So i was fishing an old pond in the morning in katy (about 5 acres and 50 years old) today with my little jon boat and i had cast out catfish rods baited with sandtrout that got old so we decided not to eat it... and continued bass fishing for about 20 mins with no bites so we decided to move to another spot... so i was reeling in my line and i felt a huge snag! so then i put pressure on it and i feel it pull back hard! then i keep fishing it for an hour and i can tell its big because i was putting tons of pressure on it with a medium action saltwater rod and 20# test line! my arms were really tired from this thing taking a foot and me taking it back... and then the thing is close because when i reeled down to take line i couldnt because i was reeling the entire weight of the thing so for about 10mins a stand still and im just holding him and then my line breaks!!!! and im like what??? so after the hour long battle my arms are exhausted and i didnt even see whatever it was? so what do y'all think it was??? keep in mind this thing felt massively heavy and every time i took line he took it back for at least an hour??? So let me know y'all thoughts!

Nessy..

Sounds like a turtle to me. They can live a very long time and get quiet large with age.

Same thing happened to me on my friend's tank. His tank was about an acre, and I snagged something that felt huge. It broke my line. Two weeks later, my friend's grandpa shot a turtle that weighed about 40 pounds and looked prehistoric. Had to have been at least 50 or 60 years old. Had huge spikes on its back much like a stegosaurus. Still had my damn hook stuck in his lip. We have been fishing and shooting turtles at this tank for about 15 years and have never seen this thing.

thats what i thought or a big catfish? all i know is it was immovable ecspecially when it was under the boat!
how big can turtles get?

My friend's grandpa told us he had seen a turtle living in a stock tank that weighed over 80 pounds.

Where in Katy was this? Is it a private pond? I live in Katy too and didn't know there was a pond you could put a boat in. I'd love to find a pond in the Katy area I can put my canoe in. Feel free to PM me if you wanna keep it secret.

"There is an unverified report of a 403-pound (183 kg) Alligator Snapping Turtle found in Kansas in 1937,[6] but the largest one actually on record is debatable. One weighed at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago was a 16-year resident giant alligator snapper weighing 249 lb (113 kg), sent to the Tennessee State Aquarium as part of a breeding loan in 1999. Another was 236 lb (107 kg), and housed at the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago. Both of these may still be alive. They generally do not grow quite that large�average adult size is around 26 inches shell length with a weight of 175 lb (80 kg). Males are typically larger than females.[7] Alligator snapping turtles can also range in length from 16 to 32 inches (40.4 to 80.8 cm)."

sorry chevyz71mud but the pond is private... and i didnt even know turtles got that big???

Its all good man I was just wondering thanks though

yeah i would do the same!

I would bet money is was a massive turtle. Alot of times when you hook one, it will latch onto the bottom with those horrible claws. I once caught a ~20lb turtle that took half an hour to get in, cause it wouldnt come off the damn bottom.

BUT. . . .it could always be a giant catfish, especially in a private pond.

The beauty of fishing eh.

I don't think an awake and fighting turtle can stay submerged for an entire hour. Catfish or gar.

If it were a gar, its teeth would have cut through 20# mono a lot quicker. A big catfish would run with it if it was hooked. Those bigger older turtles can stay submerged for a long while. I'm almost certain it wasn't a fish.

Check out this web site for info on the snapping turtles.
http://www.untamedscience.com/biodiversi...snapping-turtle

Also you may want to google " snapping turtles found with cival war bullets found in them".