Alligator

[tsfinest]

read this article in the tulsa world today, says it was close to the watts area. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20110629_11_0_WTSAli381482

the question is, for someone better educated on the geography in the area, how close was this to the watts fishing area that we frequent?

[DaddyO]

No. That is Watts, OK. It is between Siloam Springs, AR and Westville, OK. My cousin live in that area. He said that he saw three of them sunning themselves on the bank in the area mentioned in the article.

[OKFlyFisher44]

Note to self: Don't float the sections of the Upper Illinois River near Watts. This whole story kinda freaks me out. Makes me think twice about wading around in the river now that its a murky mess even though that's a long ways away. We were chest deep in the river, crossing a deep hole, Sunday night chasing stripers. Yeah...freaks me out just a touch.

[troutbum479]

the thought of more than one in the river is scary.

[Guest]

the thought of more than one in the river is scary.

I don't know, I imagine a gator would put up a pretty good fight on the long rod!! (might need something a little bigger than a 8/9wt tho!!) What would you even tie up for gators...a "cat" fly maybe?! I'm sure "Jimmy" has a super secret pattern in his arsenal somewhere that would do the trick

[FlyfishinOK]

We used to yak the streams/swamps down around Tampa Fl in the mid 90s and they were full of gators. Some BIG ones too. We had more issues with the big spiders dropping out of the trees than the gators. I was standing on my yak one time and lost ballance in about 3 ft of water that looked like transmission oil. My feet hit bottom and was right back on the yak...don't think I hardly got wet...lol

[swellcat]

Cramer said the alligator he killed Sunday “most likely … had been in captivity for the majority of its life and released by someone.”

A five-foot juvenile, former pet was an imminent threat?

Since it was killed, why not retrieve and grill the thing? (The meat makes delicious barbecue, and the ODWC could've sold plates to help fund . . . something.)

You are about 120,000 times more likely to die in the wreckage of your vehicle than you are in the jaws of a 'gator. If you don't even think twice about jumping into your ride to drive to the fishing hole, does getting all worked up over the thought of a reptile make much sense?