Surprise on the Jig under a Float....A Big Common Snapping Turtle

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Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on April 17, 2013 at 6:25pm

It was logged in the official log book as an "unplanned event"......LOL....I needed help to land him since it was on a short telescopic pole......

Comment by Leo Nguyen on April 17, 2013 at 6:23pm

Nothing like hot turtle soup on chilly days, since it ate the bait.

Comment by Allen Morgan on April 17, 2013 at 5:57pm

On a catfish forum I'm a member of, one of the members talking about getting a slow-moving hit, started to reel in.  It felt like he was pulling in a log or a dead body, lots of weight, with and occasional thump or shake to let him know there was something alive on his line.

When he got "it" up, he realized he had snagged a pair of Alligator Snappers busy making the next generation.  He cut his line and let them go about their business.

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on April 17, 2013 at 5:52pm

I had his head out of the water briefly but couldn't get organized well enough to get that picture.....I had lots of tension on the pole as it was to get this shot....You can see she was wanting to go deep and she finally did but nature is fun and today was no different......I would guess the shell was roughly 18" long .....pretty solid but not a giant....

Comment by Allen Morgan on April 17, 2013 at 5:47pm

Yeah, that's a snapper all right.

Saturday I was fishing at the pond at work, and suddenly saw a large turtle of some kind abort a surfacing attempt and dive for the bottom about 5 yards in front of me.  I have seen one or two really big turtle heads poke out of the water; pretty sure there's one good snapper and a nice soft-shell in there.