something odd??

[Walidave]

I have been fishing Lake Erie and other water for long time, that being said
this weekend we did rather welll on walleye and perch north of west sister. the odd thing was almost all the sheep head we caught had leeches atached to the gills have never seen this before and was wondering if it was common.
maybe nature just figured a way of thinning out some of the nuisance.(i know some people wont like that but like any fish with no predator there is population boom!!!!)

[BUCKEYE2]

Let's all buy some leeches !!

[wakina]

It is rather common this time of year not sure if it is fatal or not. Were they the small tannish ones about 1/4 to 1/2 inch or the bigger ones blackish to brownish in color?

[stinkpickle]

We can only hope that is the case! Any sheephead caught in my boat does not live! Comon sense tells me that when almost every walleye caught is kept and sheephead are released which one will thrive!! Me and my sons spent a week at Port Clinton around July 4th we fished alot and went every where from the islands to north of west sister and caught sheephead by the hundreds and killed every one of them but only caught 10 walleye. If you love walleye kill the sheephead!!!

[gregnwtf]

It is rather common this time of year not sure if it is fatal or not. Were they the small tannish ones about 1/4 to 1/2 inch or the bigger ones blackish to brownish in color?

I have been seeing the smaller tan colored ones for quite awhile this year. Dont remember what fish type they were attached to though. The sheeps need some thinning out , one of the worst years for keeping sheephead off the hooks.

[Walidave]

they were big back and stuck on real good, maybe never noticed in past yeawrs cause we hadnt caught so many

[wallytracker]

The leeches are a parasite, meaning they are not fatal to the host. Gotta find some other way to thin out the sheep...