Walleye and Smallmouth bass love leeches. Anglers catch tons of walleye and bass every year ,shallow and deep from spring through fall on leeches. As the water warms above 50 degrees, leeches tend to swim much better. A lively leech is just asking to get eaten.Leeches are the most plentiful of all the baits. It seems that they are natural to all bodies of water including creeks, rivers and lakes. They can be left in a container of water for a long time without food. All leeches have sucking disks at both ends, the mouth is located in the smaller disk at the head end and use the larger disk on the tail only for clinging to objects. Most leeches species eat dead animals.Fish eat many types of leeches, but only the ribbon leech is widely used as bait. A ribbon leech has a firmer body than a horse leech and body situations or grooves that are less pronounced with the color varying  from pure black to light brown. Leeches are easy to keep alive as they are not as sensitive to temperature changes like minnows are , and they require relatively little oxygen.. Leeches that are held in stagnant water over long periods of time need to ride themselves of waste for instance if they were in a stream or pond they would burrow into the sand to clean themselves.    Walleyes love leeches almost all year round and they are classified as a universal bait for walleyes.  Some of the top smallmouth bass anglers learned that the regular-sized leeches tend to catch more fish and they catch big fish as well. A bobber and leech is very effective for smallmouth bass and walleye when these fish are in the shallows.  This rig works great from late spring through summer for bigger bass. You can also rig a spinner bait(like a Macks wedding ring lure) or any single hook spinner tipped with a leech .If you have never fished with this common fish bait , stop in the shop and we can teach you how to rig the leech and areas to target walleye and bass.
