Lamphreys on the Rise?

The last two times out I have caught fish with lamphreys. 2 on one fish, 3 on one fish!!!! and a couple singles. Never seen that many. Anyone else notice a change?

I haven’t seen one yet this year (but I also haven’t caught that many fish ).

Some of the sturgeon we were getting last fall were covered with them, especially large fish. Wisker Hooked had at least 6 on the 63″ fish.. I think one still resides in someones aquarium

It seemed about the same as the previous year?

Just as Dave said, Sturgeons last fall had them and this year i got a 17″ small mouth with a 6″ one on its head and a mark from another. Here is the fish:

I got a channel cat on 28 May that had a small lamprey on it. They are nasty looking critters. I agree there does seem to be more around.

None of the ones I caught are still swimming. Kinda cute little buggers though. Maybe good for bait?

Last time Blue and I were out he used the scissors on one and made it two

I fish the St Croix N or St Croix Falls quite often and have been wondering the same thing over the last couple of years. Last fall every forth smallie had one and then this spring it seems like every other crappie has one. Anyone think this may have something to do with the water level being stable up there?

If someone has the time this might be worth a call to the DNR. If the lampreys get too bad I think they can spray for them–not sure though. Years back we got a northern on the Vermillion River that had one and I called the DNR and whoever I talked to was interested and I THINK he mentioned they could spray for them. They are some creapy looking things when you pry them off.

If they are on a fish weather you plan to keep the fish or not, should you try to remove them?

I always remove them for the fishes sake. Pinch them with plyers or scissors . Can only help the fish to get them off sooner. I see scars on otherwise healthy fish so I dont think individual lamps can kill a fish. I dont know that much about them but it used to be rare to see them now i have seen several years worth in 2 outings.

I can say like it or not, a live lamphrey has not made it living when it went back into the water…

On a guide trip during mid week this week we where rigging w/crawlers, my guy hooked a fat walleye 24″, and when I went to unhook it, I saw it was deep hooked, and I couldn’t help but see a lampreys mouth sticking out of his throat. I ended up cutting the line as to not injury the eye. I’ve seen this before, but forgot that the eyes gobble those little devils.

Also I’ve pulled them off fish and used them for rigging, though they’ve never worked for me. Lampreys look better than any leech, funny thing is that I was soaking them to no avail while the eyes were biting other live baits.

Keep catchin’
Turk

I had made a trip last sunday and my girlfriend caught a just barely legal eye trolling. when I had netted the fish I noticed something funny hanging on it. I took a closer look and it was a lamphrey.

I took it off for closer inspection, I have never seen one live. man they are gross. I am not sure if i wanna go swimmin anymore. I ripped it apart and threw it back for a cat to have an appetizer.

She caught it about 2 miles north of the high bridge. so they are creeping north.

There way farther north than that. I caught a sturgeon this spring with one on its back.
Caught it around the wild mountain area north of the St. Croix falls dam.

They are everywhere. I’m seeing a lot on the Namekagon too.

Last Friday I caught a smallmouth with a lamprey halfway down it’s throat. Probably not a preferred forage but I was happy to see a smallmouth prey on lamprey for a change.

I have definitely seen an increase in Lamprey’s on the Croix in the past couple years. Rarely do you catch a large pike or muskie without a lamprey or lamprey scar.

They are pretty cool in the Aquarium with the bull heads. They latch on and you can see the blood come out the 5 holes or gills whatever they are. They suck for a while then they let go.
A couple days later they would latch onto another bully. Never killed any of them. Just took what it needed then moved on.
Seem like they could sense when that they had taken enough from a fish. Kinda like the knew that they would kill them if they went any further.

Anyways that what I observed in the 8 months I had one. It committed suicide and jumped out of the aquarium and slithered under the love seat and dried up and passed on.

Scared the crap out of my folks when they moved the love seat.

Quote:

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It committed suicide and jumped out of the aquarium and slithered under the love seat and dried up and passed on.

Scared the crap out of my folks when they moved the love seat.

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