snapping turtles

[sjohnson]

anybody see any snapping turtles.

[andrew chadwick]

I saw a 40 lber out kyacking last weekend. almost ran the darn guy over, I thought it was some floating lilipad roots. scared the crap out of me.

[buzzin for bass]

In the last week or two I've been seeing quite a few every time I'm out chasing sunnies and crappies.

[RobertELee]

Saw 20 lb'er last weekend

[Katman]

I see a few here and there....but for some reason....I pull atleast 2-3 softshell per season. I'm usually fish for cats but they tend to pick up my bait once in a while. I just take a nice picture and send them on their way.

[SFBOY]

SAW ONE THAT LOOKED LIKE A PANCAKE ON LEXINGTON AVE. BETWEEN JOSEPHINE AND THE POND TO THE EAST LAST WEEK.

[HuntFishDude]

Saw a 8 pounder on the 18th fairway at ValleyWood ( Apple Valley), had to fight him off to get my shot...

[joeyquicksand*]

I was trout fishing down near red wing a couple weeks ago, standing in about ankle deep water casting upstream, when i saw what was a rock about a foot and a half long and a foot wide come sliding up from under the water. It came to a stop about 2 feet from me when i realized it was a snapping turtle. Then it hissed at me. I jumped right out of the water and on to shore, and let it make its way down the stream... scared the bejebus out of me.

[vister]

I'm sure many of you have eaten snappers before, but maybe not. A few years ago, when I lived back home, they would always be coming uphill from the river over to a pond about a 1/2 mile away to lay their eggs. In the meantime they would cross my parents yard, and we would tease them with sticks. One actually nabbed the end of my brothers shoe off. So a friend of the family would take and clean a few. One time we were having "fried chicken" for dinner, and dang was it good. Ma was laughing to herself when we discovered what it was that we were eating! But personally, it does taste better than chicken, but a little bit more dangerous to catch. Apparently, if they clamp down on a stick and you cut their head off, it will stay clamped down for well over 24 hours. Ouch

And 40+ pounders are a regular up there.

[NorthernLite]

caught and released this guy while noodling near my house

[GreyGoose]

Your a brave man NorthernLite. I hate to say it but I am terrified of those things. One of the reasons I hate waking around in waders when I'm duck huntin is the thought of gettin snapped.I've seen some big ones. I saw one about that size last week up in Wis. I poked it with a stick until it was outta the road, but I really wouldn't mind if someone ran it over. I've hit a few by accident and it doesn't seem to faze them... ...CREEPY!

And you said you where noodling? I didn't know people did that around here. I wouldn't wanna noodle that guy!

[NorthernLite]

haha i was kiddin about the noodlin thing. If i caught that guy noodlin i would be missing a few fingers. I just saw him sittin on the edge of the shore and snuck up from behind... he wasn't to happy about me pickin him up. I had my buddy snap a quick pick then just put him back when i found him. Biggest snapper i've ever caught, but ive seen bigger up north in lake vermilion

[JBMasterAngler]

I see snappers on the road all the time (particularly in the carlos avery area), I always pull over and scare them into the brush or water so that nobody does take the liberty of running them over. I do that with painted turtles too. I almost stepped on a snapper on the kettle river (about the same size as the one in the pic above) wearing just sandles...would NOT have been good for business!