01-30-2019, 05:55 AM
Oh man, snakeheads are bad news, but I bet a lot of fun to bring in.
I have a couple. Back in the early 90's, my buddies and I would go to a privately stocked lake owned by Boeing (my old man worked in one of their plants). One morning, we were killing the pet trout that were so coveted. My buddy set the hook on one, not noticing the line was wrapped around a nail on the dock. After some choice words, he rigs back up and we continue catching trout. About 30 minutes later, he's reeling his line in to change baits and brings in some fishing line. When he starts pulling it in, sure enough, it turned out to be his lost line with the fish still on it and it's not happy to be caught again. lol
The other time was also in the early 90's when I was fishing with this same friend in the creek by my house. I had a spot that always produced plenty of nice crawdads and we liked to catch them on rod & reel with a big ol' hook and a slice of cow liver. After catching them for a while, I lowered my line into the water not 12" from shore while I put yet another crawdad in the bucket. I go to lift the line and I'm snagged. So, after some choice words my mother would tan my hide over, I proceeded to try getting my hook back, as it was my only one. After a few minutes, the line starts to give and I'm thinking it's a sunken branch coming loose. As it gets closer to the surface, a snapping turtle 18" across comes up. At this point, I'd never had fried turtle before so my concern was in getting my only hook back.
In a flash of brilliance, I knew what I needed to do. I set the turtle on a rock and held it there with my foot. Then I pulled on the rod to fully stretch out the turtle's neck. Ha! Ha!, I'm so smart, methinks. When its neck is fully extended, I proceed to grab the hook with my hand and work at unhooking it... Did you know that no matter how far out you stretch a snapping turtle's neck, it will always have just enough neck in reserve to get you. lol
Critter damn near took off my finger, leaving me with a gash that ran from the end of my finger to the first joint. And I pulled away pretty quick too. That sucker just barely got me. Once I saw the blood pouring from my finger, I decided I didn't mind walking back to the house anymore to get another hook. It ended up breaking the line and getting away in the ensuing chaos.
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I have a couple. Back in the early 90's, my buddies and I would go to a privately stocked lake owned by Boeing (my old man worked in one of their plants). One morning, we were killing the pet trout that were so coveted. My buddy set the hook on one, not noticing the line was wrapped around a nail on the dock. After some choice words, he rigs back up and we continue catching trout. About 30 minutes later, he's reeling his line in to change baits and brings in some fishing line. When he starts pulling it in, sure enough, it turned out to be his lost line with the fish still on it and it's not happy to be caught again. lol
The other time was also in the early 90's when I was fishing with this same friend in the creek by my house. I had a spot that always produced plenty of nice crawdads and we liked to catch them on rod & reel with a big ol' hook and a slice of cow liver. After catching them for a while, I lowered my line into the water not 12" from shore while I put yet another crawdad in the bucket. I go to lift the line and I'm snagged. So, after some choice words my mother would tan my hide over, I proceeded to try getting my hook back, as it was my only one. After a few minutes, the line starts to give and I'm thinking it's a sunken branch coming loose. As it gets closer to the surface, a snapping turtle 18" across comes up. At this point, I'd never had fried turtle before so my concern was in getting my only hook back.
In a flash of brilliance, I knew what I needed to do. I set the turtle on a rock and held it there with my foot. Then I pulled on the rod to fully stretch out the turtle's neck. Ha! Ha!, I'm so smart, methinks. When its neck is fully extended, I proceed to grab the hook with my hand and work at unhooking it... Did you know that no matter how far out you stretch a snapping turtle's neck, it will always have just enough neck in reserve to get you. lol
Critter damn near took off my finger, leaving me with a gash that ran from the end of my finger to the first joint. And I pulled away pretty quick too. That sucker just barely got me. Once I saw the blood pouring from my finger, I decided I didn't mind walking back to the house anymore to get another hook. It ended up breaking the line and getting away in the ensuing chaos.
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