Last week I caught several fish on the OP and 3 out of the five had little black worms fall out of there gills. I have never seen this before anyone know anything about them?

mighta been leeches?

One of the steelhead we got today over there had them in her gills, and a hen king we caught a few weeks ago over there had them also. I have never seen it before this year...
Maybe I am just catching more fish now

I noticed the same thing with the cohos I caught earlier....I guess I should have looked closer, but at the time I thought they might be small lampreys. I would like to know what they are and if there seems to be an unusual "happening" in process. I have never noticed this before, either.

Info, please.

I saw small 1 to 2 inch black leeches slithering along the gill plates and lower jaws of some of the darker fall kings we caught on a Humptulips float Nov 1. Released the leeches.... along with all the kings that day.

Same here - I got a late, bright coho that had those things all over the gills. I let it go. Another guy tried to tell me they were sea lice but they didn't look at all like the lice on the kings that I have caught on the oregon coast - no way. These were more like leeches...??

I caught I late Summerrun on the Cowlitz about a month ago and the entire gill area was filled with hundreds of what looked to be sea lice. Maybe that is why the fish was so mellow when I brought him in.

Fish Chaser,
Those were parasites all over the fishes mouth and gills. Most all summer runs will have them come fall. That is the best way to distinguish a summer from a winter. Many summer runs caught from the fall well into the winter are mistaken for winter fish (especially hens). A quick look in the mullet will answer any questions.

LT

how long were the 'worms'...?

If'n you take the time to look at them closely you'd figure out they are little leeches.

I found them on fish I caught out of the Skagit. Bad leech year up there.

BAIT!

Silver H and I were Silver fishing 3-4 weeks ago and pulled in a fish that had what looked like small blisters on the sides of it. As we were looking at it, a small worm like thing crawlled out of one of the blisters. We couldn't get that thing out of my boat fast enough...We caught one more later in the day that had the same issue. Friggin nasty is all I could say!

And then when I ate it, Dawg turned the most interesting shade of green.

I think the worms we saw were different. They were NOT leeches, having a round, rather than a flat body. They also came out of a little sore on the fishes side. Kinda reminded me of a movie scene or two.

All of these things will cook up, and most small critters like that have lots of protein and fat. Kind of a good little Atkins diet supplement to your fish dinner.

In fact, this to has happened to me a countless number of times. I first noticed this about 6 years back on a peninsula silver. These were also little black leeches,but I didn't think anything of them and kept the fish anyways. I have kept a few with leeches this year too and smoked them up and never have gotten sick or anything so I guess they're harmless. I think the leeches are simply feeding on the salmon because as soon as a salmon hits the freshwater, it starts the detioration process immediately and the leeches take advantage of it. I've seen this on lots of Kings and Silvers, but never on a steelhead. I find that odd. Just a really bad year for them I guess and the rivers must just be flooded with the bloody little creatures. I don't think you have to worry about the leeches as much as the worms. I did catch a bright hen silver on the Dungy about a month ago and on the outside everything seemed to be fine, but when I cleaned the fish, I noticed a large number of white pea sized eggs or something in the meat that resembled eggs, so I threw it back in the river for the birds. Anyone ever seen this or know what it is?

A couple of threads on it in the archives. If I remember right the leeches are not feeding on the fish just using them for transportation. On the spots in the meat of silvers etc. That parasite is supposed to be harmless if cooked properly. there is an article on the WDFW website about it. Some people cut them out however.