Anyone know the proper name of this?

[JPenny]

It looks like a piece of old 50lb dacron, but it's alive! Can't tell the head from the tail. We've always called these "hair snakes". Just in case this doesn't work as I intended, I am tying to figure out how to post a photo with my post. (Keeping my fingers crossed!)

[JPenny]

Another attempt.

[reinhard1]

if it came from inside a fish, maby some kind of tapeworm? good luck.

[JPenny]

No, we see these swimming occaisonally. I've never seen one inside of a fish. These is no sucker or any noticeable head or tail. Interesting critter.

[TruthWalleyes]

Did you try to use it as leader material

Creepy!

[Nick Kuhn]

Horsehair worm - http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/e614horsehair.html

[reinhard1]

thanks Nick for finding this information and to Penny for bringing this up. i guess i have never seen one. interesting to know they do no harm except to some insects. good luck.

[JPenny]

Thanks for that ID Nick. I've wondered what these were for about 35 years now. Also, thanks for the tip on posting photos. It worked with this one but when I tried to post a pike photo I got a window that stated, "Files can be no larger than 3145728". Any idea on this?

[Nick Kuhn]

Apparently there's a limit to the file size that you can upload here. I would go to something like imgur (dot com), and upload there. It should pop open a box that contains the url for the image (it'll be imgurdotcom/XXXXX.jpg). What you do is in a post, put [*img]imgurdotcom/XXXXX.jpg[*/img], only take out the asterisks.

[fishuhalik]

i think the scientific name is "nastius critturous"

thats one disgusting little bugger!

[Muskiefool]

We called em Hair Snakes when I was a kid, I havent seen one in many years. good info.

[pikestabber]

We call them Horsehair Leeches. When I fish a particular spot for bullheads in the spring, before walleye season (Cutfoot, connected to Big Winnie), you get one or two on every cast tangled up in your line. They must mate that time of year to be that thick... Yeah, they are nasty.

[JPenny]

I got a great laugh when we caught this particular specimen. We had a young native man for a guide and he was scared to death of it. I wanted a photo and he wasn't about to pick it up. Mary says, "Oh get out of the way.....you girl!". I about fell out of the boat. She's not scared of much, especially if she can kill it by stepping on it. Just another one of God's little critters.

[bobbymalone]

are those things that will swim right up yer ______ when you pee in the water?

[JPenny]

The water in that location is cold enough year around that I've never been in it. But from what I gather, the critter you speak of is a small fish and isn't found in North America.