Leech pricing / where to buy.

[Kyle Skelding]

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.

[Ira]

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?

[crackers42]

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

[limacharley]

$70 a pound at Billy Bob's or $7 a dozen. Apparently good size ones.

[MikeFromTheSouth]

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!!

[Chazz]

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.

[Ira]

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.

[Goach15]

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.

[Kyle Skelding]

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.

[BigChief]

@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.

[Hodgey1]

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 jay”. 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.



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.



I have two water bottles and freeze them. One goes into the lunch pail, the other in the freezer. Then swap out everyday.


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.


Like others have mentioned here, change their water every couple of days. Having them in the leech bag, makes that a breeze.

[Ira]

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.

[Hodgey1]

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.

[RHYBAK]

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

[Hodgey1]

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