7/30/06 – First Day  

Caught

            2 – Baby Spiny Soft-shell Turtles

Thoughts

            First day at Bass River Resort always seems like a slow day and today was no different. We barely saw anything and only caught two baby soft shell turtles. The only other things we saw were two juvenile northern water snakes, both of which eluded our capture.

Me holding a juvenile soft-shell turtle.

7/31/06 – Second Day (Highway 8 to Scotia)

Caught

            6 – Baby to Adult Northern Water Snakes

            1 – Adult Spiny Soft-shell Turtle

            1 – Baby Map Turtle

            1 – Three-toed Box Turtle

Thoughts

            Second day here and the first float. All of us here were really excited and couldn’t wait to get onto the river. We decided to float the same river we lost the parents on last year. We “kids” wanted to show them the way we went. The float started off well. The first thing we caught was a nice 10 inch diameter spiny soft-shell. I love these turtles and they are my personal favorites. They are truly magnificent animals. We were also lucky to spot two northern water snakes right next to the turtle. Instead of using a fishing type net to catch these snakes this year, I decided to try my luck using the bare hands method. This year, I finally have enough faith in my own ability to successfully identify the snakes on the fly. I was able to catch 5/6 snakes today without getting bit using the bare hands method. The one that did get me only gave me a quick tag on the knuckle. The other ones I caught in, out, and underwater, without getting bit. I found that these snakes tended to be near the fast moving parts of the stream near roots or dead trees. It was interesting to find that there weren’t a lot of turtles visible on the river sunning themselves. I attribute this to the fact that today was very hot (95 – 100 degrees) and that the river had a lot of people on it. We hope that we will see more as the days go by.

A northern water snake I caught.

8/1/06 – Third Day (Bass to Scotia)

Caught

            6 – Baby to Juvenile Map Turtles

            2 – Juvenile to Adult Stinkpots

            3 – Baby to Adult Red Ear Sliders

            2 – Juvenile Spiny Soft-shell Turtles

            2 – Northern Water Snakes

Thoughts

            Toady was an awesome day for herping. In the first 500ft of the river we caught two juvenile spiny soft-shell turtles. We also saw two gigantic spiny soft-shells, both of which eluded our capture. As the day went by the animals seemed to disappear. From 12 – 2 we barely saw any animals other than a baby map turtle here and there. Bear in mind that it was another 100-degree day so they probably all disappeared to stay out of the heat of the day. By around 2:30 we started seeing everything again and my buddies and I started catching everything again. Regretfully we didn’t catch or see any 6-inch plus diameter turtles. Overall, though, we had a great time on this float. Even Jeff, who normally doesn’t catch anything, caught two baby map turtles. This is possibly the most successful day ever in the history of the float trips we have had catching wise.

An adult and juvenile red ear slider I caught.

8/2/06 – Fourth Day (Blunts to Bass)

Caught

            3 – Baby to Juvenile Spiny Soft-shell Turtles

            6 – Baby to Adult Map Turtles

            1 – Adult Red Ear Slider

            1 – Juvenile Northern Water Snake

            1 – Juvenile Midland Water Snake

Thoughts

            Today started off slower than all the other days. We decided we wanted to get on the river earlier because we wanted to get home earlier. We also thought that with us getting on the river earlier, we would see more reptiles since they would be sunning themselves. This was not the case. We all figured that since it has been abnormally warm, roughly 100 degrees, for a couple consecutive days, most turtles and other reptiles are finding relief in the river or have been somewhat dormant. For example, all the wildlife I caught today was already in the river. Even though we saw less wildlife then we usually see, we still caught an impressive amount. I was disappointed in myself, though, for not being able to catch any of the 4, 10inch plus diameter spiny soft-shell turtles we saw today. All of them were able to make a clean getaway into the water grass where my friends and I couldn’t for the life of us get them to show themselves. On a happier note, we were able to catch several adult map and red ear sliders. I discovered today that I have been probably catching both northern water snakes and midland water snakes without being able to tell the difference. I will have to go through all the pictures to see for sure. Overall, this was an awesome float trip experience.