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Figured I'd toss a small report up from this week. I made it out with a friend who really hasn't fished very much and took him to a place where I figured we'd get into some good fish. We managed a few nice brownies and discovered something that I didn't think we had in Idaho, a turtle, it was around 12 inches from tail to nose and was just sunning itself on the rocks when we saw it, check out the beautiful colors on its belly, netted it, shot a couple pics and let it go right where we found it. I really thought it was too cold here for them so maybe it was someones pet at some point.
Anyways back to the fishing, my friend got his first two big browns from the trip, one that I got pictures of and the other unfortunately was the bigger of the two and a beautiful healthy kype jawed male that he caught after my phone died so I didn't get a pic of it. all in all we caught a number of good fish and even had three hookups on bigger stuff that were better fighters than we were fisherman that day.
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Cool, I love turtles. That looks like a western painted turtle. I've seen a couple around, but they're definitely uncommon out west. I don't think it's as much of a cold thing, we had all sorts of turtles in New England where I grew up, and I've seen them up into Ontario, but it's just too arid here. That's a really nice brown too, sounds like a good trip.
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That's a great looking fish! And very cool turtle. Thanks for the report.
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Thats a nice size brown. And a cool turtle. Looks like a snake river hen.. I got to go target some browns on the snake.
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The painted turtle that you found is a native. There is a small population remaining in Eastern Idaho where you are fishing. Biologist theorize they are a left over from the Ice age a few thousand years a go. They are protected by Idaho's reptile law and statute. Admire, but be careful to handle gently and let go. Thanks for sharing the photos with all of us.
DeeCee
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very nice brown and turtle [cool]
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There are some down in Utah too. I saw several sunning on a log on the lower Provo River around ten years ago. I like it. It reminds me of where I grew up.
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very nice on both-thx for sharing the cool pix[cool]
I've seen a few turtles along the warm river up near Ashton...one or two every yr
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gstott, I imagine there have been some painted turtles released in various places in the West that have adapted and multiplies if they had a member of the opposite sex release along with them. Turtles are cool creatures.
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That could very well be. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some remnant populations down in Utah Lake either. That's a rather large, marshy, environment. I'm headed to Minnesota in a week, and I really hope I see some turtles. There's just something right seeming about fishing for bass with a bunch of painters sunning on the logs.
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gstott I had never thought of that before, but I think you are right, there is something that seems right about sunning turtles while fishing for bass. Probably more like the sight you would see in a bass environment. Keep catching those crappie!!!
DeeCee
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I never knew there were turtles in the wild in Idaho. Im from SW Idaho and dont go to the east so i doubt i will ever see one. Very cool pics though. Thanks for sharing.
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I'll try, but I still haven't caught any yet this year. I hooked one good one on a soft jerkbait bass fishing at Twin, but he came off. A couple of the lakes where I'm headed are supposed to have some really nice crappie though, and rock bass. Those have got to be one of the coolest panfish. They're like if a smallmouth and a bluegill got frisky. Fun stuff.
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