Undertaker Don
Trout Whisperer
Warning there a huge Snapping turtle roaming below KLG -last nite I was wet wading & it litterley walked right past me 6 " away ---I almost jumped out my skin ---Be aware it big enought to take off your leg ---!!!
Give us a try!
Welcome back to the new NEFF. Take a break from Twitter and Facebook. You don't go to Dicks for your fly fishing gear, you go to your local fly fishing store. Enjoy!
Watch out for the walking manhole cover!!
- Thread starter Undertaker Don
- Start date
theartoflee
Anadromous Angler
What was the stream temp last night? I cant imagine with the recent temps being so hot that it got below 70. I think you have the right idea by trying give the fish a break but how about actualy giving the fish a break.Undertaker Don said:
I would like to think you were trying to do the right thing but are actualy "in the dark" so to speak about if it is safe to fish at night temp wise.
Undertaker Don
Trout Whisperer
66 degree where i was I know enought to fish where there kool influx ---whats that got to do with A snapping Turtle warning anyway--- Hello!
jcstikfish
NJ Nymph Guy
I have run into several snappers right in the KLG itself. There is one area in particular where my father would always encounter one back in the 60's/70's. To this day we still refer to the spot as snapping turtle run!
Personally, I could do without them.
~James
Personally, I could do without them.
~James
Snapper soup is a real South Jersey treat, especially with a dollop of sherry. The specialty of the old Bookbinders in Philadelphia was snapper soup and it was good. Growing up in P'burg a few guys caught snappers, but I think it is a lost art in North and Central Jersey and is a dying one in South Jersey. They are messy guys to clean.
Fly Ty R
O' knowledgable professor of poetry and trout
JeffK said:
True, it is a dying delicacy down this way. I've never had it, but I know a few backwoods locals around here who love the stuff. Of course, they also crave a nice helping of muskrat tail in the winter too, so I don't go by what they say...
I remember when I was a kid (maybe 7 or 8) in a local park around where I grew up, I was fishing off a little wooden bridge with my cousin (same age as me) that went between two ponds. All of a sudden the bridge started shaking. We both looked at each other in terror, then looked down. There was this sea turtle-sized turtle that was trying to swim under the bridge, but got caught on the ricketty pilings. Sure enough it got through, but I'll never forget how big that thing was. I figure the shell had to be 4ft wide, maybe 5ft long. I swear I'm not making it up, and we both weren't delusional. I have no idea what kind of turtle it was, possibly a massive snapper, maybe a red-belly. Who knows. It really looked like a loggerhead or something big like that, but it was a freshwater pond. For the next few years we tried to catch that thing (back when we would catch turtles for no apparent reason; kids, can't figure us out). There were actually local stories of a "Big Bertha" turtle that lived in those ponds, perhaps that was her?
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They can easily take a finger off - which is why most of the snapper fishermen I knew were missing one or two. Kids would poke about an inch diameter stick at a captured snapper and some turtles would snap it in two.
The craziest method of snapper fishing was grabbing them underwater. You would feel under a log, cutbank, etc until you felt the turtle. Snappers have a rough shell with an obvious "rough" and "smooth" direction. Once you felt the turtle you went in the "smooth" direction until you could grab a leg or tail and pulled the fellow up. The crazy part is that you held a 30 lbs critter that is hissing at you at arms length in order to keep from being bitten - a snapper can shoot their head out about a foot in a nanosecond (that's how they catch fish. When they used to drain the Delaware Canal in the winter the fish would pool up in the few remaining wet spots and you could watch the snappers catch them). Where a turtle being held by a rear leg can reach is somewhere guys don't like to be bitten. A snapper gets heavy real quick with your arms straight out, but you dare not curl up your arms and let the snapper get anywhere near.
Other ways to get them was with salt water hooks baited with meat, with trap nets, and by going in the swamps where they wintered, poking an iron rod down in the mud until you heard a hollow thump, and then digging the turtle up. A snapper is never a happy customer when caught.
The craziest method of snapper fishing was grabbing them underwater. You would feel under a log, cutbank, etc until you felt the turtle. Snappers have a rough shell with an obvious "rough" and "smooth" direction. Once you felt the turtle you went in the "smooth" direction until you could grab a leg or tail and pulled the fellow up. The crazy part is that you held a 30 lbs critter that is hissing at you at arms length in order to keep from being bitten - a snapper can shoot their head out about a foot in a nanosecond (that's how they catch fish. When they used to drain the Delaware Canal in the winter the fish would pool up in the few remaining wet spots and you could watch the snappers catch them). Where a turtle being held by a rear leg can reach is somewhere guys don't like to be bitten. A snapper gets heavy real quick with your arms straight out, but you dare not curl up your arms and let the snapper get anywhere near.
