Dang cold weather messing up my snapper trapping

[mcginnis6010]

I wish this cold weather would go away for good for awhile. i havent been able to catch a single snapper yet bc of the cold air and rain that keeps coming in. Itll be warm for a few days and then get cold again its like a viscous cycle!

[gstoneberg]

Bummer.  What do you cook with them?  I used to catch them for my grandma to cook when I was a kid.

George

[mcginnis6010]

i boil them then i roll the meat in a mixture of flour and corn meal with salt and pepper mixed in. Then i fry them on the skillet. 

[gstoneberg]

Mmmm, sounds wonderful.  Good luck.

George

[Pat B]

I saw one on the side of the road the other day. It was about 12" to 15" in diameter but had a crack down it back. It wasn't moving either! 

[mcginnis6010]

I saw one on the side of the road the other day. It was about 12" to 15" in diameter but had a crack down it back. It wasn't moving either! 

yea pat its a shame when they get ran over all that good meat gone to waste.

[aznboi3644]

Here in southern Indiana I catch em all the time.

I just get some 14+lb fishing line...tie a hook and put a piece of fish or meat on the end and toss it out...tie it to a branch.

Come back the next day and pull her in.  The snapper will swallow the hook.  Just be quick in dispatching or getting it out of the water...it may bite through the line in a few snaps.  This method works for me for gettting snappers out of lakes and ponds.

[Kpete]

I used to eat them regularly when I lived in Nebr.  Had one a few years ago here in Wyoming.  Still tasty.

[Carson (CMB)]

I helped pull a monster snapper out of a fyke net in Northern Illinois.  That was quite the process.  I was helping another biologist, so we had to get the thing out alive, to be marked and released.  That was fun. 

[Kpete]

I worked on a Canada Goose and Wood Duck restoration project in Eastern Nebraska in the early 80's.  Snappers got into the enclosed pen and we saw some foot damage on some of the adults and the goslings and ducklings were disappearing.  I made traps that were basically huge minnow traps and baited them with a variety of things.  funnels were oval instead of round. 
I used to catch them in western Nebr by going to a small prairie stream that had oxbows-old stream channels now seperate from the main stream.  They were filled with flooded grass and such.  Early in the spring the snappers woudl be in that water because it would warm up quickly.  YOu could see the flooded grass moving and then step in and try to grab their tail.  If you got the tail the first time all was good.  If you missed the turtles grew more uncooperative and things got a bit more sporty.  We released those turtles into seasoned flour and hot oil.
I have never eaten a soft-shell turtle or leatherback-any body else eat those?

[mcginnis6010]

No i havent eaten either ive only had snappers. The weather is finally warming up some here so im gonna set some lines today and see what happens hopefully i get a couple of good sized snappers. Im gonna bait the lines with some catfish guts from the catfish i caught two days ago. They cooked up real good too lol.

[Kpete]

sounds like  your getting some mileage out of those catty fish.

[crooketarrow]

  I catch a couple everyyear out of some ponds I bass fish. My favoret way is to put them in a cooking bag with some SWEET BABY RAY BQ SAUSE. B

[Kpete]

oooo!   I may have to look for a snapper to fit in a cooking bag.  Do you skin them first?

[mcginnis6010]

Yea i can catch catfish all day and night long. I have my own secret bait for them even tho they will hit anything really.