Watch your line....and your surroundings.....don't read lizards

[Rodman_Rob]

I took my parents to the Oklawaha Restoration area today to take them and our dogs for a little bit of a hike. We started off spotting animal tracks, saw tracks from racoons, deer, wild boar, bear, our dogs, and a few others, lol. We go a little further and one of the dogs spots an Armadillo and almost goes to war with it. We keep walking and come up to the bridge. We start walking up the hill to the bridge and as the dogs top the hill I look at both of them and what do I see? A 3 FOOT WATER MOCASSIN DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH BOTH OF THEM! I yanked on their leashes hard enough to send both dogs (85 lbs) 3 feet into the air and both landed 4 feet from the mocassin. Luckily both dogs had on harnesses instead of collars so I didn't break their necks in my moment of panic. I still can't believe the dogs nor myself got bit. Of all the times I've come across mocassins, this was the only one that didn't show any aggression. They typically persue me instead of fleeing. Once we got the dogs away and I observed the snake closer, I noticed the back end appear to be a little more flat than round along with some sand on its back side so it appeared to have moved very little recently. We ended up killing the snake for our safety, but also because it didn't appear that it had much of a chance for recovery..........especially after we hit it with the stick. I still can't believe my dog and parents dog along with myself are still alive. We had an hour hike just to get back to the car, and another hour drive to the hospital. Had that been a healthy snake we walked up on our dogs and/or me would have been snake bit and possibly too far away to get to a hospital in time. I know what I need to avoid here in florida, not from others expierence, but from my own, and I know I only need to be cautious of gators, but fearful of snakes and with that I'll say I'm constantly scanning for snakes much more so than gators. I know for a fact I was looking for snakes the entire way, and it wasn't 2 seconds of unattentiveness that put me in a VERY vunerable position. Watch your lines for bass, and your surroundings for snakes! And I'll end with this smiley for snakes as it describes me perfectly

[m cress]

Recreating in Florida doesn't sound like much fun.

[CarpMan]

Originally Posted by m cress

Recreating in Florida doesn't sound like much fun.

B***! B****! B****! That’s all you do, is B****! B****! B****!.Yesterday you were B****en about an ole man fishen with a 10ft pole, catchen bass from your favorite fishen hole, today youre B****en about Robs home State of Florida. Quit ye B****en about ever thing. LOL. Just Joken... Rob, you kill all dem ole nasty snakes! Now them Armidelos are good eaton, we call em possum on the half shell, they shore taste good roasted over a camp fire, with some good ole cajun hot sauce and a big ole glass of tang. If you ain't tried it, next time you splat one with your car, stop and pick it up, cuz you don't know what you been missen. The C Man from Snowhollow.

[zooker]

m cress

had a close call with one in NORTH CAROLINA last winter.. folks will say there is no cotton mouths in nc -this is bull crap-mine hit the buckle on a pair of nonsnake proff knee boats. i about like to shant my self i tell ya..

zooker

[HulaPopr]

In FL, I think its probably more important to watch out for fire ants than for snakes or gators. I haven't had any close calls w/ cottonmouths, but ave with coral snakes. Our cat caught one and did a lot of damage to it, so we just killed it so it wouldn't bite the cat, plus it wouldn't live much longer anyway. You can barely feel the bite from a non-venomous snake, but 50+ fire ant bites will make you scream.

[flbassman]

Originally Posted by HulaPopr

You can barely feel the bite from a non-venomous snake,

Not really..... LAst year, I was at a party, and a 4 foot garter snake showed up on the back porch. I had it caught, and calmed down, and some moron throws a rock at it. THis pissed it off significantly, and it latched onto my hand between the thumb and index finger. Tore it raw before I got him off. Washed it out, and woke up the next morning with a lovely infection that lasted about five days.

[HulaPopr]

I guess it jus matters where you get bitten. If its somewhere that they can really latch on, I guess it can be kinda bad, but mostly they'll just strike quicly and it hardly feels like much, you'll bleed a lttle, but its not bad most of the time.

[flbassman]

Ya, you're right. I've been bit on my legs by corn snakes, and that's no big deal.

