oak leaf grubs harvesting

[Retired ECO]

  Lots of great answer's, I won't expound on the "finding part" that is well covered. Buckski touched on the legal part," no aquatic insects may be taken from a trout stream" for obvious reasons, just think of hunting oak leaf bugs as similar to hunting whitetails, some days you find them and some days you don't !!!!   Good luck !!!!!

[wnybassman]

I've got to say they can be real easy to miss in the mud  and the muck when you pull them out of the leaves. I've hit about 8 streams and have yet to hit the jackpot like others claim to  I must be doing something wrong

I take a 12 quart Rubbermaid type container out with me when I collect (I also store them in that same container).  I use the lid as a sorting table.  I'll grab two handfuls of leaves and plop them on the lid and sort through it all almost leaf by leaf.  Sometimes in those two handfuls I have gotten 3 to 4 dozen or more, and a couple handfuls from the same area two feet away will yield nearly zilch.  It's weird, but once you start getting the numbers, you will know more what to look for.  If you are getting a lot of mud and muck, you may not be in the right spots.  My best spots are in the faster flowing sections of the stream, where the bottom is mostly pea gravel and small stones.  The best clumps of leaves are the ones on the up current sides of rocks and logs/branches that are in the water within 6 inches of the surface.

Somebody tell me again how you can keep these things over winter.

The 12 quart container I mentioned above half full of very wet leaves.  It is important not to have any standing water in the bottom, because that water will contain no oxygen and the grubs will drown if submerged.  I also have a second container full of leaves to add to the other container as the grubs munch on the leaves.  And they will munch on the leaves!  I keep these in the basement of my barn that gets very close to freezing, but it does not freeze. 

I collected about 24 dozen last year and didn't get on the ice as much as I hoped.  By April I had half or more left, all very healthy still, and I released them back into the stream to hopefully finish their life cycle.

[jflood]

Thank you to all for the advice..I finally scored big The best part... after all the driving around this stream is extremely close to my house. I am within walking distance

[reubenpa]

I finally found some.  THe stream isn't really all that big so I am gonna look for more but got well over 10 dozen.  prolly close to 20 dozen.  I need to find another stream though for back up. I am just glad to have finally found some

[kirkwooders]

I spent less than an hour looking for them yesterday afternoon and found close to 100!!!  Sure beats spending close to $4.00 a dozen for them.   

Does anyone know if they will transmit VHS or not?

[jflood]

good question,dont know ???call the dec

[wnybassman]

Does anyone know if they will transmit VHS or not?

Weird, I was thinking the EXACT same thing when I was plucking them out of the water.  Don't know.

[JJ]

The latest info on VHS transmission, oak leaf grubs, which are cranefly larva, aren't mentioned. You can bet that if they could you would no longer be able to catch your own.

 • How is VHSv transmitted between fish?
VHSv can be transmitted by exposure to urine, feces and sexual fluids (ovarian fluids or milt) or by ingesting infected preyfish. Reservoirs include clinically ill and carrier fish that do not show signs of theinfection. The virus can be found on the surface of the salmonid eggs duringspawning of infected female broodstock (sometimes at very high levels) and is capable of persisting for a sufficient time period to result in vertical (actually egg-associated) transmission between generations (adult to progeny). It is also likely to enter the body through the gills or through wounds, although oral transmission is unlikely except by the ingestion of infected prey or food. Experiments showed that blood sucking parasitic arthropods and leeches can transmit the infection.

 • How can VHSv be transmitted between water bodies?
There are a number of likely vectors (or vehicles) to move the virus between waters that include: 1)moving infected fish from one water to another including both baitfish and gamefish; 2) moving infected water from one water to another in the ballast water of shipping vessels, in live wells of fishing boats, and in bilges of recreational and fishing boats; 3) planting infected fish or releasing infected fish or water from infected hatcheries; and 4) the natural movement of infected fish from one water to another. One factor that is not a likely long distance vector are fish eating birds and mammals since the virus does not live long in the gut of either because of their high internal body temperature. It is also unlikely that the virus will move easily between waters by being associated with water on birds when they take off from infected waters and travel to other waters.

More here:http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:JajUTFKRLL0J:www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/Viral-Hemorrhagic-Septicemia-Fact-Sheet-11-9-2006_178081_7.pdf+vhs+vectors&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us

[SPARKYICE]

captjj,
good info. you've done some homework, thanks for sharing.

[ominousone]

Do you guys use these on tip ups or jigging or what?  Also, I have never used them before, are they a much better bait than smelt, or buckeyes or what have you....  Just trying to figure out if I can justify getting cold and wet.

