# rattlesnake in the bay



## Hauntedbywaters (Jul 15, 2009)

I was wading near Port A on Monday morning and had a rattlesnake try and climb onto my wade belt. He seemed to be trying to find the nearest place to get out of the water. Anyone else ever have this happen?


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## fowlwaters (Jun 14, 2006)

It happens a good bit.


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

I have had them swim right by me several times .....really an unpleasant start to see one swim past a couple of feet away coming unnoticed from behind you. Had one climb up on my anchor rope and start to slither to the boat one time too.... Really miss that anchor


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

Haunted By Waters said:


> I was wading near Port A on Monday morning and had a rattlesnake try and climb onto my wade belt. He seemed to be trying to find the nearest place to get out of the water. Anyone else ever have this happen?


Tell us the rest of the story. What did you do to get rid of him?


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## surf_ox (Jul 8, 2008)

Didn't take any pics??


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Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.


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## PhotoFish (Aug 9, 2015)

I. Would. Walk. On. Water.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

Snakes have never bothered me, but a rattlesnake swimming toward me while wading is a whole different story. My Castaway would be getting a workout, that's for sure.


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## robolivar (Oct 7, 2011)

SSST said:


> Snakes have never bothered me, but a rattlesnake swimming toward me while wading is a whole different story. My Castaway would be getting a workout, that's for sure.


Thats right! IF it got within 3 or 4 feet, Id whip the rattles off it


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## spurgersalty (Jun 29, 2010)

SSST said:


> Snakes have never bothered me, but a rattlesnake swimming toward me while wading is a whole different story. My Castaway would be getting a workout, that's for sure.


Make sure its rated for the snakes size
7'6" rods for snakes up to 4', 4'-5' snake-6'6"-7'6", and 5'+ snakes-6'6" rods on up to boat paddles, 6'+......just say a prayer


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

There is a reason boats are so popular.


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## Puddle_Jumper (Jun 30, 2014)

I am fairly the water around me would be polluted if that happened to me !!


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

shaggydog said:


> There is a reason boats are so popular.


 Agreed...They get me to places to wade so that I don't have to swim there.


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## redexpress (Apr 5, 2010)

A cheap stainless steel .38 revolver loaded with CCI shot shells. 
In a zip lock bag. In a shirt pocket.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

spurgersalty said:


> Make sure its rated for the snakes size
> 7'6" rods for snakes up to 4', 4'-5' snake-6'6"-7'6", and 5'+ snakes-6'6" rods on up to boat paddles, 6'+......just say a prayer


You would be surprised how fast one of them boogers can crawl up a 7' Castaway when you start poking at him in the water to get him to go away. If anyone finds that Castaway near Greens Cut...it's MINE....


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## TranTheMan (Aug 17, 2009)

I had a mullet that jumped, landed on the back of my neck and ended up in my wader. Not sure what I would do if it were a rattler.


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## Hauntedbywaters (Jul 15, 2009)

I tried wading away, but he kept following me quickly, so I slapped at him with my rod and hooked him with my jighead. I lifted him out of the water and waded to a shell reef and pinned his head down and cut it off with a pocket knife. The guy I was wading with has pictures...will post one.


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## Bharvey (Mar 24, 2013)

Cheese and rice fellas. You're really trying to change my mind about wading this weekend...


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## blackjack runner (Feb 24, 2015)

Man, I would have soiled myself. Not probably, not maybe, but woulda been soiled. Had a water moccasin try to get in the boat with me one time. Hit him with the push pole multiple times, kept coming. Needed something more agail, waterloo pole smack in very rapid fashion, still coming. Almost made it in boat, at which point I was wondering how far I would have to walk to shore. Probably looked pretty funny as I was smacking water with my fishing pole while trying to reach power pole switch with the other hand then start outboard. Motored away sweating but still little shook up. I Hate snakes.


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## Frontier21 (Apr 30, 2014)

Well I WAS planning on wading this weekend but I suppose a nice drift will suffice


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## trout250 (Aug 24, 2005)

coming back to boat i have found them on my wading ladder platform and on the foot of my motor. It is tough to get up on bow of a pathfinder when you are in tit deep water already . Even had a big swarm of bees get on bow 1 time while wading at PM.


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## POC Fishin' Gal (Nov 20, 2009)

Once while fishing with my grandfather (who only had one eye that worked) on a lake, the motor would not start. He took off the cowling and put his one eye real close and jumped back. A water moccasin was coiled around the motor.


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## Copano/Aransas (Dec 18, 2011)

boltmaster said:


> I have had them swim right by me several times .....really an unpleasant start to see one swim past a couple of feet away coming unnoticed from behind you. Had one climb up on my anchor rope and start to slither to the boat one time too.... Really miss that anchor


HAHAH i remember that story. :rotfl: I would have left the anchor and been WOT as soon as i untied it from the boat.:rotfl:


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## rattler (Feb 20, 2006)

Was wading around Hog Island one day and had a small 2'er swimming at me. Back then I fished an 8' Castaway. I commenced to swatting at him and he finally turned belly up and started drifting off. I fished for another 20 minutes but was so paranoid I just went back to the boat. Headed off in the direction he was drifting and found him swimming. Took the dip net and pounded him into submission. Once I was convinced he was dead I scooped him up and threw him in the boat. Not sure why. I've later found out that others have ran into the same scenario around Hog Island. I have also seen them swimming in Mesquite Bay more than once.


