Sharks or Gators?

[red_yakker]

I've been kayak fishing for about 5 years now (did the math, I get about 40-50 kayak trips in a year) and still have not had an encounter with a shark over 3 feet long. When I tell people that I kayak in the gulf, I always get the same questions. "What do you do when you see a shark?" "Aren't you afraid a shark will get you?"

I normally reply with "it's not the sharks that worry me, it's the alligators". I don't kayak alone in the creeks anymore due to an encounter with an angry 8 foot gator that charged me when I accidentally snuck up on it. Here's the story.

I was fishing from my kayak, alone way up Yates Creek about 2 or 3 years ago in the Springtime. I eased my kayak around a bend in the creek that normally holds fish and prepared to make a cast. Just as I round the corner, I hear some commotion up in the bushes. I look up, and there sits a very angry looking alligator right on the bank. Mouth open, body up off the ground, making that hissing/growling sound they make when they are really pissed off.

I panicked for about 2 seconds before I could react. I dropped the rod and grabbed my paddle (I'm already within 30 feet, and the wind is pushing me direclty towards a big ole set of jaws and teeth). Just as I'm starting to back-paddle away from him (actually, it was probably a her), she comes charging directly towards me . She does a hugle belly flop into the water (we're talking like 3-4 feet of water here) and disappears below the surface. I continue to back paddle slowly, until I notice a bubble trail popping up, leading directly under my kayak and behind me.

I moved on up the creek and tried to fish, but I was too freaked out. I was also terrified of paddling back around that corner. I finally worked up the courage to paddle back to the ramp. I didn't see the gator anymore on the way back in, and I haven't been on my kayak in a creek since.

A few weeks ago, I see something floating in the water out on the flats, I paddle over closer to see what it is. Just as I realize it's an alligator's head (a very large head), it sinks below the surface, and I turn around to go home.

So, to all of my fellow yakkers, which is it that you are most afraid of, sharks or gators? I wanna hear some stories.

[bman]

Gators for sure- I had one come up to mine during early duck season two years ago...
Big splash from the bank... bubble trail towards my Kayak. Then his head pops up 5 feet from the side of my Yak.
I have bird shot in the shotgun to its not going to do much to a wallygator.
I yell at him and hold my paddle up high trying to look scary. He goes under water and i never see him again.
Spent all day looking over my shoulder!

I have a green yak and think he thought it was another gator... That made me give up the idea of paining the front of my yak like this:

[red_yakker]

I have a green yak and think he thought it was another gator... That made me give up the idea of paining the front of my yak like this:

Ha Ha! I have a green kayak too, and I have wondered if that's not such a good idea in gator country.

[CSMarine]

Had a bad encounter at Yates Creek also last year. By wife and I were way up the creek where it is only about 10 foot wide in a 13 foot jonboat snatching mullet when a huge gator slid off the bank and headed straight toward us. It popped up just a few feet away then went back under. I fired up my outboard to scare it away. I guess it didn't like the noise cause it surfaced on down the creek a ways. Still can't get my wife to go back up into the creek that far now.

[lonesouth]

and people think i'm silly for taking a pistol with me...

i've been fortunate not to have a close encounter

[CrispyFishin]

I have started taking my daughter and a few others out for kneeboarding and other tow sports on a certain body of water in the tallahassee vicinity. This certain body of water has lots of vegetation, and to get to the open spots you have to navigate through channels running through this vegetation.

I have obviously seen alligators here before. Some of them are sizable.

When we are playing behind the boat, it is usually in deep dark open water (10-12'), and there are usually no gators visibly present.

I've never heard of a gator attack involving towsports, but I am not looking to make history either. I like to think that an idling motor keeps them at a distance, but I can never can be 100% positive. I guess this particular body of water has no more gators in it than the flint river or seminole, and I know people on tubes and skis, etc end up near gators in those places.

I guess when you are looking after your kids, you are naturally prone to worry more. I like the pistol idea. I wonder if mine would fire off underwater?

[lonesouth]

Jackson or Iamonia? I've heard of people jetski'n the paths in Iamonia and thought they were either stupid or knew something I didn't. We grew up on Jackson and I never saw a gator in the open water.

most guns will fire underwater, but most manufacturers won't recommend it. Glock is the only one I'm aware of that acknowledges this practice as acceptable(with approved modifications).

