Bait trap, what happened?

[BDC2]

This morning I threw a bait trap out before work . I put it in a pretty good gill pond, but I baited it for Bullhead. The pond looks like it should have both. Can catch all the gills I want in a couple of hrs. in about 4' of water, but waded a little farther out to get the trap out past the moss. By the taper of the pond, maybe 6'-8' deep.
When I went back and pulled the trap after an 8 hr. soak I had a dozen gills, long dead. A lot of them were chewed up, a couple chewed in half. All of them had there faces beat up. I'm not sure what happened to them, my guess is they were below the thermocline and the turtles got to them after they died. I don't know why there weren't more of them though. Could a snake of done this? 1x1/2 mesh cage trap. Really wanting to use this pond as a bullhead pond, but don't want to keep coming back to a dead trap while trying to figure out where there at and where to set it. Thanks, any suggestions.

Last question is a 1" x 4" spread opening big enough for a larger bullhead.

[Dirtdobber]

With an inch and a half gap wire and pretty good size turtle could stick his head inside, also 6-8" bullheads would go through the wire. Get you a trap with 1/4" wire and may have a great gill and bullhead pond. You may want to check it every couple hours.

[BDC2]

With an inch and a half gap wire and pretty good size turtle could stick his head inside, also 6-8" bullheads would go through the wire. Get you a trap with 1/4" wire and may have a great gill and bullhead pond. You may want to check it every couple hours.

1" by 1/2" cage wire. Could a turtle still get it' head through it? I don't have a problem with the gills, because I don't have to soak it very long. You think I should use a smaller gap for a bullhead trap? Thanks, Aaron

[bucknbill]

With an inch and a half gap wire and pretty good size turtle could stick his head inside, also 6-8" bullheads would go through the wire. Get you a trap with 1/4" wire and may have a great gill and bullhead pond. You may want to check it every couple hours.

X2..i agree, 1/4 in mesh is the ticket

[Satanta]

Chupacabra maybe?

Actually it would not need to be a huge turtle to do that kind of damage. I'd never consider aa bullhead doing that-is that a possibility since it was mentioned.

[eyeballjr]

Bullhead will nip at the gill, but usually not kill the that quick. A snake would be my guess, had them in my trap before.

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