Oh noes! Another threat to the smallmouth population!

[moguy1973]

http://scout.com/outdoors/bass-fishing/Article/Snapping-Turtle-ATTACKS-Smallmouth-Bass-Angler-Lands-Both-105569731

 

[Mitch f]

Since were talking about snapping turtles… Just ask Seth about this picture from last weekend! The hi-def craw catches turtles too!

[fishinwrench]

Let's not call it a threat, because if the smallie hadn't of been hooked then he probably would not have swam past the turtle.  😋

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

Since were talking about snapping turtles… Just ask Seth about this picture! The hi-def craw catches turtles too!

I hate those things.  I was waste deep in a pond fishing when one swam right up next to me and just stares.  Big ole pink head and he's all beat up.  I lost control of my bowels momentarily then I did my best Jesus interpretation to walk on water.  FAIL!! 

It was probably pay back from when I saw a water snake swim up to a guy at Bennett and try to climb up him and he was back peddling until he fell in with waders on.  The dude lost it and I couldn't stop laughing.  KARMA!

[rps]

4 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I hate those things.  I was waste deep in a pond fishing when one swam right up next to me and just stares.  Big ole pink head and he's all beat up.  I lost control of my bowels momentarily then I did my best Jesus interpretation to walk on water.  FAIL!! 

It was probably pay back from when I saw a water snake swim up to a guy at Bennett and try to climb up him and he was back peddling until he fell in with waders on.  The dude lost it and I couldn't stop laughing.  KARMA!

Years ago - oh good lord, it was 1973 or 1974 - I was in a tube float fishing a pond near Norman, Oklahoma when a snake fell from the willows over me into the space between me and the front of my tube. I am positive a video would have been funnier than Bill Dance and his snake antics. In the end, I was out of the tube and had to dive to the bottom for my rod and reel. Once I had them back, I retrieved my tube and I went home, soggy and defeated.

[Stein]

Several years ago I caught a large snapping turtle about 20" across while bass fishing a farm pond in my float tube.  Thought it was a big catfish as it was a strong pull, pull, pull when swimming away from me.  Finally turned it and brought it up about a half a rod length away from me.  Set the hook as hard as I could to snap the line and kicked away beating the water to a froth.

[moguy1973]

Biggest snapping turtle I've seen in person was about a 35lb one that my grandpa caught on a trot line when I was a kid.  I remember him taking it up on shore and my grandma sticking a big branch in its face for it to bite and my grandpa smacking it on top of the head with a sledge hammer.  Watched him cut it up to make turtle gumbo.  

[Quillback]

Biggest snapper I have seen (except for that monster they have at BPS Springfield) was in Massachusetts.  Back in the early 70's when I was in high school, bass fishing with the old man, big snapper rose to the surface about 20 feet away, eyeballed us for a few seconds, then silently submerged, hard to say how big it was, but it dwarfed any snapper (except for the BPS one) that I have seen since then, and I have seen a lot of snappers.

[Old plug]

1. I helped a guy years ago trqp some out of his small 5 ac They are.pretty simple to trap. He  used oil drums.. Put them out in the lake in shallow water waighted so they would stay put. You put a flip type walkway on the barrel and hang a bluegill  high over the center of the barrel on some sort of heavy wire loop. The turtles come up the ramp and the ramp trips and throws them in the barrel. where they are esay to shoot. 

[Quillback]

Anyone ever been bit by a snapper?  Never have myself and I have never have talked to someone that was bit.  They seem to be pretty ferocious, but never bite anyone.

I am sure there have been people bit that were messing with them, tugging on a leg or trying to get a hook out of one.  But I wonder if they will go out of their way to get you.