Terrorized by turtles

[Rybazłapać]

Sat by the lake with some shiners on a beautiful day to relax a bit after a long week and a pack of these things harassed me the whole time. Did manage a small large mouth and another feisty 17 inch one.
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag274/drewbzdu/7DDF0C4A-78E2-4F1E-8326-88910DD8D1A7_zps05jcqhgx.jpg
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag274/drewbzdu/A5BB6A23-458F-4B16-93D1-D3F8E109DD89_zpsu1oyynv0.jpg
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag274/drewbzdu/DFB4C1A2-6BE2-46F3-BC08-022EDB5FB5F0_zpsfmsskhq0.jpg
http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag274/drewbzdu/F5A3031C-1A1C-4551-AA9A-6D64CDD641C3_zpsspgue7xp.jpg

[Wilson]

Harassed by turtles...now I've heard it all.
I've been harassed by geese, ducks, cormorants and pigeons.
Invaded by the bucket brigade, attacked by bees, mosquitoes, black flies, delta wings and green heads and a beaver......but turtles:D


Should of moved;)

[Rybazłapać]

Should have. I caught the first one right away and didn't think it would be dumb enough to come back. Little did I know there were actually many lurking. What I really need to do is find out how to cook these thing and open up Jersey Fried Turtle. When life gives you turtles make turtle soup I suppose.

[Wilson]

Turtle soup to me is acquired taste that I can't acquire.
Check the regs. on turtle possession.
Ya never know...till you find out.
Try fishing lures in turtle infested:eek: waters.

[crewchief2]

They look like stink pots, dont know if i would eat those...they are named that for a reason....LOL

[Eskimo]

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I like turtles.
At a pond I fish at, there is an enormous Snapping Turtle that learned to beg for handouts.

I'll be fishing when this monster pops up alongside my my kayak and stares at me and bumps the side of my kayak. The last two times I saw him, I gave him some sunfish which he gulped down.


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[FASTEDDIE29]

Very interesting! Now we've definately heard it all. Interesting catch man.

[catfishonthelake]

It's funny you wrote that. I've actually wondered if we have a "turtle problem" in this state, or at least in Union County. So many of the little ponds I fish are just simply infested with them. The majority of them are the red-ear and yellow-belly sliders, which although abundant in NJ, are not native. They're the "China Town" turtles that I'm sure people keep for a few months and let go. If you go to Meisel Ave. park in late June or July the place is literally filled with them. They have no natural predators, and if they keep reproducing and people keep letting them go, then there is really nothing to control the population.
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/species/red-eared_slider.pdf

[Rybazłapać]

I don't know about a "turtle problem" but certainly a nuisance if your just trying to fish some bait. I will say I see them nearly every time I fish the small lakes I visit and stacked up on trees in water in the canal. It is a good point about the pets being released. But again I don't know if their a problem or just a pest.

[Eskimo]

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Here is a pic I took of the panhandling Snapping Turtle I mentioned earlier.
Very cool. Like a little dinosaur.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn38/Full_Stringer/Snapping_Turtle_6_2014_zpsa577a298.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/Full_Stringer/media/Snapping_Turtle_6_2014_zpsa577a298.jpg.html)



It's funny you wrote that. I've actually wondered if we have a "turtle problem" in this state, or at least in Union County. So many of the little ponds I fish are just simply infested with them. The majority of them are the red-ear and yellow-belly sliders, which although abundant in NJ, are not native. They're the "China Town" turtles that I'm sure people keep for a few months and let go. If you go to Meisel Ave. park in late June or July the place is literally filled with them. They have no natural predators, and if they keep reproducing and people keep letting them go, then there is really nothing to control the population.
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/species/red-eared_slider.pdf

I am not familiar with Meisel Ave Park, but I lived in Union County and can only recall seeing a few invasive Red Eared Sliders. The vast majority of basking turtles were Painted Turtles and Red-Bellied Turtles. They appear similar to the invasive species, but they are both native species.

There is certainly not a turtle over-population problem anywhere in the U.S. The reality is there have never been FEWER turtles around. Between the over-population of raccoons destroying the majority of the eggs laid and the number of turtles killed crossing the roads, populations can only go down.

In fact, New Jersey has an endangered species (the Bog Turtle) and a threatened species (the Wood Turtle).

To make things worse for the turtles, the Chinese have a voracious appetite for turtles that commercial trappers are only too happy to oblige.



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