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These pics were taken at a park where i spotted a fisherman trying to hog something in on his pole...figured it was a turtle, no fish bigger than 8 inches in that stream, so i went to see if he needed help. I jumped in the catch the turtle and remove the hook. Luckily he seemed to be tangled by the foot...possibly trying to pull the hook out of his mouth and got it tangled...not sure. but heres the pics

Where was this soft shell found? State, county, etc.?

The man caught him in a small stream in Franklin Creek Park in Franklin Grove, IL...a lil hick town about 2 hours east of chicago, i live about 15 min. from there...they were all over...i saw 2 more at the surface after i caught him. definetly a cool catch. and for ne one worried about the hook, it was tangled around his foot, i figure he mighta bit it and tried to pull it out, idk, but there was no wound in his mouth

So my guess would be a midland smooth softshell or an eastern spiny. Whatever the race, it is surely a female from the size of it.
The front edge of the carapace looks smooth to me from the photos so....

I'm sure it's a Spiny because I can kind of see the points on the front and it looks like it has some black blotches which female Spinies have.

Carapace Spines are clearly visible in the first photo.

Apalone ferox, by the rounded nubs on the front of the carapace and also the "edge" around the carapace.
Leo
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I should have read the post that gave the location of the turtle ~ from the pix it resembles an old Florida Softshell~
Leo
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