[jflood]

Do you guys use these on tip ups or jigging or what?  Also, I have never used them before, are they a much better bait than smelt, or buckeyes or what have you....  Just trying to figure out if I can justify getting cold and wet.

you shouldnt have to get wet Wear rubber boots/waders and gloves(rubbermaid)
Mostly jigging but I plan to use with tip ups

[perchking4ever]

you shouldnt have to get wet Wear rubber boots/waders and gloves(rubbermaid)
Mostly jigging but I plan to use with tip ups

I used them on my tip-ups last year on glass lake and caught alot of perch.

[ominousone]

so they work for perch and trout... are they a preferred bait then?

[perchking4ever]

so they work for perch and trout... are they a preferred bait then?

I don't know if they would be my preferred bait. I got alto of dropped flags (probably bluegill/sunfish) but I did get perch on them. The only reason I used them is because I ran out of Fatheads.

[wnybassman]

so they work for perch and trout... are they a preferred bait then?

I don't know about trout, but they are my preferred bait for perch.  Jigging mostly.  I also caught "larger than average" bluegills with them to, for those times when you just can't get away from the smaller ones.

[kirkwooders]

I'm with Bassman on this one.  They are my preferred perch bait for jigging, but I also use them on tipups and have caught everything from gill's that barely could get them in their mouth to walleyes that really put a bend in your rod.    I like them so much that they have gone from my "go to" bait, to my starting bait.  That's not to say that they are the all magical, mystic, catch all bait that never fails.  They just tend to out perform other baits on most given days for me.  On other days they don't seem to catch squat though.      Thats why it's still called fishing and not catching I guess.   

[ominousone]

No doubt, there is no magic bait... I was just wondering if people had confidence in this bait or not, and what would be an acceptable use.  Sounds like they'd be great on my new "home" lake of Lake Delta and on Oneida for walleye and perch.  Sounds like my old standbye of smelt for trout will still prevail and I'm gonna find a way to get me some smelt for trout if i have to hand raise them from eggs on the ice foregoing family and employment and living for month's on end in a ice shanty and hire huge hells angels security guys to keep dec off the ice for good measure.  Where there's a lunatic there's a way.

[Chainsaw]

.....and hire huge hells angels security guys to keep dec off the ice for good measure. 

How much are you paying an hour, in Smelt?

[BUCKSKI]

Saw what you lack in size you make up for in creativity!
How ya feeling?
take care see ya

[jflood]

has anyone been out yet or is it to early

[BUCKSKI]

All depends on how many leaves have fallen in your area. i usaully get out during southern zone bow season before the snow flies.
Very soon, I might check the creek this w.e.

[fingerlaker]

Does it have to be a stream with flow or can it just be a bottom land swampy woods with a lot of standing water in it...loaded with leaves

[jon in ct]

Funny I've never used them or heard of them for sale, but I'm interested enough to give it a shot (hey, free bait right??).  Just curious, about how big are they?  Just wondering so I have a better idea what to look for.

[jflood]

I'm by no means an expert but I have found they can vary in size. Some are as big as 1-1.5 inchs and fat. Those are more noticeable than the small ones which range from 1/4 - 1/2 inch. I would think the size  would depend on when the eggs were laid and how well they are eating.

[rgfixit]

RG

[JEBADIAH]

I have been harvesting my own oak leaf bugs for around 5 years now and have managed to get enough to last all season each year.Put your hip boots on, grab a pitchfork and a bucket and head to a local creek and look for a log jam or back wash where a bunch of leaves are piled up and dig in.When the bugs feed they leave behind leaf skeletons,if you see these you know the bugs are there.Don't be afraid to dig deep, I find most of mine in the muddier bottom layer of the leaf pile.Best I ever did was behind a small beaver dam, me and a friend got 50 dozen in one hour.

[rgfixit]

What's your method for keeping them in good shape?
RG

[seaweed01]

RG,

I keep them in a styrofoam cooler with wet leaves and a wet piece of burlap over the leaves. This
helps the leaves to stay wet. I keep the burlap fairly wet. I keep them in my attached garage
that doesen't freeze but stays fairly cool all winter. I also keep a bag of dry leaves to soak and
add to the cooler with the oak grubs. It's suprising how many they will eat during the winter (just
like nightcrawlers do.) I hope I helped.

Pete

[JEBADIAH]

when I'm at the creek I put fresh wet leafs from the creek in the bottom of the bucket to start,catch some bugs then another layer of leaves and so on.You dint want alot of water in the bucket but the leaves need to be wet.From there its down to the unheated basement with a piece of wood over the bucket to keep the moisture in.Grab a big bag of extra leaves while your at the creek because they do like to eat.I rinse the bucket once a month or so with unclorinated water to remove the fecal, add some fresh leaves and that's about it.They dint like the fridge.I wont be out till the end of the shotgun to gather mine.This has become a great part of my preseason warm up,I know its getting close when I'm in the creek BUGGIN....

[jflood]

anybody been out yet  success