I caught a nice 10lb or so softshell turtle, and thought about dispatching him and eating, but realized I had no idea how to go about cleaning one.

I'm posting this in the catfish forum because none of the others seemed any more appropriate, and I feel sure ppl fishing for cats must hookup turtles, and some are probably cleaning/eating them.

Are they in fact good eating? Or am I wasting my time on this one?

TIA

the way ya clean a turtle is raise up his tail & wipe


naw a soft shell is not bad eatin' at all ... the only meat is on the legs & neck ... turn'im up side down & cut along the edge of the shell ... the leg bones are attached to the shill with a ball joint & are tuff to cut thru ... we usta hammer the knife thru those joints ... once you have the shell off cut the legs & neck out & skin it ... i like it fried up like chicken

Sounds like lotsa work for a few nuggets of meat... I guess I'd do it if I hooked one real deep and he was going to die anyways.

btw, I like the first method of cleaning him... heh heh

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are, that's funny.

I've caught those turtles with the yellow and red stripes on their head and neck. Are those the ones your refering to? I caught a big alligator snapping turtle a while back but he stank like somebodys boat I know.

If you caught it in Texas it probably was not an alligator snapping turtle. It probably was just a big ol common snapper. Alligator snappers are pretty rare I think. The only place I know were they are are in Louisiana's swamps.

Yup, they do stink.

Thanks for not mentioning Bro. Terrys name. He appreciates it.

That alligator turtle is most likely what we call a logger head. Has knots on it's shell, big claws, tail, hooked nosed, and a really bad temper. I've seen them suckers bite through hooks.

I watched a man clean a turtle once and this is his story.

The man was a prominent person in the firearms business from about 1935 to the late 60's. He was born in a dug out in Oklahoma and his mother taught him how to clean them. He would eat almost anything that he caught or killed. He would have a large tub with a fire boiling the water. The turtle was thrown into the boiling water and this would kill all bacteria on the outside of the turtle. I watch this one time and decide to keep on buying the lunch meat after that little demo.

They used to find them quite regularly in the Ft Worth Nature Center Swamp which is just below the spillway at EM.

Yeah, he was po'd that I'd hooked him. He was about as big around as a garbage can lid. Probably close to 50lbs. Big ol mouth looked like he could cut through rebar.

They get to be huge. And they do have attitude. I've seen pictures were they have broken bones on fisherman.

I hate turtles more than snakes after a logger head jumped at me about a foot and a half off the ground. The last thing I saw was a turtle that looked like a huge pile of poo flying straight at me, mouth wide open, and hissing. That was the last time I saw it cause I turned and ran screaming like a girl. That is one of many things people should teach their kids.. Turtles are like John Wayne Toilet Paper (tough as nails and don't take s@#t off of anyone). They are more than willing to open up a can of whup-bass.

Oh My.

I caught a common snapping turtle that weighed 26 lbs noodling and decided to eat it. I removed the shell and skinned the legs and seperated the other meat it was really good but I will never do it again I didnt know how and it took forever