[Timber Bass]

The reason I ask this is because my son caught one last year that was as big as a tracker tailers tire. I pulled him out by his tail and looked at him for awhile.His tail was over a foot long I wish I took pictures. We are going to visit the area again and try to get some pics of this monster hehe.

 

[BigBass33]

I have personally seen some enormous ones. It is difficult to estimate the exact size, but I'd bet the shell was about 3 feet from front to back and the head was the size of a cantalope.

I believe the record was recently caught in Allentown. Not sure how big it was, but to give you an idea of how old it was, they found a musket ball in its shell.

 

[snprblue2]

I have pics somewhere of snapper that was at local pond that we fish. The head was about 12 inches long. It looks like a stick with in the water. If you were reeling a fish in he would swim after the fish and try to catch it. This pond has tons of small bluegill and one afternoon I flipped him 5 fish in row-and he was still hungry. The kids called him snappy. He also ate bread that people would feed to ducks.

 

[billc]

Biggest one I had was 29.5 lbs

 

[stripeman 103]

The biggest one I ever caught was abou the size of you average trash can lid pretty heavy to. Tough fight on a rod and reel I never really see them out of water I usually just judge by the size of the head but I have seen some big ones

 

[460ford]

We saw two this summer, at Menantico, that looked to be the size of tractor-trailer tires, on the same day. The tails were easily over a foot long, they were dirty with stuff all over their shell. I live near a lake and see turtles crossing the street all the time but I've never seen any that big. It was when the herring (thats what i was told they are) were swimming on top of each other, hundreds; one was sitting in the middle of them - buffet.

 

[take one]

hmmmmmmm id have to say the biggest snapper i saw was when i was in this lil hole in the wall bar in palma, spain. oh wait thats a different kind of "snapper" , nevermind

 

[rplunger]

when i was a kid ,my niehbor built traps for them .biggest one i remember him wieghing was 55lbs,fish n game estimated age at 85 years old:thumbsup:

 

[grtwhthunter/fisherman]

biggest i seen was on a red head named darla.....lol

 

[the grinch]

the biggest I ever saw was Anna Nicole Smith's

 

[Dirtypenny725]

The biggest ones I ever saw used to come from the maurice river behind my grandparents house back in the 80's. Margaritaville's family used to trap them back there and they used to get some big ones.

 

[XxDamienxX]

A couple of years back we were riding the trails behind Holly Heights when the person in the front of the groups locked his brakes and jumped off his quad to remove a "HUGE Rock" blocking the trail ...When we all went over to help him the "rock" hissed at us!!!!! It looked like a gator with a shell and had to be every bit of 4' X 3 1/2" and not very nice... A couple of the guys were putting 2" branches in frot of its face and it would snap it like it was biting a pretzel.....

 

[Joe R.]

THIS was a VERY long time ago 1960s....My uncle had a swamp behind his house in Bellmawr NJ, it was behind a motel and along side of the turnpike, way before the town was all built up.Large snappers would come into his yard, many were as big as a tire,,,there were also some good size carp in there ,and huge snakes... Also there was a cabin where a old black lady lived ,her name was Daisy ,all the kids were afraid of her, But I got talking to her one day, she came from a slave family down south , she said when her husband was alive he trapped muskrats and caught turtles and sold them to fish markets....they lived off the land , I remember there were patches of woods and swamps still in that area back in the early to mid 60s ,most are now filled and homes built...

Joe R.
20ft Classic SeaCraft
Susie II

 

[Flyguy784]

This is a true story. I live on the Brandywine near West Chester. I fly rod it alot, I can be in the water in a 5 minute walk from my back door. Lived here for 26 years now. Once, while wading down the river ,near a bend, I hear this low gutterel huhhh, huhhh, huhhh, huhhh. it was loud. I thought it was a deer. I walked, quietly, around the bend to see what it was. There in the shallows were two big snappers goin at it big time. He's up on top moanin and groanin, mouth wide open. He was as big as a trash can lid. I didn't see his girlfriend, but that guy was the biggest I've ever seen back there. He saw me an took off for deeper water. I tell ya, I was reluctant to wade that hole.

