PDA

View Full Version : leeches in local lakes



Denny Wagenman
08-03-2005, 03:37 PM
After reading about bass fishing in the forum I decided to try it out at a local lake last night. Caught a few bass, moslty small with one around 1 1/2 pounds. Had fun.

Now the not so fun thing. Since it was a great night and I knew the water would be warm I decided to wear shorts in lieu of waders on my pontoon boat. Upon getting out of the water I felt this stinging in my leg. Saw these two blood suckers going to town on my leg. Managed to pull one out and part of another. Didn't have any matches to burn their butt. Anyway I get home and put alcohol on the suction points and the more I put on the more I bled. The answer was vinegar, stopped the bleeding and must have killed what was left in my leg.

I have had leeches on me in the past that were black, but these were white in color.

Anyway thought I would pass on a warning. The lake was Spring Lake, between Renton and Maple Valley



Desmond Wiles
08-03-2005, 03:44 PM
Did you tie something up to match the leech for your next time out there? Just joking.

I haven't gone without my waders while in my pontoon boat for that very reason! Just don't want to take the chance.
Taxon
08-03-2005, 09:50 PM
digger-

Did they look like this?

http://www.FlyfishingEntomology.com/Helobdella.jpg
Tim Cottage
08-03-2005, 10:13 PM
White leeches! OMG! Aren't those the ones that wriggle up inside your johnson and lay eggs. You better get to a doctor. Fast.
:eek:
clockwork
08-06-2005, 01:41 PM
they didnt get under the skin did they?!
Sageman
08-06-2005, 04:05 PM
Anyway I get home and put alcohol on the suction points and the more I put on the more I bled.

Not surprising it bled. Some of the most potent medications we use to bust up blood clots are made from the stuff leeches secrete in order to suck blood. It bled because the leech neutralized the clotting mechanism of your blood, at least where he had ahold of you.

The alcohol will also make it bleed more. When we take blood from babies to do blood tests, we sometimes just give them a needle prick on their heel and milk the blood out, rather than try and draw it out of a vein. If the bleeding stops, we'll take an alcohol pad and wipe the site a couple of times to get it to start bleeding again.