Here's my take for what it's worth: My pond is right at 1 acre, and up to recently it had hoards of very large, as well as small, snappers in it. A little over a year ago we noticed a decline in the LMB population. About the same time we had an otter find his way to the pond for a visit. The otter was dealt with, but we didn't care for such a large population of snappers in the pond. Anytime someone would decide to keep a fish and place it on a stringer hanging from the dock, it would only take a few minutes for snappers to attach themselves to the fish. One instance pissed us off bad enough for a friend to walk into the cabin and grab a 12 gauge, walk back to the stringer and pull it up (snappers attached) and exclaim "Say hello to my little friend," as he pulled the trigger. That resulted in my friend having to call Mr. Wolf (Pulp Fiction).
I don't know if they are capable of catching live and healthy LMB or not, but one has to wonder about what such a large population of snappers could be feeding on in a pond that is only 1 acre. So, to make an already long story a bit shorter, I decided each trip I make to the property (pond), I take my AR-15. I still have 5 or 6 of them in the pond, and suppose that's an okay number for the size of the pond. Any more, and their history.
Oh, it's amazing how long those things can live, even after being shot! Shot one through the head with a .45 and it lived for two hours.
Prehistoric, for sure.