Another interesting but unrelated story about the creek. I was wading down the creek one morning right at dawn. I'm a stealthy angler when back there. So, I'm quietly wading down the creek, making a cast now and then. The water had about a foot of that early morning fog on top of it. It was kinda erie and dead quiet. To my right I heard a sudden crashing thru the foggy light. I looked up the hill to see a huge buck running full blast down toward the water. He was running like there was no tomorrow, crashing thru every stick he could find. He made it to the bank at full bore. With one leap he landed in the creek, not 15 feet from me, now get this, STONE DEAD. I have no idea what killed that deer, but there he lay, steam riseing up off his now still body. It was so unusual and unexpected, I just had to laugh. I mean, what are the chances and no one there other than me to see this happen. Maybe he had been hit by a car, shot, I have no idea. But he was dead.

Now, back to the turtles. Has any of you guys caught cleaned and ate a big snapper?

 

[RyanR]

One night when I lived in Connecticut I was fishing the Housatonic River in the springtime at night for stripers. I was wading with some buddies and we were lined up about 20 feet apart and were all wearing bootfoot neoprenes. We were catching some stripers that night on sluggos and watching them slam herring on the surface. All the sudden, something started moving on my boot. It felt like a horseshoe crab when you're wading the surf. I kicked it off and moved about 5 feet down river.

Another couple minutes went by and the guys I was with were saying the same thing was happening to them. I hooked into a nice striper who was kicking my *** in the current. That thing started to move on my boot again....then I felt something on my leg. I turned on my headlamp and looked down at my leg and there was a snapping turtle head the size of a softball about 6 inches from the jewels.

I screamed like a girl and ran up to the bank, falling and getting soaked in the process. I still caught the striper, but I left right after that and never went back! Those guys NEVER let me hear the end of that. Apparently they spawn around the same time the stripers start running up those rivers and this one had mistaken my wader boot for a mate.

 

[ub1243]

http://www.snareone.com/
click on the link. the picture is right on the first page.
newt caught a huge one this summer in SC. but he has taken a few big one's here.

 

[Fish Devil]

We got some big ones down here in SJ. Biggest ones I witnessed were at Menantico, Union, and Burnt Mill Pond. I bet they were all over 25lbs.

 

[sandwashslugger]

We got some big ones down here in SJ. Biggest ones I witnessed were at Menantico, Union, and Burnt Mill Pond. I bet they were all over 25lbs.

We saw a giant in Memantico the day I got the treble in my toe. It's head was as big as a softball, I would say it was easily 40-50lbs.

 

[XxDamienxX]

This is a true story. I live on the Brandywine near West Chester. I fly rod it alot, I can be in the water in a 5 minute walk from my back door. Lived here for 26 years now. Once, while wading down the river ,near a bend, I hear this low gutterel huhhh, huhhh, huhhh, huhhh. it was loud. I thought it was a deer. I walked, quietly, around the bend to see what it was. There in the shallows were two big snappers goin at it big time. He's up on top moanin and groanin, mouth wide open. He was as big as a trash can lid. I didn't see his girlfriend, but that guy was the biggest I've ever seen back there. He saw me an took off for deeper water. I tell ya, I was reluctant to wade that hole.

Another interesting but unrelated story about the creek. I was wading down the creek one morning right at dawn. I'm a stealthy angler when back there. So, I'm quietly wading down the creek, making a cast now and then. The water had about a foot of that early morning fog on top of it. It was kinda erie and dead quiet. To my right I heard a sudden crashing thru the foggy light. I looked up the hill to see a huge buck running full blast down toward the water. He was running like there was no tomorrow, crashing thru every stick he could find. He made it to the bank at full bore. With one leap he landed in the creek, not 15 feet from me, now get this, STONE DEAD. I have no idea what killed that deer, but there he lay, steam riseing up off his now still body. It was so unusual and unexpected, I just had to laugh. I mean, what are the chances and no one there other than me to see this happen. Maybe he had been hit by a car, shot, I have no idea. But he was dead.

Now, back to the turtles. Has any of you guys caught cleaned and ate a big snapper?

I have heard stories about a illness that makes deer crave water intensly and do other weird stuff..Black tongue or something like that?

 

[CSF]

I didn't see the entire body but I saw one EAT a gosling in Lake Fred! Just saw that dark soft-ball sized head peek up then as a family of geese swam by it just snatches the last one with a small splash!!!