I was fishing after the storm here in CS on a lake I've fished almost daily for two years now. Turtles are everywhere and I just so happened to ask my neighbor randomly the other day if he's ever caught one by surprise. He said not by surprise but a time or two with chicken liver to kill them.
Well, here I am fishing for large mouth bass around 6:00 pm using a soft plastic 4 inch swimbait on a 2/0 jighead. Hooked something very heavy from about 15 yards out. Something about the bite and its movement didn't feel right.
Kept reeling and this big ass turtle appeared and was hooked real good. I was in a bit of a state of shock, grabbed the net, and proceeded to land it. My scissors were nowhere in site.
So, I then got pretty close to it trying to determine how hung up in the net it was, location of hook and lure, etc.
I extended my right hand somewhat close (maybe a foot away or so) in an effort really just to get a hold of the line and this ******* snapped at me so fast and furious it was unbelievable. It got both sides of my thumb enough to make it bleed for 15 minutes but not enough to do any real damage (I don't think).
After realizing what happened and doing some research on common snapping turtles vs alligator snapping turtles, I realized I was very lucky to either not lose my dominant hand Gig' Em thumb or as my neighbor said, not have to go to the hospital with a common snapping turtle still attached to my digit.
After it snapped it got loose off the hook and jumped back into the water. Feel free to flame away. It was an idiotic and total amateur hour move for sure.
But, has anybody else been snapped on before? It was freaking intense. I will post full video of the encounter as soon as I figure out how.
Well, here I am fishing for large mouth bass around 6:00 pm using a soft plastic 4 inch swimbait on a 2/0 jighead. Hooked something very heavy from about 15 yards out. Something about the bite and its movement didn't feel right.
Kept reeling and this big ass turtle appeared and was hooked real good. I was in a bit of a state of shock, grabbed the net, and proceeded to land it. My scissors were nowhere in site.
So, I then got pretty close to it trying to determine how hung up in the net it was, location of hook and lure, etc.
I extended my right hand somewhat close (maybe a foot away or so) in an effort really just to get a hold of the line and this ******* snapped at me so fast and furious it was unbelievable. It got both sides of my thumb enough to make it bleed for 15 minutes but not enough to do any real damage (I don't think).
After realizing what happened and doing some research on common snapping turtles vs alligator snapping turtles, I realized I was very lucky to either not lose my dominant hand Gig' Em thumb or as my neighbor said, not have to go to the hospital with a common snapping turtle still attached to my digit.
After it snapped it got loose off the hook and jumped back into the water. Feel free to flame away. It was an idiotic and total amateur hour move for sure.
But, has anybody else been snapped on before? It was freaking intense. I will post full video of the encounter as soon as I figure out how.
