From the depths come the Giants.

Just to show some people that this isn't just an American Idol blog...I'd like to share this little adventure with you all.

Last weekend we were at the lake camping and skiing and just taking it easy for the most part. Sunday morning about 6:30AM, one of my buddies told me to grab my camera and come and go with him. We hopped in his boat and rode back up the lake to the mouth of the river and went back up the river maybe a mile or so. He has several trotlines strung across some of the eddys and sloughs back up this way to catch catfish on. For those of you not familiar with trotline fishing, a trotline consists of a main line secured between two trees, stumps, stakes or other fixed objects in or near the water. Spaced evenly along this main line are "drop lines" with hooks on them. The drop lines are usually about 2-3 feet apart and vary in length depending on the depth of the body of water that you are fishing in. The hooks are baited and (under ideal circumstances) the fish bite them and are there when you return.

Well my buddy had already been up here once this morning and checked them so it was more of a recovery mission than a search. He made his way to a particular line and used a bamboo pole to scoop the line up from under the water's surface. He then grabbed the line and started pulling the boat down the length of it. I could tell something was on the line by the way it appeared to be anchored down just ahead of the boat. And indeed something was:












You can also get a vague concept of a trotline in the pic as well.


At first glance he appeared to only be wrapped in the lines. But after we pulled him up and started trying to to get him untangled, we noticed he was indeed hooked. See?














Here's a little better look at him after we got him freed and put him back into the water.












He weighed about 40-45 pounds. Maybe a little more but not much if any. Pretty good size turtle, huh? Ya'll think that's a good one? Let's move on down the trotline another 15-20 feet or so. This is what came to the surface when we pulled the line up.











Yeah, he's a little bigger. How much bigger? Let's get him on up so we can see him a little better.













KOWABUNGA!!! Now THAT'S a turtle!! For a size reference, that bamboo pole is about the size of a soda can. Notice how the end of the pole is smashed? It wasn't like that until we stuck it within reach of his jaws. The power they have is amazing. The front legs on him were wider than the palm of my hand.

We started to just cut the line and let him go but if you'll notice in this close-up from the first pic....










he has a very large and very sharp hook through the webbing of his front foot. We were afraid that the hook may get caught on something later and possibly drown him.

This is an alligator snapping turtle, by the way. And they are a protected species in the State of Alabama. The law regarding them reads as follows:

(1) It shall be unlawful to take, capture, kill, or attempt to take, capture or
kill; possess, sell, trade for anything of monetary value, or offer to sell or trade for anything of monetary value, the following nongame wildlife species (or any parts or reproductive products of such species) without a scientific collection permit or written permit from the Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which shall specifically state what the permittee may do with regard to said species:

And on that list, among several other animals, we find:
Turtle, Alligator Snapping (Macroclemys temminckii)

Knowing what I know about the game laws of the State, I knew the fine for "harassing" a protected species would be pretty tough, let alone possession of one. Getting caught with just the shell of one of these bad boys can get you a cool $1000 fine. But we prayeddecided that humanity would win out over legality in this case. The life of the turtle could very well be endangered if we just put him back with the hook in his foot. Wouldn't this be considered as "protecting the species"? Let's hope so.
So we haul him into the boat to get a better handle on things and see what we can do to go about getting the hook out. We don't have a pair of cutters strong enough to just cut the hook so we decide to run back down to the campground and get a pair from the truck. Everything turned out great. We got the hook out and took him back up the river and turned him loose with no apparent complications. We did take a few pictures of him while we had him on the shore.












He was about 32 inches wide across the back of his shell and weighed well over 100 pounds. One of the guys at the campground said he was probably 80-100 years old if not older. Everyone else that has seen the pics agree on the age estimate. He was truly a giant. And a wonder to behold. One more reason why I love the outdoors. I can truly say that last Sunday, we were in the presence of greatness. And a giant.