Is there *anything* that can be done to minimize turtles messing with everything? I fish for Carp, Bass, and Catfish......and I get so fed up, especially when I'm Carp fishing, with my line getting some action and I reel back in to find my bait has been nibbled on or completely eaten by turtles. They destroy my bait, swallow my hooks....I seem to have a problem with them a lot lately.


Like this! Spent 15 minutes trying to find a way to retrieve my hook.

Any suggestions?

easier to cut the line then try to remove the hook or cut the head off the turtle

I cut the head off every one I catch now..

I've tried to a few times but their necks are like rubber. Lately I've been sticking them in a cooler and throwing them in a stock tank. I had caught some catfish a while back and had them strung in the water a few feet off shore. I could see them all through the grass and reeds. All the sudden all this blood started coming up and I pulled them out-----they'd been eaten alive by turtles. We were camping and that was going to be our dinner that night. I was livid.

i normaly cut the head off had my striger attacked to many times in the past

You can keep turtles away from your strung fish by using a wire basket or gunny sack . I don't think there is a way to keep them from messing with your bait.

Get a sharper knife or a good hatchet.

stick the knife from the back side. A couple of times will kill them.

find a BFR and use it

Most places I fish are infested with turtles. Caught turtles get released in two pieces.
Get you one of those cheap folding razor blade knives, available almost everywhere - Wmart Kmart Lowes &c. Most places also have a set razor blade knife, multitool and carrying case for real cheap. Replacement blades available wherever you find the knives.

I just use a big rock and bust the shell. No big rock, a big stick will do. Turtles are useless. Now, if we could just get cormorants off the protected list so we could exterminate them.

They disgust me.

Geeze...lot of narrow minded folks here. Bait is being presented, and just because something is caught that you aren't targeting its a problem...get real. If you wanna get a dang hook out get a big pair of needle nose pliers. If you can't get it out then cut your line. I set and run a lot of lines and sometimes there's 20 lb. softshells on a #6 hook...talk about a pain. But it's still doable. I've only ever had to kill a few...really no point.