What are they?

[Finlander]

All right all you worm experts out there, we caught a walleye that gurgitated up worms.
They were red in color and the bigger ones about an inch long were kinda scaley.
Any idea as to what kind of worms they were?

[wall eyell be]

Fresh water shrimp ?

[The Grebe]

"It probably ate some bad chicken!"

[Lowe]

Probably Chironomids of some sort. They're actually a midge and hatch into a insect that closely resembles a mosquito but doesn't sting.

[Finlander]

Hey "The Grebe" ever been to lake Osakis and see the grebes there?
They are there by the hundreds along with other aquatic birdlife and Osakis is described in the National Audibaun Society magazine as the best lake in the USA to observe aquatic birds!
Just to let you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Casaloma]

Heres a little info regarding aquatic worms...
There are more than 200 species of aquatic earthworms in North America. Feeding on bacteria, algae, diatoms, and decaying animal and plant matter in the soft substrates, aquatic earthworms eat as they burrow. The huge volume of sediment and organic matter that cycles through the guts of these annelids speeds up nutrient recycling and physically turns over the aquatic soils, thereby increasing aquatic productivity and soil aeration.

So these worms ( mostly microscopic ) aid in keeping the lake balanced, as well as feeding every young 'eye. The 'big worms' can be up to 3". I have seen many of these Big Ones free swimming in Arrowhead lakes & although I dont know their common or Latin name, I suspect that what appear to be scales are body segments- much like an undersized tapeworm. Anyone who can ID these please... My curusioty has been re-awakened.
First post, go easy.

[soultwist]

Bloodworms maybe? Like this: Bloodworms

[The Grebe]

"Hey Finlander...what it be like? I fished Osakis alot! We used to be at Head of the lakes just about every week-end in the winter....I only fished it a few times in the summer and that was before I grabbed this " Grebe" handle....I probably did'nt even know what the h*** a Grebe was at that time!

We fished afew of the other lakes in the area also, Girney (Lots of wormy fish, especially the Perch).

Smith, caught 4 sunnies right in a row one winter, in the N.W. section of the lake and each one weighed 1#...Only got the biggies once, never again.

Longbridge, sunfish were really dark and tasted kind of muddy.

I do more winter fishing then summer and winter is a slow period for Grebe sightings!

[Roughfisher]

Chironomid larvae AKA Bloodworms, they are emerging right now, sometimes you can see huge vortexes of the adult stage midges blackening the sky over Mille Lacs. During a heavy giant midge emergence, fish will key in on them. The adults have feathery antennae, otherwise they look like a big, blackish mosquito or a small crane fly. The larvae live in silt. They leave the silt to molt and to emerge, which is when fish feed on them. Thanks for the info about the walleye's feeding on midge larvae; I knew they keyed on the Hex larvae but with the huge midge emergences that most good walleye lakes have, it makes sense that they would utilize this food source. If the 'eyes are feeding on midge larvae, you could catch them by buying bulk frozen bloodworms in a pet shop and using them for bait. You can even buy LIVE bloodworms from World of Fish in Richfield. But that is a dark evil secret. A real man would tie a #10 San Juan Worm or bloodworm pattern and fish them by feel with a full-sink flyline.