What The Hell Was On My Line?!

[SpellcastingHooker]

Hey all!

I've been fishing in my community lake "Gold Key" and went a little deeper (really not that deep) with my rattle worm, it was the evening and something grabbed my line. At first I thought I was caught on something so I wiggled around and gave the line some slack, something was down there and it wouldn't come up. It went under my kayak and moved me around a bit. My pole was bent. I know for a fact that we have snapping turtles in the lake and some are huge, I also know that we have catfish, bass, walleye and other "little" fish.

My question,

Wouldn't a snapper swim around or just bite the lure off? I fought this thing for quite some  time and it never came close enough to the top of the water to where I could see what it was. Ended up breaking my line and taking my rattle worm. 

 

I had the movie Jaws going through my head the whole time! LOL. I know we don't stock the lake with Muskie (sp)? but you never know what some people will do.

 

[Josh Smith]

Nessy?

[Scott F]

You may have just snagged a turtle in the shell or leg

[SpellcastingHooker]

You may have just snagged a turtle in the shell or leg

Don't you think that if it were a turtle, it would swim around a little more? The end of my hook was almost covered.

[FinCulture]

coulda been a big cat

[SpellcastingHooker]

coulda been a big cat

Do they tend to stay low?

[SirSnookalot]

Where are you that would make you think snapper.  Lots and lots of variety in the snapper family.  Small ones like a lane or mangrove, I've caught red, and margate snapper surpassing 20#, cubera snapper hit 100#

[BR1AN]

I caught 3 really big turtles and each one didn't move much until I got it outta the water. It basically felt like I was reeling in a tree.

Still could of been a turtle but I would go with a big cat.

[F14A-B]

Creature from the black lagoon?

[A-Jay]

Perhaps someone Released The Kraken into that lake ~

 

You may need a bigger boat

 

 

A-Jay

[Nice_Bass]

just a catfish and most likely smaller than you think.  a little #10 channel will make you think you hooked a big fish. 

I would assume you have channels and flatheads in there and both when hooked will stay deep, dig and pull line.  Best explanations are usually the simplest.

[jbw252]

You (and now us), will never know.

[monkeyman3dee]

A simlar thing happened to me a couple months ago.

 

I lost a Rapala x-rap brand new =( Twitchin it along something slammed it, tried reeling and pulling, all i got was drag out (i have my drag really tight) Next thing I know it makes a dive for a log, and end up breaking my line.

 

Must have been a large cat or carp.

[LuckyGia]

If you were in Florida I would guess Mudfish.

They do just what you described.

But was likely a cat

[MassBass]

I had a snapper chase down my musky spinnerbait and then bite it at the boat earlier this season. Never seen a snapper chase like that.

[jaysen]

i have caught snappers at over 30 pounds. sounds like you hit a carp or cat. more likely a carp. 

[Glenn]

Carp

[Bluebasser86]

Carp swim very fast when you hook them, especially on the initial hookset. Catfish will hug the bottom and cruise around slowly forever if you let them. A 10-15 pound channel cat will tow a kayak around for a long time before giving up. Did you have lots of slime on your line or feel something smacking your line during the fight? Catfish will roll a lot of the time and slime your line up and you'll feel their tails slap the line when they do it. 

[SpellcastingHooker]

Where are you that would make you think snapper.  Lots and lots of variety in the snapper family.  Small ones like a lane or mangrove, I've caught red, and margate snapper surpassing 20#, cubera snapper hit 100#

My lake has a lot of snappers, Sometimes I even hit them with my oars. I've seen big ones with spikes on their shells that look almost pre-historic. Before I started fishing, I used to like them, now I just want to shoot them! LOL

[SpellcastingHooker]

just a catfish and most likely smaller than you think.  a little #10 channel will make you think you hooked a big fish. 

I would assume you have channels and flatheads in there and both when hooked will stay deep, dig and pull line.  Best explanations are usually the simplest.

That's what it did! stayed deep and pulled on line. I'm going out again today to look for this F*%*er!

[SirSnookalot]

Catfish can be a pretty tough fish

[bigbill]

I dragged in a snapping turtle the size of my 15" rim tire on my jeep like 30" diameter. My 8lb Excalibur silver thread copolymer line held up. I got it all the way up to me. He was clawing the bottom revolving upside down but I landed him.

From him churning up the bottom as it got dark the catfish bite was on.

The place nearby has a 4' diameter Snapper with a human size head. Hooked him once but cut the line when he stuck his head out of the water. It wasn't a log.

[Penguino]

A Catfish or you might snagged a Carp probably

[bigbill]

My story of what the Heck was it starts out like this. It was just before thanksgiving a bitter cold over cast day. I was dying to go fishing and drown some lures. I get to one of my local hot spots and it starts snowing a light flurry. I put on a 6" YUM money minnow in pearl.

I'm fishing from a corner down along the shore parallel to my right side. The Lilly pads are dying just below the surface. I'm between the pads and the shoreline were there is open water. There are no snapping turtles I can see there path thru the swampy area to hibernate. I see there paths every year thru these weeds. Ok I cast out the money minnow doing a dying minnow presentation. A small twitch. It's going right then left with each twitch. All of a sudden fish on. My rod is bent in half like it never bent before. I hear my drag give a little. I move it then it holds, I can feel the head shake. It's a battle for 15 to 20 minutes. I never seen the bass. Then it spits out my lure. I put my jaw back in place after it dropped. Never seen it. Never told anyone about this spot.

[SirSnookalot]

Last year I'm fishing off a dock for snook, not likely to catch one bigger than about 15# there, so I'm fishing med spinning.  I hook something and my rod literally bends in half, shallow water I see a huge fin.  The more the fin comes out of the water, it's a flipper with fingers, I knew what is was, I snagged a manatee.  An adult manatee can go 500-2000lb(the rod didn't break), you can't stop that with anything.  Within in short order the lure comes flying back.  This was winter, manatee usually don' show up until the water is warmer,so you just never know.  I've snagged sea turtles, manta rays, they get big too.