Does this river run down to the ocean? Maybe a Sturgeon.
Or, if you were on Lake Champlain, it might have been "Champ."
Or a seal?
Oddly enough that's (or a whale) was what it looked like when it surfaced. It didn't rise up like turtles do, but rather "porpoised" without showing head or limbs.The surface was smooth, not anything like a snapping turtle shell.If it was a turtle, but not a snapping turtle, it was a huge painted/box/bog turtle.The river may reach the ocean, but sturgeons can't make it up, as could stripers, bull sharks or any ocean creature that can survive in fresh water.I know there are some mammalian creatures that inhabit this river, but again it was too big to be a beaver, muskrat or otter.Here's the dimensions , as best as I could gauge from where I was sitting: It would be roughly 24-30" wide and 3-4' long (front to back).I WILL be back again to fish that river, but I won't be playing Ahab looking for the white whale.
I once saw a beaver that was an easy 90+ lbs (Quabbin). I saw it out of the water and back then I was helping a trapper skin them so I had sizing down pretty good. Just a thought that it might be some rare overgrown specimen... Huge otter or the like. Just a thought.