Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Long fish story

Hey Ed: Great pictures. What kind of turtle is that & does it have a tail?

The snappers we have around have good sized tails.

Sunil

It is definitely not a snapper. The closest I can find on the net is either Apalone mutica or spinifera turtle. The description does not say that they are very carnivorous, but that is not my experience. Plus, it pushed all the painted turtles from my pond. It doesn't have a tail, but it has a stump that looks like it may have been a tail. The rear view picture is blurry so I did not post it. The size of this thing is impressive. Fortunately, it is not protected in Texas.

This is called a soft shell tutrle... he is more or less rather harmless and a very fast swimers due to their soft shell and all. deffinetly not a snapper. Sounds about right when you said how he pulled on the line when you were fishing..

Here in Iowa, they get called all sorts of things, and none of them very flattering. One old boy I know used to call 'em "animated pancakes" and they are notorious bait stealers. They'll eat about anything you can keep on a hook and are pretty tough to actually catch. If you get one big enough (that one would've done fine) they fry up just as good as a snapper...

Matt Clark

I always heard that turtle soup is very good. Never had the guts to actually eat one.