Report from Pierfishing.com:
Fished the 72nd St. jetty and Belmont Pier on Sunday. Pretty uneventful... Just a bunch of smelt and a couple small halibut caught by others, but slow otherwise. Until... Next to me a young boy got a huge bite and couldn't pull it up. His father took hold and was fighting for a couple minutes before a sea turtle surfaced. Oohs and ahhs from the crowd that had now gathered. It must've been around 3 1/2 to 4 feet in my unexpert assessment. The turtle eventually ran under the pier to the other side where the line snapped. Poor guy, I'd almost prefer him getting pulled up (there was a net ready) and the hook removed.
I had my camera with me and shot some video. Unfortuantely, the video doesn't show much except for about 3 seconds of the turtle surfacing so here are a few frames from it.
The crowd gathers around to see what's been caught
Someone spots the catch--there it is!
It's a sea turtle!
Close up
The turtle spreads his fins to go back under
The father trying to hold on
The turtle swam to the other side of the pier and the line eventually snapped
