Question for Oldfishlady

[1fish2fish]

I remember you said you can use dried oak leaves as an alternate to IALs. Since I have thousands of oak leaves on the ground outside I wanted to know what I should look for when picking a leaf?

[Oldfishlady]

I only collect oak leaves that have naturally turned and fallen off the tree, year around not just in the fall, I want them to be naturally dry not green, I look for leaves that are free of any molds and fungus etc....if they have dirt on them I don't worry but I don't want them to be already breaking down or decomposing.
I live in a pesticide and chemical free area so I know my leaves are safe, never use anything that you think may be contaminated with anything.
Make sure you collect oak leaves as some leave can be toxic to fish like walnuts, especially black walnut all parts of the tree can be toxic to fish.

[1fish2fish]

Ok thanks :) We live in the country so I don't have to worry about pesticides or run off and we have a "grove" of just oaks in part of our property so I just need to find good looking leaves that don't have any suspicious looking stuff on them.