Fish eat many types of leeches, but only the ribbon leech is widely used as bait. A few anglers have found tiger leeches to be good panfish bait. A ribbon leech has a firmer body than a horse leech and body situations or grooves that are less pronounced. The color of a ribbon leeches varies from pure black to light brown. Some have a brown or olive background with many black spots.
Leeches are easy to keep alive.
They are not as sensitive to temperature changes as minnows, and they require relatively little oxygen. Leeches can be kept alive until fall, even without food, but they should be allowed to clean themselves. Leeches that develop a slim on them are in need of a place to clean themselves. Leeches that are held in stagnant water over long periods of time need to ride themselves of waste and if they were in a stream or pond they would burrow into the sand to clean themselves. Many anglers leave their leeches in a plastic container in the refrigerator and find them in a slimy smelly mess.