He stole my bait!

That's him officer. The one on the left. He stole from me repeatedly. Every spot I tried, he was there. Sometimes taunting me by popping his head up next to my bobber just defying me to try again. HE STOLE MY BAIT!

Children find turtles to be cute and fun to catch but I beg to differ. At least on the second part. Catching a turtle can be a real pain in the hook. Usually they just get the bait and then wait for more. Sometimes I get the hook in them and get them to the shore. Once there I slacken the line and the turtle can use its front feet to dislodge the hook, then go back and wait for more bait. But once in awhile the hook goes all the way through then the trouble begins.

A midst the cursing of my bad luck and fishing through my tackle box for my needle nose pliers, I prepare myself for the difficult task of removing the hook from a mouth pulled inside a shell. I feel sorry for the turtle as this is unfair punishment for something as petty as stealing a piece of night crawler. Yet I believe that leaving the hook in would be a death sentence for the turtle. So a few seconds of prying and the perpetrator goes free albeit with a sore mouth. And I end up with an unusable jighead. Just another day of pond fishing.

Brand new jighead after removed from turtle

So the next time your sitting by the shore of your favorite fishing hole and your bobber is bouncing up and down and swimming around and you can't seem to set the hook. It may be a turtle. You need to ask yourself, "Do you feel lucky?" If not maybe you should try another fishing spot or get the pliers ready. Either way you could be in for a frustrating day. Unless you like turtle soup.

Good luck and be safe,

Ken S