Re: Unhooking Turtles...
A few years back I was driving along a back road that crosses the dam of a lake here, there was a huge alligator snapper sitting right in the middle of the road. I pulled over figuring I'd coax it off the road before it got run over. Walking up to it only drew a few nasty hisses and a few quick snaps in my direction. I went back to the truck, grabbed a broom stick with a rubber squeegee on it and tried to get the thing to either latch on so I could drag him off the road, or just push him to the shoulder. He wanted no part of it, and refused to move. To my surprise those things can move pretty quick when they want too. I put the handle end of the 6' pole in front of it, he did nothing but turn away. I then took the other end and tried to push him a bit from behind, the turtle nearly did a back flip, came around and grabbed the pole about a foot above the squeegee and held on. I tried to drag him and he let right go, and went right back to the middle of the road. At this point there's about 5 other cars stopped, one guy tried to grab hold of the turtle but ended up nearly loosing his hand as it again did a snap turn around and snapped at him. A state trooper came along finally, and called in someone from animal control in that town, who came out with a huge net and a metal box and hauled it away for release away from the road. They estimated it was around 40 or so lbs. It ruined the pole it bit down on, it all but cut through it, it snapped right off when I tossed it back in the truck.
The turtles we see here that get hooked are usually spiny soft shells, red bellies, or red ears, with the occasional painted turtle or snapper here and there. The soft shells have super sharp claws, sharper then the rest. They look like needles not claws and will even get through some gloves. A buddy brought a smaller one in the boat one day, had it hooked pretty good, there was no sign of the hook at all. Yet the thing was fighting the whole ordeal. There was no way to unhook it, it had the hook all the way down it's throat. We just wanted to make sure it could still eat or open it's mouth before releasing it. We cut the line off about two inches from it's mouth, figuring that when the hook rusted out, it could get rid of the line. A buddy had his rod lying on the deck, about a foot from where the turtle was sitting while we unhooked it, the instant it realized it was free, and at about the same time he grabbed the rod to move it so it didn't get knelt on when I put the turtle over the side, the turtle then snapped and grabbed the rod tip as he moved it, instantly shearing off about the last 4" of rod. The turtle was no more than 10" long, and it cut dead clean through a 3/16" thick rod blank. I have no doubt it would take a finger if it could get it's mouth around it, if not, it would at least do some serious damage to flesh.
When I finally put the turtle overboard, it just sat there for a while, then moved about 10' from the boat and disappeared. After I released the turtle, I noticed the hook and cut leader stuck in the broken rod end's tattered fibers. It had fallen right out when it grabbed the rod. The leader got caught in the rough broken fibers of the rod blank and come out.
The only way I've found to handle most turtles safely is to grab them from behind, with the tail sort of between your fingers, if not, then grab over and around the rear legs, while someone else removes the hook.
Snappers make good eating but I'm not sure their worth all the work or mess of cleaning them.