Around here I don't think there's a pond that doesn't have any snapping turtles. But that doesn't mean I have to just live with it. The jug methods described should work pretty well but I would think that you will want to keep a close eye on them when you put them in. I've personally watched a turtle that I had on a hook putting his claws in his mouth to try and get the hook out so if you leave him on the hook too long he will eventually find a way to get off.

I have another similar suggestion. I use a good old-fashioned home-made diddy pole. Just get a strong stick about the size of your thumb (bigger at the bottom and smaller than that at the top) maybe about 5 feet long. I tie some 30 lb or 50 lb Spiderwire Catfish Fusion (although any heavy line should work) on it, long enough to get into 3 or 4 foot deep water. I slide a 1 to 2 ounce weight on the line - don't tie it just let it slide back and forth on the line. Then - and this is the key - get the best circle hooks your local bait shop sells. I use sizes ranging from 2/0 to 5/0 for turtles. Then shove the fat end of the stick into the shore as deep as you can push it. You might have to whittle a point on the stick if you have really really hard soil. In my pond some of the shorelines are just too hard to push it in at all, but I can line the face dam with 3 or 4 of them if I want. It will hold in the ground better than you expect because the turtle is pulling down and sideways in relation to the tip of the stick; I've never had one get pulled out (except for a catfish that was big enough to break that 30 pound test when I found the pole a day later!) Then bait them and throw them out by hand, but not very far. The turtles will be able to smell the bait and they seem to keep a close eye on the shallows and shorelines when they want a meal. Wind any exta line around the top of the stick so the turtle can't run too far when he takes the bait.

If you haven't used circle hooks before they look a little bizarre but boy do they work! As that turtle pulls on the line he just keeps working that hook deeper and deeper into the boney insides of his mouth. I set these poles in and leave them for several days, checking morning and night or more often if I can and rebait as necessary. The more you check the less likely you are to lose a turtle, but the circle hooks will help minimize that if you know you can't check for awhile.

As far as bait I've caught them on accident on almost anything I use for channel cats, but the best results have come from 3 things. One thing I do is use a light pole and tiny tiny hook and just a little tiny piece of earthworm or a waxworm to catch some small fish in your pond. Any kind will work. The turtle is used to eating what's in the pond so it doesn't matter. Use these fish alive or chunk them into cut bait really roughly in big torn up chunks. I catch more on these as cut bait but the live bait works better sometimes.

The third thing is something I tried for catfish and instead caught just about everything else - including a really big snake and both snapping and softshell turtles. Get some cheap stew meat and cover each chunk until it's virtually white with a mixture of half salt/half garlic powder. Let it sit long enough that the whiteness is partly gone so you know the garlic is soaked in some (you can keep it in the fridge or let it sit in the sun or keep some in the freezer - it really doesn't matter.) Then put a chunk on the hook. I like this method because it's quicker than catching small fish first, and I can keep some fresh in a zip lock or sealed bowl in the fridge so it doesn't stink up my fingers worse than just a garlic smell which washes off pretty easily.

Just pull the line hand-over-hand and, if you have a turtle on, it will feel like you are pulling in a small log but it will come in nice and steady, unlike a fish or a log. Using that heavy line will allow you to pull him up on shore where you can deal with him. Just keep all fingers and toes a good distance from his mouth or you might not have one of them for long!!! And I can't stress enough the importance of a good sharp circle hook. Once I started using them I found out it wasn't fish stealing my bait but turtles and I've caught more of them than I could possibly have expected, even when I'm catfishing. So far this year about 8 snappers and even two big softshells in the river!

Sorry this is soooo long but hopefully it will help someone. If it's tooo long-winded let me know I won't type so much in the futute!