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Aggressive snake

12K views 92 replies 38 participants last post by  dmason390 
#1 ·
Had a little run-in with a snake on the Haw River this past Saturday afternoon. I had just got done fishing an area and was actually paddling slowly upstream when I happened to turn around and look behind me. Freakin snake was charging at me full speed! I had to fend the sucker off with my paddle and he got so close I gave him a little whack on the noggin to shoo him away.

I'm guessing it was just a water snake as it was pretty thin and brown and they are the most common but if I hadn't turned around and that sucker got in the boat with me I don't know what I woulda done but it wouldn't have been done very calmly I can tell you that.

Made me wonder if anyone else ever had a snake join them in the boat and what they did about it...
 
#3 ·
Man I hope it wasn't a mocassin, guess it could of had a nest in the area or something. Oh yeah, the reason I think it was intentionally coming at me was because I was right in the middle of the river and it was swimming upstream towards me. I can only ever remember seeing snakes swimming sideways on the river trying to get to the banks.
 
#5 ·
Hopefully you were in a big boat! I've had a bass actually jump in my canoe before and land in my lap a few years ago and that startled me pretty good for a second, I can't imagine if a snake did it, I would have to bail I'm sure, especially in a yak!
 
#8 ·
Turtlestew, I wouldn't have laughed if it happened to me, but the way you told it made me crack up. Hasn't happened to me, but it did remind me of this; [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_UnV3RbCtg"]YouTube - Bill Dance Fishing Bloopers - Dance with tree snake[/ame]
 
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#9 ·
Well ,any animal can be a little crazy at times , especially springtime.
Snakes are proud posessors of the tiniest of brains. Who knows.
I have paddled up and snatched water snakes out of the water. Just takes commitment. I have watched a snake swim 25 yds across a cove and straight under my yak while I was standing on the bank.
If you do have moccasins I`d love to see one. They are gone around charlotte. I haven`t seen one in probably 25 yrs.
 
#11 ·
This my least favorite topic as I have a sincere dislike and fear of snakes. And I have fished with 12 alligators on the bank within casting distance in Florida, no problem.....around 14 foot sharks in Florida no problem.....but snakes, even small ones. Especially in this example. Just a storage tip for those with sit insides that are stored outside, check them before getting in. Friend of mine was 1/2 way across a lake when he felt something on the back of his seat and on his shirt, reached back to grab a snake.......imagine his surprise. This thread gives me the creeps.
 
#12 ·
Hey Stu, yeah that's why I was thinking it was just a water snake. I thought I remember reading somewhere that there hadn't been any confirmed cases of cottonmouths in Chatham County in quite some time...

Eray-I think I'll be givin my yak a good once over from now on!

I did a little searching on the internet last night and the brown or banded water snake gets my vote as to the offender. It may have just not known I was there and we happened to be in the same spot at the same time or he was just a freak.
 
#14 ·
Strange how we all have different phobia's. Snakes don't bother me at all...........Spiders are another story though. I've got a chocolate lab that got nailed a couple of weeks ago by a Brown Recluse (according to the vet). That's one sick dog with a quarter-sized hole in her flank that at one time was swelled the size of a fist. After $300 of surgery and medicine it got re-infected 2 days ago and she has to go under the knife again tomorrow.

With a snake you usually see it or hear it. With a spider there's no warning.
 
#17 ·
I know a guy who got bit on his elbow and I`d take 3 copperhead bites to 1 recluse bite without a doubt.
funny you say that. I agree, especially if the 3 snake bites were like the last one. I got bit by a juvenile copperhead but nothing happened. I dont know if it was a dry bite or his fangs just didnt penetrate but I never felt a thing. I was cleaning up a job site and lifting up a piece of rubble and it felt like someone flicked my finger. I looked down and there was a little 14" or so copperhead. I can easily deal with snakes but spiders make me a little nervous sometimes. I have known a few people that got bit by recluses and it isnt pretty. I have never been bit but have had a few black widows scare the crap out of me by crawling on me or just apearing on something I was holding. they like electrical and water boxes especially. I found that out.
 
