech lodge.
(http://i68.tinypic.com/28tgdh4.jpg)
Like others have mentioned here, change their water every couple of days. Having them in the leech bag, makes that a breeze.
Looks like a good system, Hodgey. We usually keep them in the bags packaged by Corina, in a cooler with water & ice. We change water in the bags about every other day. Planning on getting about 6 lbs of leeches this year. Do the bags hold about a pound? Wondering how many we might need to keep them comfortable and alive.
Quote from: Ira on June 11, 2019, 08:27:46 AM
Looks like a good system, Hodgey. We usually keep them in the bags packaged by Corina, in a cooler with water & ice. We change water in the bags about every other day. Planning on getting about 6 lbs of leeches this year. Do the bags hold about a pound? Wondering how many we might need to keep them comfortable and alive.
Ira, I’m guessing the Frabil mesh bag I have might hold up to 2 pounds. I looked, they make a larger mesh bag that lists at $12 usd that looks like it would hold many pounds.
(http://i67.tinypic.com/k3kpee.jpg)
BEEN THERE AND DONE IT WITH THE YELLOW LEECH BAGS FROM FRABIL
AFTER A WHILE THE VELCRO STARTS TO FAIL AND THE LEECHES ESCAPE
BELOW IS A LINK FOR THE NEW BAIT KEEPERS DEVELOPED IN CANADA FOR THE TRUE CANADIAN WALLEYE FISHERMAN
BAIT2GO-Bait-2-Go-Bait-Bucket-Green/dp/B07G3BF2KP/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Yr-p-fh4gIVwZ-zCh3dbALnEAAYASAAEgJ_vfD_BwE&hvadid=324697142847&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9000922&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14892836937590172233&hvtargid=aud-748921816267%3Akwd-658450499697&hydadcr=29137_11354735&keywords=bait+to+go&qid=1560269097&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Quote from: RHYBAK on June 11, 2019, 12:07:26 PM
BEEN THERE AND DONE IT WITH THE YELLOW LEECH BAGS FROM FRABIL
AFTER A WHILE THE VELCRO STARTS TO FAIL AND THE LEECHES ESCAPE
BELOW IS A LINK FOR THE NEW BAIT KEEPERS DEVELOPED IN CANADA FOR THE TRUE CANADIAN WALLEYE FISHERMAN
BAIT2GO-Bait-2-Go-Bait-Bucket-G
https://bait2go.com/pages/using-bait2go (https://bait2go.com/pages/using-bait2go)
Quote from: RHYBAK on June 11, 2019, 12:07:26 PM
BELOW IS A LINK FOR THE NEW BAIT KEEPERS DEVELOPED IN CANADA FOR THE TRUE CANADIAN WALLEYE FISHERMAN
Not sure I'm a true Canadian walleye fisherman, but interesting product. :P
And Hodgey...Corina gave us a tip on how to take care of leeches that assures you lose none...or next to none...the entire week. At the cost of those things, that's important. It doesn't involve bags or tamers or failing velcro whizzle'jams. So simple too. Always in COLD water...and
cold lake water refresh every two days...that's the jist of it.
Quote from: T-Bone on June 11, 2019, 01:27:34 PM
Quote from: RHYBAK on June 11, 2019, 12:07:26 PM
BELOW IS A LINK FOR THE NEW BAIT KEEPERS DEVELOPED IN CANADA FOR THE TRUE CANADIAN WALLEYE FISHERMAN
Not sure I'm a true Canadian walleye fisherman, but interesting product. :P
And Hodgey...Corina gave us a tip on how to take care of leeches that assures you lose none...or next to none...the entire week. At the cost of those things, that's important. It doesn't involve bags or tamers or failing velcro whizzle'jams. So simple too. Always in COLD water...and cold lake water refresh every two days...that's the jist of it.
The bag is not about keeping them alive, it’s about corralling all of them in one spot. Then being able to change the water and only having to grab that one leech bag and they’re all removed at one time and rinse container out, add fresh cold lake water and place bag of leeches back in.... done. I love the leech bag and have used it on three trip and no Velcro issues. I think it was Jay that gave me that tip, I highly recommend it.
I have (2) of those leech bags in my "Purchased but Never Used" box in my garage. If I remember I'll bring them up and you can give me an in-service on them. If I don't like it, they're yours....
