I thought I had snagged an algae covered plastic bag.

I started laughing when I saw his front feet flipping.

I pulled him on shore to get a better picture and my lure. He took some slack and tried to scurry back into the water. I tightened the line and he spit out my lure.

Guess he wasn't that hungry.

Good catch and release there. lol

I hate them bait stealin turtles !!

Nice. I grew up in Scotland where we had no turtles and when I moved to Texas I went "Wow!! Wow!! ... I caught a turtle!!" the first time it happened. Unfortunately now it has become ... "oh no .. another f&^%$#ing turtle!!!". As Brandon said, bait stealers. Worse, when you get a big snapping beast, you have to be REALLY careful with your fingers. I got a big one off the hook once and before I put him back in the water I fiddled by presenting him with some bait. He was in a bad mood and bit right through it with speed and power. I have a lot of respect for their abilities and never underestimate their speed or strength ... or their reach. Those necks of theirs seem to be able to reach out a lot further than I would think.

Neil

Makes it easier to cut !!

Although I was excited about catching the turtle, my next concern was how to recover my lure.

I suppose I was lucky that he spit it out. I was thinking about cutting the lure off. Fortunately I just had to bend the hook back.

When I was growing up fishing with Grandpa, the turtles jumped off the the logs from a quarter mile away. It was surprising to have one on the end of my line.

you will learn to hate them

When bottom fishing you occasionally hook a turtle. They will more often than not, swallow the hook, get it logged in their throat, have it sticking out their neck, their eye, etc, etc. It's never a pretty sight. I do like Turtles, but I swear they will surface, look for your floating bobber and then use that as a marker and follow it down to your bait! lol...

I have fished some ponds using a topwater frog the stupid turtles follow the frog all the way back to the bank .... I even caught a bullfrog on the plastic frogs they are also fun to get

dmunsie ... you are so right. I had to laugh when I read your post. Ive been catfishing in local ponds, seen the darn turtle surface and pulled my bobber in and watched him surface where it was. I'll swear that when I cast again away from that spot, again he popped his head up and the game repeated. It would have been cute and funny if I hadn't wanted to catch some fish!!

Ive also been out in the middle of Eagle Mountain lake and had a turtle appear. My wife seems to want to say "ahh ... a turtle" and then proceeds to feed him which only encourages the story.

Yeah we call that a "Quick Release" Good for turtles snakes and other undesireables.

Turtles suck. I dont really understand their purpose. I think my Granddad put a nice dent in the population in his good years =). ya'll can figure out what that means

Turtle soup/stew .......... mmmmmmmmmmmmm YUMMY