I fish a small shallow pond a lot that has very little structure or cover with the exception of a little bit of weeds and a log in the middle. The bigger bass seem to gravitate towards the cover while all the other 1 to 2 pounders are scattered throughout the pond. After coming to the conclusion that the pond is infested with snappers i realized that the bass seem to be using the bass as cover. the pond is shallow enough that i can see the turtles on the bottom and if i fish a shaky head against the shell of a turtle a bass will pick it up. Is this possible??

My problem with the d**n turtles is that the bass seem to stay away from them. Ive had multiple turtles hit my topwater frog which really messes them up. It does get annoying over time.

My problem with the d**n turtles is that the bass seem to stay away from them. Ive had multiple turtles hit my topwater frog which really messes them up. It does get annoying over time.

I hear ya I have lost countless lures to turtles have snagged tons of them they cant beat 40# braid

I hear ya I have lost countless lures to turtles have snagged tons of them they cant beat 40# braid

That is the problem. 50lb braid and a brand new spro frog make for and interesting fight with a turtle

The turtles are probably stirring up craws and scaring baitfish out from cover and the bass are following them to capitalize on the easy feeding opportunity they're creating. I've seen bass follow carp for the same reasons. If they follow behind them they're safe, just like how small fish will follow by the tails of sharks and billfish in the ocean because they're out of reach as long as they stay away from the business end!

IMO, if you're catching bass next to a snapping turtle, they are small because no bass will make it through natural selection if he keeps picking out apex predators to hide behind.  Larger bass get that way by learning early what to eat, what to avoid, etc.....thats a big AVOID

The turtles are probably stirring up craws and scaring baitfish out from cover and the bass are following them to capitalize on the easy feeding opportunity they're creating. I've seen bass follow carp for the same reasons. If they follow behind them they're safe, just like how small fish will follow by the tails of sharks and billfish in the ocean because they're out of reach as long as they stay away from the business end!

That's probably why shaky heads with a craw seem to work well

I need to find this pond u can have the bass i want the turtles

Funny thing about turtles, my Dad, back more than 50 years now, told me that where there are turtles, there's good bass cover (what we now refer to as structure) down there.

I need to find this pond u can have the bass i want the turtles

Come on up here and i will help you catch them there just a pain for me.

Come on up here and i will help you catch them there just a pain for me.

. Man thats good eatin

I've had snappers bite the tails off mid-sized bass. I imagine that they just eat the small one's.

I've caught bass out of that pond that have chunks missing out of them from the turtles

I have problems with the big ole turtles eatin half of the worm off of my texas rig. Ill cast it out, see the turtle surface and he goes down, line twitches and i reel in half of a worm. I have never heard of bass using turtles to their advantage, i always figured they would avoid the big ones at all costs

Exactly my plastics come up cut in half like a knife was used. I find when the turtles are active there are no bass. The last snapper I caught was the size of the 15" tire on my jeep. He was clawing up the bottom as I reeled him in. I let him go, I moved to another spot and the same turtle hit again. Let him go. But I noticed the catfishing was on after that. They were hitting inline spinners and night crawlers too. They liked the panther Martin spin fly with the yellow blade with the black dots with a shot of scent of course. We reeled it slow close to the bottom. Catfish taste awesome gutted and slow rolled over a wood fire .

I once had a snapper crack my lipless crank bait. The side of it was cracked off. Snappers are such a pain sometimes...

I once had a snapper crack my lipless crank bait. The side of it was cracked off. Snappers are such a pain sometimes...

Somewhere in my shed, there's the front half of a Cordell Spot. The back half is stuck in a snapper's mouth.

 

Tom

Somewhere in my shed, there's the front half of a Cordell Spot. The back half is stuck in a snapper's mouth.

 

Tom

At least it learned its lesson.

I lost a brand new gambler meano underpin to a snapper the ten pound fluoro wasn't able to hold him for long enough

Those turtles are a nuisance. Having one or two around isn't bad but if there's lots of them then it can't be good for the pond. We've caught a couple of them before and people have taken them and eaten them.