How to Fish for Softshell Turtles? Master These Methods to Get Them to Bite More Easily

For people who are very fond of fishing, going out often to catch carp, grass carp and the like can get a bit boring, and in fact fishing for softshell turtles is also a very good choice. Let's take a look together at how to fish for softshell turtles.

Season

The softshell turtle, also known as the tuan yu, has the habit of hibernating, so fishing for softshell turtles is highly seasonal; generally they begin to bite after the Start of Summer, are most active from Lesser Fullness to the Start of Autumn, and summer is the golden season for fishing for softshell turtles.

Habits

Softshell turtles like to feed where sand and gravel meet, and there are more softshell turtles in unpolluted, flowing rivers; larger softshell turtles are also found in lakes, deep pools, reservoirs and large ponds that have not been dredged or dried out for many years.

Fishing Spot

In spring you should fish on willow-lined banks, and in summer on river shoals, hence the saying “fish the willows in spring, fish the shoals in summer”; softshell turtles hide by day and come out by night, so fishing at night is best; at the same time, softshell turtles often appear in the swims where crucian carp gather.

Bait

The choice of bait is also very important; the softshell turtle is a very typical carnivore, only liking meat and not vegetables, and it is also especially sensitive to the smell of blood, so you can choose things like beef liver and pork liver, and you can also use earthworms, frogs and grasshoppers as bait. You can also scatter bait in the water and on the bank, and sometimes a greedy softshell turtle will climb up on its own to eat.