You Never Think It Could Happen To You...

[ecce38]

I'm posting this story here since it happened on Beaver tailwater...

Last Thursday my buddy and I were kayaking/fly fishing from the dam to Bertand access. About a third of a mile up from Bertand I was drifting along the North side of the river trying to stay out of the sun.

Of course as a seasoned canoeist, I know that snakes can make their way into tree branches and bushes along the river's edge. As I was approaching a group of tree branches, I scanned them for snakes. Didn't see any. I glanced out towards the river and then back to the branches I was about to go under. It was then that I saw a very large banned water snake coiled around the branch. The front quarter of my sit-on-top kayak was already under it and I began to back paddle so as to get some distance between me and the snake. But I guess it was my paddling that spooked him and he let go of the branch and fell into the front part of my kayak near my feet. I attempted to scoop him out of the boat with my paddle a few times but wasn't able to. He then began to move quickly up towards my left leg. I lifted my leg and shifted my weight to the right side of the boat. It was then that I fell into the water. As I was going in I noticed the snake was too. So, there I was in the water right next to this thing. It was a creepy feeling being in the water and knowing there was a snake that size in there with me. My fly rod also went into the water but a nearby branch prevented it from going to the bottom. I got very lucky. Even though my fly rod and myself went into the water, my kayak never flipped. Had it flipped I probably would have lost a few things.

Let this be a reminder to us all about something we already know but never really think about when we're out on the water this time of year.

[Buzz]

I am not a fan of snakes, any snakes. Especially when they have me cornered. I would have freaked.

On a side note: How was the fishing/catching? What flies worked? We're thinking about about a family vaction in that area next year.

Buzz

[jdmidwest]

We had to go thru a tricky spot yesterday on the Big River, a low steel bridge crosses the river and you normally lay out in the boat and drift under. The water was still up and I could not make it thru on the sit on top, so I backpaddled out of the hole to the bank. When I stepped out, I spotted a nice thick 4 footer heading up the bank to a clump of willows next to the front of my boat. He dislodged of the biggest bullfrogs I have seen in a while out of the clump and sent him sailing over the front of the kayak. That caught me off guard, never saw that one coming. Thankfully, I was already out of the boat, but was still waist deep in water trying to line up the boat to send it under the bridge. I probably would have bailed if that frog had landed on my lap.

[On The Fly 6]

Snakes can definitely put a damper on a good fishing trip!

[Geoff]

I had two indgo racers darn near land in my lap one year on the meremec. i was fishing along side a big bluff, i guess they were fighting or mating, and then went right over the edge. the tail ends bumped my kayak sides but they landed mostly in the water. it was pretty exciting to say the least

[Bill Anderson]

Water snakes are nonvenemous/harmless, but feisty, and will strike repeatedly if cornered or if you try to pick one up, But you were in NO danger in the water with one, although it would be unnerving to some people.I was warned way back in high school about water snakes. It seems I had been in the biology lab playing with one that I let out of a cage, and every time I tried to grab it to put it back into it's cage, it bit me. When the teacher saw my bloody had, she asked me if I had been fooling with the water snake. I told her I had, and she told me that that type of snake is almost impossible to tame and from now on to leave it in the cage. Mind you, I'm NOT talking about a water mocassin, but a water snake.

[rps]

While in law school in Norman, and poor, my boat was one of those canvas sling seat truck innertube rigs. I always called them belly boats. One evening I was flipping up and under flooded willows when a thick blackish snake decided to leave the willow branches and join me in my tube. Seriously, it landed right in my lap.

To understand what happened next, you must realize my extreme dislike of snakes.

In the next few instants, I somehow wound up out of my tube standing in chest deep water, completely wet with my rod in hand. The snake was still in the tube.

I think maybe I hit the release snap at the crotch and slithered out. What I don't recall is how I did that with my rod in my hand.

The only other choice is that I paddled so hard with my legs that I came out of the water and the tube and landed some few feet away.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I used to fish out of a belly boat, many decades ago, in some small ponds in Oklahoma. It seemed that every trip there was a water snake who acted determined to join me in the tube. I don't think any were poisonous, but just seeing a quick head come up and disappear repeatedly around you can be unnerving.

[Bill Anderson]

Picking on the poor, harmless little wildlife....you guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

[Feathers and Fins]

I would have picked it up, took a few pictures and released it later. Then again there isnt a snake on the planet i wouldnt pick up if it was dumb enough to get close to me lol..