Great day

[sean kerley]

I finished work early today and headed out to my favorite pond. I tried a quill float for the first time, and that is all I'll ever use to hang ice jigs under unless I have no choice...that thing was so sensitive, and I realize that I have missed HUNDREDS of fish in the past because of my float.

To start off, I caught this gorgeous fish with a chartreuse/black tube on a #12 ice jig. The action of that bobber was like a video game! I put her on the stringer with a couple of others from the same spot, tied it off to a stump and walked a little bit. That's when I heard the snaps on my stringer rattling violently.

 

This guy had one of my gills by the tail and was trying to make off with them. Big nasty snapping turtle. He was so stubborn that I had time to take a pic before I got my fish back. A couple of bite marks on the tail, but all three still in good shape, I went back to my car. I grabbed the bucket that my fish were going to end up in anyway.

This is what ended up going into the bucket. I had brought some crickets, but the fish wouldn't leave the ice jigs alone, so after awhile I just let all the crickets go. (Who wants to mess with insects when an artificial is working like this?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my sink with a day's catch in it...thank God I'm not married...I would've had to clean these outside!

 

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Good job Sean, now that you have had a taste of what a porcupine quill can do , imagine how much fun it would be on a fly rod,   a fish on one end of the line, and your hand holding the line feeling every twitch.  LOFR

[Allen Morgan]

But they're tasty!!!  Turtle Gumbo!  YUMMY!

On a side note, I am married, and I still clean my fish inside......

[sean kerley]

snapping turtles freak me out, man...nasty critters

[carl hendrix]

you mean you didn't keep the turtle to??  aw man!!  still a nice mess of gills!