Ohio fishermen reel in 16-foot snake from frozen river

CLEVELAND, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A pair of Ohio fishermen reeled in an unexpected catch: a 16-foot long snake in a frozen river.

Sam Lincoln shared a pair of photos on Instagram showing off the massive snake which he and a friend happened upon at the Chagrin River.

"When you're trying to swing up some holiday steel and you don't catch any fish but you catch a 16-foot constrictor instead," he said.

Lincoln said he and a friend were fishing together on the river when they spotted the snake wrapped around a log beneath the ice.

"We were just fishing a run and looked up and saw it wrapped around a log, half frozen in the water," he told CBS Philadelphia. "Took a while to get it free and pulled it onto the bank. ... Best guess is 14-16 feet and easily 125+ pounds."

Cleveland Metroparks aquatic biologist Mike Durkalec said dead constrictors occasionally turn up frozen after people release their unwanted pets into the wild after growing too big, according to Fox 43.

"Over the years, I've had two incidents where I've personally seen constrictors dead along our rivers this time of year. One was a 7-foot animal snagged by a fisherman; the other one, I found myself just along the side of the river. That was about a 4- to 5-foot boa," he said.