Caught what appeared to be a juvenile snapping turtle in the cast net last evening. We were near the mouth of Horlbeck Creek.
Sorry no pic-no camera on board.
Anybody had a similar experience?
Not a diamondback terrapin?
The terrapin would be my guess too in salt water. Snapping turtles prefer fresh. But without a picture…
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Yes, it was a diamond back terrapin.
The picture I found on Bing search matches its appearance exactly.
Thanks, had never seen anything like it in salt water before,
now I know what it is:)
16’ Alumacraft Mod V Hull Jon Boat
25hp Yammy 4 stroke
The big ones are the females; the little guys are the males. They don’t get much bigger than 10" or so. Any turtle will still put a nasty bite on you. Certain parts of the summer, you can find them by the hundreds in nearby rivers; I’ve come across them before and its overwhelming. Maybe that’s spawning time, I don’t know.
Yes, 23, that little turtle put the bite on a curious
Boykin Spaniel’s nose much to his surprise!
Guess he won’t snoop any more turtles-lesson learned-
no major damage done.
16’ Alumacraft Mod V Hull Jon Boat
25hp Yammy 4 stroke
There used to be a big commercial fishery for them around here. We caught a ton of them in crab traps, and back then they brought more money than crabs. Don’t see nearly as many now as we used to.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
My commercial buddies get them in traps all the time too. Dead turtles stank.
There used to be a big turtle and crab processing facility in Isle of Hope, GA, which is a suburb of Savannah on the Skidaway River. It was called Barbie’s Pavilion. They had huge turtle storage pens and bought every terrapin you could bring them. Same with crabs. They had processing and canning facilities and specialized in diamond back terrapin soups and steaks, and she-crab soups, made with the roe. They also had a restaurant on the pier, and a bar, eat turtles and watch them at the same time. Neat place It could be a wild place sometimes also. This was long before tourists came to town. Nothing like that left around here anymore. Condos there now:roll_eyes:
I never was a fan of turtles, or terrapin myself, not soups, not stews, not steaks, none of it. But I can eat some crabs!
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Hell Larry, I’ve probably eaten more crabs than you have shaken your stick at! 
quote:
Originally posted by Cracker LarryThere used to be a big commercial fishery for them around here. We caught a ton of them in crab traps, and back then they brought more money than crabs. Don’t see nearly as many now as we used to.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
Yep - that’s why they are classified as Near Threatened. Severely overfished for years and still haven’t recovered.
quote:
Hell Larry, I've probably eaten more crabs than you have shaken your stick at!
I don’t know, maybe so, because I’ve always avoided shaking my stick at crabs [:0]
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper
did they look like this? We catch them left and right off the dock. They seem to have a taste for Chicken.
“If Bruce Jenner can keep his wiener and be called a woman, I can keep my firearms and be considered disarmed.”
Those are terrapin for sure. Some people would cook them for supper. I’d rather eat a salami sandwich.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper