Pond Boss
White looking leach are found in my pond. Please see attached photos. When I look at them in the flash light they seem to be eating the Frog eggs that have recently been laid. What are these things? Thanks!

Attached picture IMG_20180913_222526 (1).jpg
Attached picture MVIMG_20180913_222539 (1).jpg
When we were kids my dad showed us how to catch leaches. Tank an empty coffee can one end removed and the plastic lid in place. Use a punch and from the outside of the can put a bunch of holes similar to the size of the leach or smaller all around the can. Punch a hole to the very bottom and attach a string. Remove the plastic lid an put a couple pieces of bloody meat. put the lid back on. With the string in hand sling the can into the water and attach the string to the shore. Then wait say 24hrs. Retrieve can and look inside for leeches. This will tell you if they are blood suckers or not.
It would help if you had a couple of close-up clear pictures of these things. Put a few in a dish of very shallow water and get a few good sharp pictures. I suspect they are planarians commonly called flatworms. Planarian, any of a group of widely distributed, mostly free-living flatworms of the class Turbellaria (phylum Platyhelminthes). Planaria is the name of one genus, but the name planarian is used to designate any member of the family Planariidae and related families.
Originally Posted By: Mfitzs70
When we were kids my dad showed us how to catch leaches. Tank an empty coffee can one end removed and the plastic lid in place. Use a punch and from the outside of the can put a bunch of holes similar to the size of the leach or smaller all around the can. Punch a hole to the very bottom and attach a string. Remove the plastic lid an put a couple pieces of bloody meat. put the lid back on. With the string in hand sling the can into the water and attach the string to the shore. Then wait say 24hrs. Retrieve can and look inside for leeches. This will tell you if they are blood suckers or not.


We would use a burlap bag. Tie in the bag some chicken with a rock. Throw it into the body of water and leave it for a three or four days. Chicken thighs worked well and are cheap.

The leaches would wiggle through the burlap and get into the chicken. When you pulled up the bag they could not get out as fast as you retrieved the bag.

The best ones were the swamp leaches that had the two big orange lines down their backs. Boy oh boy did the walleye like them.

Cheers Don.
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