There is an old pond on our ranch located in the woods and is surrounded by brush and briars on three sides. One spring a few years back the water in the pond was crystal clear. You could see to the bottom. I was fishing off the bank so of course I could only see the bottom out to a few feet away from me. There were some really big bass in the pond and I could run my lure right by them and they wouldn't bite.

Finally I hooked something farther out and as I reeled it in it didn't jump and jerk like a fish, it just gave a steady pull. As I got it closer to the bank where I could see into the water it looked like I had a stingray on the hook. It was maybe a foot across and it was flapping it's "wings" in the water as I reeled it in. I did not see a tail. Unfortunately, it got off the hook before I surfaced it. It was like it let go of the hook, since it wasn't jumping or jerking.

This happened in Arkansas, so of course it wasn't anywhere close to saltwater where a stingray may have lived. I've fished that pond many times and have never hooked anything like that again.


It may have been a soft shelled turtle.

[link to scribalterror.blogs.com]