[flamez]

i was talkin with a friend once on some uhhh i dont know how to explain to you what they are but their called sandbags that make up this fishin point that are filled with concrete anyway i was sitting with a friend just talkin and i hear someone tell me not to move so i look behind me and there it was a nice big cotton mouth coiled up so i slowly get up and move grabbed a nice LONG fishing rod and lifted it up and moved it into some swampland ive walked up about 3 inches ide say from 1 but that wasnt the last surprise their were 3 of them sitting together none showed any agression just slithered away ive seen countless cottonmouths none have been agressive they pretty much stay out of your way after a hurrican a few years ago tho there was about a 4 foot maybe even 5 foot snake that washed up on shore someone had cut it in half with what i guess was a machete by the look of it i really doubt anyway would use anything smaller then a machete to go up to a snake and cut it in half

if you give them space they wont bother wasting venom on you their venom sacs take a pretty long time to regenerate venom so if a snake can get away without using any they will which is why they will often "dry bite" you without even extending their fangs they only try sizing you up to make you giveway no need to kill them if they meerly get in your way i can understand if it was threatening your dogs though

[flfireman]

Must have nice cotton mouths where your at. Ive had them chase me on shore, try to get in the boat. Had one come up to the boat, whacked him with the paddle and trolled off. The SOB followed me, got hit again and followed me again. Finally met the wrong end of a 9mm. Ive seen cotton mouths come off tree branches and swim 20 yards to go after a boat. They are not nice. I will try to avoid them at all costs, if they become aggressive and come at me, they die. I do not, repeat DO NOT like snakes, especially them.

[flamez]

wow someone most be slippin my snakes prozac or something completly docile and yes they are cotton mouths not just some water snake

[basscatcher03]

i swear this is not a fake story my friend hes 7 and we were at a little pond and he says he got something and hes about to fall into the water so i grab the pole and reel it in on the other end a 6' cotton mouth and another was slitheriing uo behind us only a baby though when i saw that snake i litarily picked the 50 pound kid over my shoulder and ran home over a mile away and i come back with a knife maybe a half hour later and its still there theyre both still there and i tie the knife to a stick and stabbed them and man that kid never goes fishing there again but it was weird because the snake was hooked like a fish

[GorillaWarfare]

Originally Posted by HulaPopr

You can barely feel the bite from a non-venomous snake, but 50+ fire ant bites will make you scream.

I don't doubt that fire ants sting quite a bit however the snakes in the elk river in MO are very good at biting you. I was walking through the river one day and it started to rain so I was running up the river to get to the camp site. I wasn't really paying attention and then I felt this thing latch onto my ankle when I walked past a brush pile. I picked my leg up out of the water and there was a 3ft water snake hangin off my ankle. Needless to say I freak out and start kicking and whatnot and send the snake on a little trip all the way across the river. By the time I finally got back to camp my ankle was as big as a grapefruit but luckly there were just scratches and no puncture wounds. But that crap hurt for about 2 weeks.

Gorilla

[Bo Dale James Jr.]

I was fishing on the Illinois river for catfish. I was pulling one in and a water moc attached itself to the fish. I put a kink in his back with a big stick and he just floated away. I don't fish that stretch any more after I saw some of the old local boys down there and they told me it's called the Snake Pit.

[Skeeter]

Originally Posted by flamez

i was talkin with a friend once on some uhhh i dont know how to explain to you what they are but their called sandbags that make up this fishin point that are filled with concrete anyway i was sitting with a friend just talkin and i hear someone tell me not to move so i look behind me and there it was a nice big cotton mouth coiled up so i slowly get up and move grabbed a nice LONG fishing rod and lifted it up and moved it into some swampland ive walked up about 3 inches ide say from 1 but that wasnt the last surprise their were 3 of them sitting together none showed any agression just slithered away ive seen countless cottonmouths none have been agressive they pretty much stay out of your way after a hurrican a few years ago tho there was about a 4 foot maybe even 5 foot snake that washed up on shore someone had cut it in half with what i guess was a machete by the look of it i really doubt anyway would use anything smaller then a machete to go up to a snake and cut it in half

if you give them space they wont bother wasting venom on you their venom sacs take a pretty long time to regenerate venom so if a snake can get away without using any they will which is why they will often "dry bite" you without even extending their fangs they only try sizing you up to make you giveway no need to kill them if they meerly get in your way i can understand if it was threatening your dogs though

Dude,

your not seeing watermoccasins. You might be seeing a snake BUT IT AINT A WATERMOCCASIN! They will chase your A$$ clean out of a boat or all the way home if they have a chance. You say "3 inches from one"? Aint no way in he!! that was a moccasin because you'd be telling a differant story.

[flbassman]

Skeet- Not always. My cousin and I have been two or three feet away form them w/o any problems. Lot of it has to do with body temperture, appetite and time of day.