Other ways to get them was with salt water hooks baited with meat, with trap nets, and by going in the swamps where they wintered, poking an iron rod down in the mud until you heard a hollow thump, and then digging the turtle up. A snapper is never a happy customer when caught.
Undertaker Don
Trout Whisperer
I just heard a story about a Boy scout lake/camp that was closed cause a snapper took such a bite out of a canoe that everyone freaked --so thay sent after it with 22's so everone could go back in the water---so what damage could it do to your leg while wading --Hello !!!
Future Fanatic
Nirvana
I've got nothing to say... I just wanted my avatar to show up here at the party.
About 5 years or so ago I was fishing above Callicoon when, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw the back of a large trout nymphing downstream from me. I quickly turned and laid out what might be the most accurate 60 foot cast I ever made, leading the fish perfectly. I felt a tug and struck. It turned out I had foul hooked a smallish Snapper in its left hind foot. I hoisted him in; he was 15 inches or so long, most of the inches in claws and beak and tail, and was madder than a Jersey Bull! I carefully snipped the leader, as close to the foot as I could get and keep my fingers and left him go to be caught another day. I am an advocate of catch and release in these situations.
BobK.
BobK.
RickW
Learning Latin
A number of years ago I was on a late August scouting trip, looking to get permission to hunt the upcoming duck season in a flooded river bottom. I stopped at a run down looking farm. The owner was very agreeable to letting me hunt, as he was in his late 70's and didn't hunt anymore ( I also promised him a few ducks). As we were in the yard talking, I commented on what looked like a dozen or so large potatos drying on a rock wall near the garden. "Them ain't taters son, them're snapper heads!"
He said there was a bumper crop that year, and how much he liked his snapper soup.
He said there was a bumper crop that year, and how much he liked his snapper soup.
Undertaker Don
Trout Whisperer
Latest update on Fri I saw this dinosauor again swimming with a 15" Rainbow in his mouth I threw a large rock & he spit up Trout & took off --Bow was stunned but only a mild scar on side --i did the wiggle revive & it swam off slowly ---about 10 min later giant snapper came back again to ck. out spot of crime ---Boy he really hates me now!!!!
sandfly
Just finished a River Runs Through it!
snappers can get very big, if you havn't tried it bookbinders sells the soup in stores..cleaning a snapper was always a mess, plus they stunk....the copper kettle in trevose pa. used to have as well. a snapper even a small one will take your finger clean off if it wants to...iv'e seen a lot up here this spring headed into the woods or marsh areas to lay their eggs..
I use to go to this place called scouts Island near SharkRiver Golf Course , While canoing out there once we saw this snapper that his shell was about the size of a wheel baral , We started teasing him by poking our padals at him ( real smart ), eventually we ticked him off and he started comming after us , we were atempting to row backwards to get away from it , he swam himself under the canoe and started to bang into the bottom of it , this went on for about a 20/30 ft ( felt like a mile ) we finally reached an opening on the stream that we could dock the canoe and get on land , scared the death out of us , AINT EVER MESSED WITH THEM SNAPPERS AGAIN.
They will chase you if you tick them off enof. Think of it , this guy chased a 15ft canoe , Id think they would go after a 6ft person with no hesitation.
They will chase you if you tick them off enof. Think of it , this guy chased a 15ft canoe , Id think they would go after a 6ft person with no hesitation.
Eagle Claw
Trout Hunter
If anyone has a recipe for turtle soup, maybe we could invite this critter to a TU meeting as guest speaker and ask him to give a presentation on his fishing techniques,then WACK,,,when he least expects it.
Back when we were kids we used to night fish for hybrids and pike in Spruce Run resevoir. On night we ended up hooking a huge snapper, and got it in after about a 20 minute tug o war. We managed to coax it in a big garbage can that we would used to float our gear in as we waded out to the island we fished off of. Well we had the bright idea to cover the can and put it in my truck to bring to the house of someone we knew. This someone happened to have a small fenced in yard with a Koi pond. Ill never forget the splash that thing made when all of us hoisted the can over the fence and it tumbled into the pond.
flying Z
Just finished a River Runs Through it!
I wonder about some people. Those who treat trout like baby's and nurse them back to health with safe catch and release, and then shoot a turtle in the head with a bow and arrow? People will always adapt causes to meet there own personal needs. Not to rip on anyone but come on. If you want to be a true sportsman/wildlife advocate treat all species with the same respect. I have had snappers the size of garbage can lids swim rite next to me while wading in the musconetcong and it blew my mind as they are truly amazing creatures. And anyone who can kill a turtle must be an acomplished hunter because everyone knows that turtles are among the fastest and deadliest game.
