fish wounds

[zzdruid]

at least 10% of the bass and gills I've been boating have a slight wound on the side about the size of you little fingernail, roughly oval or roundish. I have also been having better luck using black leach immitation patterns it this lake. I got to go out for a couple of hours late Sun evening and little was happening if it wasn't a black / elongated pattern. I think that they are off the beds for the most part in this lake.

All of you old hands at this: what does a leach wound on a fish look like?
I'll try to get a pic of one next Wed.

[Humber Brad]

I'm far from an old hand....but it definitely sounds like a parasitic feeder attacking these fish...and the leech would be a prime suspect

[Extremely Low Budget FF]

Last year I caught two bass that had live leeches attached to the roof of their mouths.

There was very little marking on these fish once the leech was removed. They were about 3/4 inches long.

(I will try to come up with leech caused wounds on fish.)

BTW
Mohair leaches with black, or "gun metal" glass bead heads are one of my favorit flies for almost any species of fish.

Ed

[garyj147]

zzdruid,

Having no idea where you are fishing, I do have one possible answer for you. If the Fish and Game boys have visited this waterbody recently, the "wounds" you see may be where they have taken scale samples for age and growth studies. If that is not the case, there are a number of possible causative agents, including bacterial or fungal diseases as well as parasitic leech or lamprey attacks. Diseases are especially prevalent in many waterbodies in the spring, as the water starts warming up.

lamprey

[zzdruid]

I know this water is not surveyed by the state. These wounds must come from some predator, disease, or fish activity.
I got a photo although most of the wounds are about 1/2 tis size:

[gerri]

Hi zzdruid,
I am not any kind of an expert but the lesions on that blugill resemble the lesions that are being found on the smallmouth bass in the Md, Va. WVa and Pa rivers. If you have not notified the DNR to check, it might be a wise step to take. I just think it is better to err on the side of caution rather than wait for a massive fish kill to happen.
I truly hope it turns out to be nothing.

You see that small worm-like fish in the top right corner? That came off of this carp and it is a sea lamprey. It is anadromous adn spawns down rivers in good numbers. It attaches to fish and live off of their blood. It constantly injects an anti-coagulant to keep the wound open. They can stay on for months.

[Warmouth]

I'm very curious to find out what caused the wounds. I have caught 3 or 4 sunfish with these same bumpy/oozy marks. Some came from creeks, but at least one came from a hole in the ground (pond) no bigger than two hot tubs. The lamprey theory, while possibly true for the pictured fish, doesn't hold for my catch.

By the way, the pictures are nice for showing the details. Good job to both of you.

Warmouth

If the fish was caught in anything but a river or the ocean, you can rule out the lamprey. Leech would be a good guess for those fish