Just to be clear, eating turtles is not just an "Asian" thing. They have always been eaten in the US south. People from most European countries and Britain used to eat turtle soup too. I can even remember snapper being on the menu in eastern Ontario in some small communities that had yet to see their first Asian. Many of the Galapagos tortoise populations were decimated by European crews taking the animals on board to eat as "fresh meat" when their other supplies ran out. It's only recently with turtles and tortoises becoming endangered that certain nations have banned eating turtles. Others, like the USA, have started farming them. In Ontario, it is legal for fishermen to catch turtles but not by use of a line and their are other rules and guidelines.
If he caught two and seemed worried about it, I think he was probably using dead minnows or dead fish as bait. Snappers are great at cleaning up dead fish and could easily take his bait by accident. (If you've ever left living fish on a stringer overnight in some lakes, you'll also find the snappers have been along to help themselves to your breakfast.) I can imagine how difficult it might be to try to get your hook back out of an animal that would be happy to bite your finger off for the favour--but leaving the hook in could kill it.
I just thought I'd like to add a little extra information.
