That's why you put your foot in the hole first. Pretty easy to tell the difference between a snapper biting your foot and a catfish. As long as you have good shoes it won't be much more than quick pressure and most times it's just a quick tap and they won't even get a hold of your foot. Some guys do the same thing with sticks but I've always used my foot. Always a good idea to watch a hole you're going to noodle for about an hour or so to watch for big turtles. Sounds like you might be dealing with alligator snappers. We just have common snappers around here that are huge if they get up to 40lbs, most are between 5 and 20 it seems though. They'll put a hurting on you and maybe take a chunk of skin, but aren't going to take your finger off. There's some good videos on youtube of people getting bit by snappers, haven't seen one yet of someone losing a finger.

yeah i have a catfish pole which is just a peice of pvc with a treble on the end attached to a line that goes down the middle i use it if the hole is too deep for my arms or my legs to go in but yeah that will work for turtles too you will know when i turtle hits that thing

How do you know your not grabbing a snapper? when your hand comes back missing a few digits? I would try it if i KNEW 100% with out a doubt its catfish other then that hell no ill stick to my poles and hooks and have eyes on before I go sticking my hand in the mud after something. We have small cats up here but some gigantic turtles that arnt no joke I seen one break a baseball bat like it was a toothpick the guy was just trying to get it out of the road it was easy 3foot long head to tail and about the size of a man hole cover.

yeah we got huge turtles too they are no joke lightning fast mean as hell and strong! i know a guy missing two fingers from snapping turtles hes in his 60s and still noodles

post all your noodling pictures here guys! i have been going out but havent gotten any yet ive been mainly bass fishing but ill get some by the end of the season lets see your catches!

I'm going to LMAO when your noodle gets noodled by some sort of critter.

i'm gonna give it a shot next month.

A couple of my buddies caught 6 last Sunday. All were pretty decent fish, up to about 40#, and they let 3 or 4 get away. Also saw a guy that caught a 34 and a 38 from the same hole a couple weeks ago.

awesome! any pictures? and ncbassmaster you get any? i got a few this year most we under 25 nothing that great i did get one big boy as i got him out of the water and was walking around the cove to get to the house to get a weight and pictures he shook hard while i wasnt expecting it as i was recovering and got away i was so bummed i couldnt get an official weight or picture but i know it was the biggest d**n fish ive ever seen or been near i would say 50+ here is what he did to my arm

yall are crazy

Ya, looks like a good time........NOT! TV is as close as I want to get to any of this. I loves me some Turtleman! http://turtlemanliveaction.com/

haha it is a blast! love it!