[Just Fish]

I had a similar experience bass fishing at lake jackson many years back. I was deep in the lilly pads up near Millers landing and a momma gator about 10 feet long charges out of the high grass on the shoreline directly at the boat. (I am only about 6 inches from the water in my bass boat) She pops up about 2 feet from me as I am trying to climb my pole seat. Hissing and snapping, etc. She goes under the boat pops up on the other side and snaps and hisses again. I don't think it would take much for a gator that size to just hop on the boat and try to take me in. I wasnt about to sit down at the console and be closer to the water so I just kicked the trolling motor on and chopped through about 50 yards of lilly pads to get out of there. Lets just say I needed to change my shorts after that. I suspect she had a nest up on shore and was protecting it.

I have thought seriously about getting a yak but that experience keeps me from it. Even fishing the creeks in my flats boat still makes me nervous.

[red_yakker]

and people think i'm silly for taking a pistol with me...

I like the pistol idea. I wonder if mine would fire off underwater?

Some won't, a Glock will. But, keep this in mind, The U.S. averages over 200,000 gun-related accidents per year, mostly non-fatal (not including homicides, suicides and law-enforcement related shootings). The U.S. averages around 20 alligator attacks per year, very few of which are fatal.

I'm not saying you shouldn't carry a firearm on your boat, it may actually be a good idea when you're in gator country, but please be careful, and make sure your kids are educated in firearm safety.

[BullHound]

I guess this particular body of water has no more gators in it than the flint river or seminole, and I know people on tubes and skis, etc end up near gators in those places.

We go to the sand bars just about every weekend on the Flint. Never see any gators. You go on a weekday and you'll see 1 or 2 laying on the sandbar you were just at. The boat traffic scares them into the sloughs where they can lay low. When I lived on the river you would see gators all week long and nothing on the weekends.

There is only one place I wouldn't test that theory and that's on the Chattahoochee. There are some DINOSAURS up there and they aren't scared.

[woopty]

Many years ago a friend of mine from Pittsburgh and I were fishing Lake Talquinin a canoe. He had been a student at FSU and had been living in the area for almost 10 years. I saw a five footer about 20 yrds off the weedline and pointed him out to my friend. He didn't believe it was an gator! He then told me it was impossible for gators to live this far north. I busted out laughing realizing he had been here for 10 years and didn't know gators were around. We eased up between the gator and the weedline and he was amazed that it actually was a gator. Then, just like a Tarzan movie, a 10 footer came crashing straight at us from the bank through the weeds. He just about t-boned us. i asked him if he thought we were too far north now.

[jsuber]

I would only be scared if it was a gator in a neighborhood and had been fed. Them wild ones are pretty scared of us. Try paddling between the two boat ramps at Fenholloway and there are some HUGE grey back gators in there. They deserve the respect of us being scared of them. Also, don't levae your fish on a stringer around them or sharks.

[SHOWBOAT]

meow....

As long as you're mindful and respectful of these animals they don't create much of an issue. Gators do some postering to maintain their position though.

Benji, you have any snake bite stats? 'effin snakes are a reason to carry....

[Good Times]

Know a guy that disappeared on the river in Wewa. Literally. Was on a bank with his friends swimming one minute and the next minute no one could find him or his dog. Just gone. Never found them. The thought is that a big gator got em when they went in the water. I've seen some big ones. I was in our 15 foot john boat and came upon one that was as big or bigger than the boat. I'd still fish the river, but don't swim or ski there anymore.

With that said I've canoed and kayaked the Wakulla a few times and seen gators, but haven't had a problem. It's not the ones I see that scare me.

[red_yakker]

meow....

It's easy to think that alligators "don't create much of an issue" when you're sitting up there on that Xpress. Have you ever gotten into the water with them? Whether they are actually intending to attack you or not doesn't change the fact that you might need a change of underwear when it's over.

Roughly 8,000 snake bites per year from venomous snakes in the U.S., With approximately 5 per year being fatal.
Rat shot is great for killing snakes, and is unlikely to cause any serious injury to humans.

I worked on a survey crew for several years that mostly worked on large tracts of land all over Taylor and surrounding counties. We weren't allowed to carry a pistol on most jobs, so we got pretty good at de-heading snakes with our machetes. Each time we killed a venomous snake (mostly moccasins and pigmy rattlers, I won't get that close to a diamond back), we'd cut a notch in the back of our machete. I left with 7 notches, some of my buddies' machetes looked like the back of the blade was serrated from so many notches. I killed a cotton-mouth in my back yard the other day with a shovel. I've killed more poisonous snakes in my life than most people even will ever see, and I can't remember ever having to shoot one. I do remember holding a moccasin down with a stick when I was young, so that my dad could cut his head off with a pocket knife.

Oh, by the way, around 66 shark attacks per year, worldwide (under-reported, some claim that number is much higher) with around 5 of those being fatal. (can't find any statistics for the U.S. alone)