Fisherman catches giant alligator turtle in Texas

Justin Broomhall made quite a dent on Father’s Day. Broomhall was fishing at Lake Cherokee in East Texas when he got snagged on something big. He was using paste bait in hopes of catching a catfish, but it wasn’t a fish that took his bait. Instead, he brought home an absolutely giant Alligator Snapping Turtle. Once he brought the creature to the bank, he picked it up for a photo.
I wanted to share what my dad and his buddy caught at Lake Cherokee in TEXAS yesterday! I wanted to add this so people can…
Posted by Kristina Marie Ritter on Monday, June 20, 2022
“I do a lot of lifting. I was a bodybuilder in high school and 200 pounds for me is pretty easy to pick up. [But] I was struggling with that,” Broomhall told MySA. “My three-year-old son started panicking. He thought it was a dinosaur and kept saying, “Forget it!” Let it go! To put back!”
Broomhall estimated the giant tortoise to be between 100 and 150 years old. In Texas, alligator snapping turtles are considered an endangered species. It is illegal to take or possess it. The alligator snapping turtle is the largest species of freshwater turtle, according to the National Wildlife Federation. They live in the waters of the southeastern United States, from northern Florida to eastern Texas. Their numbers have declined in recent years due to overexploitation for meat and habitat loss.
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With the turtle in hand, Broomhall realized that the hook was still embedded in its beak. Broomhall slid into the water with the beast, grabbed it by the tail, and pulled it halfway to land. Then, with the help of his father, he slipped a rope around his head, flipped him onto his back, and removed the hook. Then he safely released the giant reptile. “On Tik Tok and Facebook, everyone was saying [the photo of the turtle] was photoshopped,” Broomhall told CBS19. “I’m telling you the honest truth from God, it was the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen.”