Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Leaches

I pulled a turtle out of the pond today that ate too much lead (3375fps kind) recently... As i was getting him out i noticed he had a leach stuck to his shell that was alive. This is the first leach i have ever seen in my 1.5 yo pond. Should i be concerned with the leach being in the pond? Is it indicative of an underlaying problem with the pond that i am not aware of? Since i stocked it for the first time in jan with bg,res,and fhm's will the fish eat the leaches when they are large enough?

I could be wrong, but I would think they are just a natural part of the pond life.

Did you put the leach on a hook and see what you could catch?

No, I didnt bother since my largest fish right now is only about 3 maybe 4 inches at the most.

We had leeches in our pond until I reduced some of the vegetation and added RES. Between those two tasks the leeches have been either reduced significantly or eliminated. I doubt they are entirely gone but I haven't encountered a leech in a long time.

How thick is the vegetation around your pond?

How thick is the vegetation around your pond? None, it has a clay bottom and nothing has grown as of yet.

RCN

I don't feel you should be concerned with the existence of leeches in your BOW. Like JHAP, I'd be surprised if they make it another season with your fish population growing. I personally would love to have leeches in my ponds to serve as an additional forage item - so I don't feel you have any reason for alarm.

Thanks for the additional info. How do you think they got there? Any guess?

They might have caught a ride with the turtle.....

Why did you shoot the turtle???

They're fun to shoot???

Turtles have their own species of leeches. I have seldom seen
them free swimming, and never seen them attach to people. AFAIK,
leeches of any type are not big disease carriers. If you think
about it, that would not be in their best interest, evolution
wise. They make great bait, if you're lucky enough to get one or
2.

Good points, thanks to all.

Note to self, mail TJ a box of leeches.

...and try to keep them MOIST this time!

Out of context, that sounds kinda odd.

On a trip to the boundary waters the leeches had just "spawned" (I guess they do this?) and with every paddle stroke in the shallows you would stir up a bunch of baby (wrong terminology) leeches. I was fascinated by this, my wife not so much. We also carried a bait bucket full of 12 dozen leeches for the 10 days we were camping/canoeing, best and hardiest bait up there by far, caught SMB/WE/NP like crazy.