Snake Season Is Around The Corner.

[mic]

I have zero experience with cottonmouths, and I plan on trying out the upper Jack's Fork this season. I understand they are a curious snake and will approach canoes and people. I think I remember Al talking about that once. Anyway, is there a way to tell what they are from a distance? Second question, is there an easy way to tell the difference between a copperhead and the common watersnake (sorry don't know the name) that looks like it.

F&F, every been bit yourself with all that handling?

[Justin Spencer]

Second question, is there an easy way to tell the difference between a copperhead and the common watersnake (sorry don't know the name) that looks like it.

Copperheads are very strikingly colored snakes that have a big obvious pattern. I used to sometimes think certain water snakes might be a copperhead and upon further inspection they NEVER were. I have never seen a copperhead and wondered if it was a water snake(pretty obvious once you know what they look like). If you have ever positively identified a copperhead (after knowing what they look like) chances are if you are not sure about a particular snake it is probably a watersnake. Along the river in the summertime I have only seen 1 copperhead in the water, and thousands of watersnakes. Either way don't jack with them, watersnakes are much testier than copperheads!

[Tim Smith]

Copperheads are very strikingly colored snakes that have a big obvious pattern. I used to sometimes think certain water snakes might be a copperhead and upon further inspection they NEVER were. I have never seen a copperhead and wondered if it was a water snake(pretty obvious once you know what they look like). If you have ever positively identified a copperhead (after knowing what they look like) chances are if you are not sure about a particular snake it is probably a watersnake. Along the river in the summertime I have only seen 1 copperhead in the water, and thousands of watersnakes. Either way don't jack with them, watersnakes are much testier than copperheads!

That's right. The trickier one to tell apart are Northern water snakes (the really common ones in Illinois at least) and cottonmouths.

They're both dark with a banding pattern and they occur in the same habitats (and you often see them in the water). They're also both comparatively aggressive.

To me the best way to differentiate is head shape. It usually takes a second or two to get a good look, but that fat triangular viper - water moccasin head is pretty distinctive.

[drew03cmc]

Tim, you are correct on that one.

[mic]

I'm not scared of snakes and used to keep them for pets. But I hope not to get close enough to one to figure out.

[Feathers and Fins]

I have zero experience with cottonmouths, and I plan on trying out the upper Jack's Fork this season. I understand they are a curious snake and will approach canoes and people. I think I remember Al talking about that once. Anyway, is there a way to tell what they are from a distance? Second question, is there an easy way to tell the difference between a copperhead and the common watersnake (sorry don't know the name) that looks like it.

F&F, every been bit yourself with all that handling?

From a distancve the differances between them and water snakes would be very difficult. Ive handled thousands of them yet am always reminded of one instance where I was out collecting at night and went to pick up a watersnake, my body stopped just before I grabbed it and luckily it was a cottonmouth. Instinct saved me. Even a trained eye can be fooled in the right conditions.

The best thing is leave all snakes alone. I shake my head when i hear people talk about ryhmes and wives tails. I have had snakes that go so against them it would kill. Coral snake everyone always says the rhyme red touchs black friend of jack, red touches yellow kill a fellow. Ive had ALL BLACK corals and corals that had no yellow etc. Copperheads ive seen them with so many patterns including stripes.. Its best to just admire them and leave them be.

As to being bitten, i have to laugh about it. I worked with a major importer plus my own business and helping others. Ive been bitten by non-venomous so many times it desnt phase me or at least didnt when i was doing it all the time.. As to venomous yes i have been bitten but i dont discuss it other then saying it hurts like hell.

[Feathers and Fins]

Ron there are 4 confirmed cases of Copperhead fatalities to my knowledge. One just recently and was a friend. Anaphylactic Shock was the cause of death in his case and 1 of the other cases, the other two i cant recall the exact cause of death. A bee can cause anaphylactic shock though. My worse bite was from a recluse spider. by that i mean disfigurement and healing time... but what was the wourse was having friends who are Toxicologist and Miami Anti-venom bank I had no sympathy at all. In fact i had e-mail after e-mail wanting pictures and documentation of bite progression and negorsis etc. Lord I felt like a lab rat.

[ozark trout fisher]

Interesting stuff. From a distance, I really do appreciate and admire snakes...But up close they scare the heck out of me, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise. In my time in the mountains, I've been close, sometimes uncomfortably so, to a mountain lion, black bears (multiple times), a grizzly bear, moose, etc, and I'm fine in those situations. Actually, I usually come away thinking it was pretty cool, especially with the Grizzly bear as they are pretty rare in the part of Montana where I came across it. But if a harmless water snake sneaks within a few yards of me when I'm wading a stream, I'm headed to the bank, double quick. I realize this isn't particularly rational. If it's big and I can always see it, like a bear or a mountain lion, it doesn't bother me, but small, subtle things like spiders and snakes really get at me. It's weird the way the human mind works sometimes.

[dgames]

From the website - www.oksnakes.org

"Cottonmouths swim with their head up and their entire body on the surface of the water, unlike the harmless water snakes, which swim with the lower half of their body underneath the water."

I wouldn't bank my life on this if I saw a snake swimming with the back end underwater, but if I saw one swimming entirely on the surface, I am assuming it's a cottonmouth.

I had a pretty creepy encounter on the NFOW about 15 years ago. Was wet wading and nymph fishing the riffle run on the east side of the island by Riverside CG (just downstream from Patrick Bridge) Saw a big brownish banded snake (probaby 5 ft long or so) swimming on the surface at the bank across from me. At the time, I assumed it was a water snake with the brown color. Now I would assume it was a cottonmouth given that it was very much on top of the water. Anyway, it swam downstream 20 yards or so and went to the far bank and I kind of forgot about it.

5 or 10 minutes later, I was hyper-focused on my strike indicator as I was fishing it upstream (current flowing from my left to right) and I feel something bump against my left leg. I look down, and a equally large, more blackish snake is two feet in front of me swimming downstream on top of the water. I guess I was still enough in the water that he just treated me like a log in the water. Thankfully, it just kept swimming downstream while I was practically crapping my pants. I have always thanked god I didn't look down a second or two earlier because I wouldn't have been able to stay still and probably would have startled it and it probably would have struck.

This was late september and a few leaves were starting to fall into the river. The rest of that float, I was so freaked out, whenever a leaf washed into me, I would just about jump out my skin.

To this day, I am still pretty paranoid when wet wading. For some reason, I feel much braver with waders, although I would guess they probably don't give that much protection.

[stlfisher]

Snakes don't bother me too much. Spiders in the other hand...not a big fan.