Oak Leaf Grubs ~ Crane Fly Larvae ~ Leatherjackets

There are a small group of Finger Lake fisherman/woman who can regularly go out and catch 12"+ per on a regular basis.  A lot goes into their success, but what most people do not realize is that the success is due quality of preparation and technique.  Their equipment is not expensive nor high end.

Myself I use an ultra-light rod and reel from Walmart with 4 pound test and tie a 4 pound fluorocarbon leader with two #6 Mosquito Hooks and a weight.

Quality bait is also essential.  I often reference the Outdoor Store in Bloomfield and Bubba's Bait in Pultney as my two favorite live bait stores.  There is however an incredible bait that the trophy perch fisherman use on a regular basis.  This bait is called oak leaf grubs, aka. leatherjackets, aka. crane fly larvae.

Finger Lake fisherman who catch the big ones use crane larvae bait in the winter and spring.  There is great classic regional lore around these baits.  People search high and low for these leatherjackets.  Once a fisherman finds them they never tell a soul where they found them, for if they do word gets out and their honey hole will get picked clean by other fisherman.

Today Johnny-boy and I took advantage of the unusually warm weather to go hunt for these elusive larvae.  I wanted to try a double secret location that I had stumbled upon previously.  With my grandfathers bamboo net and a dirt rake we hike down a stream until we came to a place where leaves were backed up against a log laying across the stream.  In five scoops we collected 107 grubs.  This should be good enough for two or three perch outings.

What is great about this location is that the grubs will be there every year.  That is why it is secret-secret where these locations are. Can't tell you where....  :-)