Close Encounters of the Toothy Kind!

[Steve Stinson]

My wife wanted to take the kayaks out on Labor Day, but didn't want to go all the way to the coast, so I made the mistake of telling her "I will load the kayak trailer, you pick the spot where you want to go." She got on line and found a kayak trail at Lake Lafayette, so off we went over to Chaires to launch the kayaks.
At the ramp near the railroad crossing, we met up with a couple of guys in a jon boat asking us "Which way to the open water?" We didn't have a clue so we set off in the opposite direction from the one they took - Me paddling my kayak and Melissa and Andrew in hers. After a few miles paddling through muck and weeds so thick you could hear them scraping the bottom of the kayaks, we began to tire, and stopped for lunch. The thick weeds then got even thicker, so we decided to head back to the ramp.
Melissa stopped to take a picture and I paddled ahead of she and Andrew cruising back down the same weedy trail we had just passed through. About halfway back I must have startled a good sized gator basking in the sun. I never saw him coming, just heard a loud bump against my kayak and saw his jaws clamp down on the port side right between my ankle and left knee. I was still moving forward at the time and his teeth were grinding down the side of my boat toward where my butt was sitting. As I moved my knees as far to the right as possible and raised my paddle, he let go of the kayak and closed his mouth sitting about a foot to my left side. Not wanting to give him a chance to make a second lunge at me, I placed the end of my paddle on top of his head and shoved for all I was worth. This helped me out in two ways 1. It pushed him all the way to the bottom of the swamp and 2. it moved me sideways several feet to my right and away from him. He swam about 30 feet under water, then resurfaced and kept moving away from me. Luckily, he turned down a side trail in the opposite direction from the way we had to go to get back.
At this point Melissa anounced from behind me "If I never see this place again, it will be too soon!" We all agreed that suddenly, the coast didn't seem so far after all. See you in the saltwater!
Steve, Melissa, and Andrew Stinson

[What a mess]

Natural defense< crap yourself they hate the flavor it should be pretty easy in that situation.

[Reel Cowboy]

That's just messed up

[KyTrkyHntr]

Wow!!!

[boggob]

That will make you pucker

Any teeth lodged in the yak?

[MudDucker]

Very strange this time of year. Glad it worked out!

[bman]

Scary and cool! I remember seeing one out there in high school that was every bit of 16'

[TallyFish]

Yikes! Any estimation on its length?

[Jumptrout51]

Saltwater??
Butch and I had one harass us for an hour near Grey Mare Rock one morning.
Another morning we were fishing a creek mouth and he caught one on a jighead.
Getting that lure back wasn't easy,but we got it.

[red_yakker]

[SHOWBOAT]

That is crazy Steve. Matt and I paddled around there one day just to check it out and had a wonderful trip. We made the loop towards Piney Z and came back along the tracks. We saw some gators, some open water, but never did see a fish. These pics are from 3/10.

[Steve Stinson]

Brian -
The side over by the railroad tracks is where this happened. We didn't find any water nearly as open as what your pictures shows. I did have a few bream hit at a popping bug on my flyrod, but no larger fish.
I am not sure how large the gator was, but would estimate 7-8 feet. (They probably look a lot larger when they are that close).

Jumptrout -
A buddy of mine caught one in Hickory Mound last year on a jig. I have seen them, both large and small fishing the flats and during my land surveying career, but never had one come close to getting me despite years of working in waist deep south Florida swamps.

- Steve Stinson

[Flanders]

another reason why I choose to do my part and contribute to global warming. Crank it up, and be gone!!!

[boggob]

Speaking of gators in the salt, I've seen one at Dog Island in the basin last year.

[Reel Cowboy]

Speaking of gators in the salt, I've seen one at Dog Island in the basin last year.

Saw a small one at the condos by the public ramp in Keaton a few weeks ago.