# Snapper everywhere and having a problem with them!



## ancy (Jul 19, 2012)

Turtles have took over our new land timber pond and what to do? There isn't a fish to speak of in the pond and I think the turtles are to blame. Question is how many do I need to trap out of there before it is safe to restock? Seen one that would be classified as a dinosaur, it was so big and old. Most of the ones we caught are turning into soup, I guess!!

Before I even got started trapping them out of the pond the wife caught this one crossing our yard in town!





You got to love a redhead holding a snapper!!

After the first day, I think there is 5 in that very large Brute can!





One more that night.





Well went down the next weekend and sent the kids to the pond to catch some bait for turtling (frogs) and none left? Well the next morning I'm guessing I seen the super frog eats, a pair of otters, WTF they will clean a pond out faster then the snappers! Well found some bait and ended up with two more, but with seeing 5-6 more swimming around, really WTF never going to get any fish in that pond!






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## greendohn (Jul 19, 2012)

Keep 'em in fresh clean water for a week or two, feed 'em hot dogs and Old Roy dog food every couple/few days before you butcher 'em. That will make the meat taste better...

I don't know how to keep them out of your pond. Contact you'r local friendly Constipation officer, one of those guys might have a clue. Of course around here the DNR is more like a para-military combat soldier for the state/federal government and would much rather break your balls for poaching!!


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## nstueve (Jul 19, 2012)

I'd get the 22 out and start shootin...
How to get rid of snaping turtles in farm pond


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## c5rulz (Jul 19, 2012)

Hi Andy

Tell the wife to be careful with the snapper. You don't want one glomming onto your leg.:msp_sad:


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## fubar2 (Jul 19, 2012)

I recommend metallic pelleted skull fractures.


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## crowbuster (Jul 24, 2012)

All's fair in turtle war in my book. Get em all by hook or crook. Otters may be a diff story. Wish I was closer, love ta help ya. Good luck


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## alleyyooper (Jul 31, 2012)

Wish I was closer too. I love fried snapper. My brother and I were just talking about them a week or so ago. He had forgot how to clean them.

 Al


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## Rearden (Aug 7, 2012)

Nasty sumbuggers cleaned out our carefully built and stocked fishin' hole in just one season. Don't believe they have any natural predators out in Iowa, so it's probably gonna be up to you. We used big azz single hooks with a half of a blue gill on each and once they grabbed it, we'd slowly pill them into a shallow hole that we lined with rocks along the bottom. Once there it was easy peasy to stomp on their back and grab a tail without havin' to worry about 'em spinnin' and catchin' us by surprise (there was copious amounts of alcohol involved I seem to recall). 

The local Bass Pro Shop was sponsorin' a local fishin' tourny that week and the only stipulation made by the rules was total weight caught and weighed in during that week, and they had to be caught with hook and line, but no species limitations or requirements beyond that. In one afternoon we filled a full sized pick-up bed better than two deep. They were like a giant bushel basket of blue crabs with every one of them grabbing another's tail or leg in their mouth in one giant mass of mean, pissed off turtle. The guy at the shop almost had a heart attack when we backed the truck up to the back door and told him he'd have to bring the scale outside 'cuz our catch was too big to move. Needless to say, we all had a good laugh and didn't win anything, but I'll never clean another turtle as long as I live.
Between that day and the next three, we pulled over a hundred total, most the size of what your wife is holding or better, from the pond that we had built that was maybe an acre. The next summer they were back in force, even though they had eaten all of the small mouths and blue gills that we had spent five years stocking and managing. Quite the bummer.

I'm pretty sure they're like big catfish and like to nest up in undercut banks, so I've got nuthin' on how to clear all of that out short of drainin' the pond down and startin' from scratch... lessen' a' course you're a real man and wanna try noodlin' for snappers?

Just kiddin'... that's would be completely nuts... not that noodlin' isn't about half way there.


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