#18 ·
Definitely the water boxes. As a kid we ALWAYS had them there. I took one to show and tell in 2nd grade.
And have been bitten by a copperhead. If you`re not one of those people with a bad reaction, a little benadryl is all you need.
Pier man ,chances are your bite was maybe just a "warning" and no venom.
 
#24 ·
I dont know if that was a dry bite or he didnt penetrate the skin deep enough. I threw him in a bucket and took him home and he was my pet for a week. when I was a kid I had a few of those black widows crawl on my hand/arm when I would reach in there. I use to look for frogs and other little cool animals in those water boxes when I was a stupid kid.

. Also they lay directly on top of the water because of a swim bladder in the body. They float like a cork.
I was crabbing a few years ago and had a cottonmouth come after me. I knew it was a cottonmouth because of what you described, it was on top of the water when it was swimming to me. I hit it with a crab net a couple times and never saw where it went. it went away from me though and thats all that matters.
 
#19 ·
Bet your teacher loved you for that!

Talking to the Cable TB guy once at our family beach house at the Outer Banks (our cable was out) and he was getting ready to open the little green box out by the street and told me every one had a black widow in it. Sure enough there was one in there. Aggressive spider those are. I was cleaning out a bunch of stored lumber and other stuff alongside the house after my Dad died and killed 7 of them. Wellhouse had them too.

I will kill ANY spider I see, venomous or not. I will only kill a venomous snake though.
 
#22 ·
I want you all to officially know that my skin has been crawling reading this post! How about this, I hate both snakes and spiders, eels, and everything else in between. I caught my first eel the other day and I wouldn't even touch it, I just bit the line and threw it back. Reminded me WAY too much of a snake.
 
#23 ·
Old wivestales aside. Water moccasin, Agkistrodon piscivorus (see photo) is never described as thin. Also they lay directly on top of the water because of a swim bladder in the body. They float like a cork. A herpatologist that I knew in Florida told a story of gathering watersnakes at night, putting them in a bag and unloading them into an enclosure later. He said he almost fainted when he saw half a dozen heads swimming around one large bodied snake laying on the surface. OOOPs!

most people are surprised that they look short and stumpy. I watched a special on the Big Cypress last weekind on WUNC that showed their personality better than anything I've seen before. The snakes he showed were threatening and displayed their white mouth as a threat display. Never struck or moved aggressively, only tried to get away. That's consistent with the ones I've run across in my 60 some odd years. Leave them alone and they'll usually do the same. We are in the northern extreme of their range. Here is a map in wikipedia ( Agkistrodon piscivorus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Most people see a snake in the water and assume it's poisonous. Water moccasins are retiring and usually avoid people, as opposed to water snakes that are often aggressive.I agree that you probably saw a brown water snake. That doesn't mean that it wouldn't have scared the **** out of you if taken unawares. I know it doesn't make a very good story for the grandkids, but it's the truth.
 
#25 ·
I was thinking about this thread this a.m. and have to wonder at all the stories that snakes pursue people, boats, etc.
Because of the way they feed, snakes have to be very near sighted and see color, IR, and UV differently than we do. I wonder if they mistake a boat for a log or other hauling out place and probably don't recognize people as anything more that a tree or other blob of matter in their world. Additionally, snakes and most other predatory animals are only aggressive with things they can eat. They don't waste energy or venom on something that isn't food. We may mis-interpret their actions as an attack, when really it's them going about their day-to-day business or defending their nest, etc.
 
#26 ·
Yeah Mike you make a good point. I actually thought about that myself, thinking he just mistook me for a log or something and he was just doing his thing. I remember tellling my brother that too, that he might of thought I was just a log.

But the only thing I can't explain is when I heard him say, "I'm gonna bite the xxxx out of you if I get in that kayak"
 
#28 ·
I had a recent encounter with a red-bellied water snake, but fortunately I wasn't on the water when it happened. I was surprized by how aggressive this fellow was. Most of the time they break their necks to get away from you. I actually thought this one was a cottonmouth at first. (We have both here in Johnston County, but cottonmouths are much more rare)
 
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