For keeping your main supply of leeches...I've used a Plano #700 10 quart minnow bucket that works just fine. It's one of those drainer buckets with a handle on the inner bucket which goes into the bottom bucket, also has a handle used to carry the unit around.. Keep the leeches in the inner (top) bucket and all you have to do (at the waters edge) is lift the inner bucket which removes the leeches from the yucky water, refill the bottom bucket with clean water, then put those leeches back into the bottom bucket, and put em back in the fridge. Word of caution... Those vertical slots on the bottom side of the inner bucket which allows the water to drain, although narrow, are wide enough for smaller leeches to escape into the bottom bucket. The fix is to raid your wife's craft stuff and if your lucky, she'll have some of that plastic mesh stuff. Cut it to the same vertical length of the slots and weave that stuff in and out around those drain slots. They can't get out. Another word of caution. Don't mix up the handles or you'll spill yucky water all over the place! Uh, I've done that.
C.C.
20 years buying leeches from Kipawa bait. We have a dedicated cooler to put the leech bags in, Corina tops it up with ice.
And as T-Bone stated
"So simple too. Always in COLD water...and cold lake water refresh every two days.".
Actually we have never refreshed the water. 6 lbs of leeches, 6 days, keep them cold, add ice every day and never had an issue in 20 years. So simple. Oh, and keep the cooler out of the sun. Any longer and definitely would need to refresh the water though.
OK - called Corina at Kipawa Bait to reserve leeches and found out she’s closed July 1 when we’re coming up. Made reservation at Pronature in Temiscaming instead. Any reports on the quality of their leches?
Ira, we've used Pronature for our leeches for the past several years. We've had no issues with them. We get our licenses there too.
Thanks, Oarin. Read somewhere else on the forum that their leeches were 30% somewhere on the small side. Wondering if we should pick up an extra pound or two.
They were small last summer and hard to get but that was due to the drought and shortage of them. Hopefully this year that wont be the case
Well...think about it this way. The smaller they are, the more leeches per pound. So I would think if they're on the small size you could actually order less in weight as there is a higher number per pound. I don't know...math was never my thing.
38
Quote from: T-Bone on June 18, 2019, 09:34:22 AM
Well...think about it this way. The smaller they are, the more leeches per pound. So I would think if they're on the small size you could actually order less in weight as there is a higher number per pound. I don't know...math was never my thing.
When we got down to the smallest leeches last year, i was doubling them up on the jig with great results ;)
Has anyone purchased any leeches recently. If so how was the quality? Last years were pretty bad.
Chazz, we got a pound from Pronature last Saturday and they were good. Some small, but overall nice sized and healthy. Good luck on your trip. I'll get my trip report in soon.
Thanks Oarin - called around sounds like no problem with availability and pricing about $50 Cnd a pound.
We keep leeches all year in a leech bag off the dock
Never have to change the water through some lettuce in there once in awhile and they are good
As last long as the snapping turtles stay out of the bag
We purchased a half pound on July 18th and they were very good. They were $28.99/half lb. from pronature.
This year, we traveled to Ogascanan Lodge w/ 7 lbs of leeches (maybe 2 lbs too many?) and a 10-gallon Lindy bait tamer. At camp, we put all the leeches in the bag, tied it to the dock, and left it in the lake. No problems w/ losing any leaches and no need to worry about changing water.
Dan was pretty impressed w/ the bag, said he'd never seen one like it. We left it, and the leftover leeches, w/ him when we left.
I think we'll get a 5-gallon one for next year.
Ira thanks for the posting - will have to check out the bait tamers for our upcoming trip. Probably will look at a smaller version for the three of us. Even 5 pounds of leeches sounds like an awful lot of leeches - how many guys was this for and how long a trip. How was the fishing and how were the bugs
Chazz -
There were 7 in our group, and we were at Ogascanan for 5 days.
Quote from: Schneve on July 23, 2019, 08:25:23 PM
They were $28.99/lb from pronature.
Just to confirm...$28.99/pound? Really?
I'd still get mine from Corina at Kipawa Bait...we used 2 pounds last week and they were perfect size (M-L) and lively to the point of being annoying...except when they were on the hook or in an 'eyes mouth. Can't ask for or expect better quality. And if that price you quoted is true, the premium price at KB&T is still worth every penny.
Had a great week up there last week...report coming soon.
Quote from: T-Bone on August 05, 2019, 01:13:05 PM
Quote from: Schneve on July 23, 2019, 08:25:23 PM
They were $28.99/lb from pronature.
Just to confirm...$28.99/pound? Really?
Had a great week up there last week...report coming soon.
He said it was half a pound at 28.99.
Looking forward to your report
Cheers
Yes...that adds up now...I should have read closer. Brain still floating in Bleue, I guess.... :o
Hey guys---I don't remember who suggested to put lettuce in the leech container but our leeches lasted 40 days in the fridge...just changing the water every once and awhile adding new lettuce leaves.
Thank You.