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## Andy777 (Aug 11, 2015)

Has anyone ever heard of anyone being bitten by a snake while wading?


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## Pray4gafftop (Aug 8, 2015)

I've heard of those elusive eastern corn back rattlers comin out of no where in the middle of a wade and biting a fellow wader usually from the thigh to the lower back is where they strike.


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## cc (Aug 11, 2005)

This was last Spring in the Intercoastal,


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## Texaspainter (Mar 11, 2013)

cc said:


> This was last Spring in the Intercoastal,


That gives me the hibbie gibbies........ I hate snakes. Had a copperhead coiled up in my garden last year. I always plant my cucumbers and let them grow up a trellis. Was picking them and reached about 3 feet above the ground to pic a cuke and there he was all coiled up around the cuke I was going to pick. I about ****** my pants and ran off screaming like a little girl. I'll never know how I didn't get bit, other than the Big Guy in the sky watching over me. After I gathered my composure, the snake ended up in about 15 pieces after I found a shovel. Did I already say "I hate snakes!" :spineyes:


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## Cajuntriton (Mar 9, 2015)

Not from here originally, are they typically found more west or do they come out around Freeport/Galveston beach too? 


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

cc said:


> This was last Spring in the Intercoastal,


well that picture probably just got this thread sent to the jungle:rotfl:...maybe i can find my anchor down there


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## AlCapone (May 28, 2014)

Saw one 5 footer in Mosquito Island last week. It ended my wade fishing session quick.
Normally if you see one, there is at least another one somewhere close.


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## James Howell (May 21, 2004)

Plenty around Freeport/galveston. Seen them in the harbor, Christmas bay, west bay, drum bay, well, just about everywhere.


Cajuntriton said:


> Not from here originally, are they typically found more west or do they come out around Freeport/Galveston beach too?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Guy from Sealy (Mar 31, 2005)

Cajuntriton said:


> Not from here originally, are they typically found more west or do they come out around Freeport/Galveston beach too?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


20 years ago I was setting ground points for aerial mapping on the **** side / channel side of Pelican Island. 
When we signed in at the front office, the fellas there told us to be real careful back there 'cause the ground back there was just completely OWNED by rattlers. They were NOT BEE ESSIN.:ac550:


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## rat race (Aug 10, 2006)

Cajuntriton said:


> Not from here originally, are they typically found more west or do they come out around Freeport/Galveston beach too?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Lots of rattlesnakes all over Texas. The first one I ever saw was at Christmas bay. Lots of them in the dunes as well.

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## spurgersalty (Jun 29, 2010)

I'm gonna go on a rattler round up, bag'em, and wait for potlickers to show up. Then, RELEASE THE HOUNDS!


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## TranTheMan (Aug 17, 2009)

But why are they in the salt water? For sure there is no food to be had.
There are plenty of rats around the rocks at the jetties or dike, so I would expect them nearby at the base, but not in open water.


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## V-Bottom (Jun 16, 2007)

*Might not know it but..*



AlCapone said:


> Saw one 5 footer in Mosquito Island last week. It ended my wade fishing session quick.
> Normally if you see one, there is at least another one somewhere close.


 The Dike's rock groins have quite a few roaming in them....


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## Cajuntriton (Mar 9, 2015)

spurgersalty said:


> I'm gonna go on a rattler round up, bag'em, and wait for potlickers to show up. Then, RELEASE THE HOUNDS!


Truly LOL, This may be the single most best post I've read on this site, potlickers and a-holes that run right by you when fishing (especially with my kids in the boat) really get to me...

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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

TranTheMan said:


> But why are they in the salt water? For sure there is no food to be had.
> There are plenty of rats around the rocks at the jetties or dike, so I would expect them nearby at the base, but not in open water.


There was an article in the local Padre Island Moon newspaper a few years ago about a big rattler climbing up onto the pier at Snoopy's on a Sunday afternoon. Caused quite a ruckus.
The article also quoted Tony Amos of the Port Aransas wildlife rescue facility and he said it's common for rattlers to swim out to the spoil islands in the bay during summer to feed on seagull eggs and newly hatched chicks.


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## JustSlabs (Jun 19, 2005)

V-Bottom said:


> The Dike's rock groins have quite a few roaming in them....


Exactly why I don't stick my hand down in the rocks to get a fish if I drop it! You can't see what's lurking under those rocks at night


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## Bayscout22 (Aug 9, 2007)

TranTheMan said:


> But why are they in the salt water? For sure there is no food to be had.
> There are plenty of rats around the rocks at the jetties or dike, so I would expect them nearby at the base, but not in open water.


I have always heard that when you see a rattler in the water, he doesn't want to be there. So consequently, they will try and climb anything that sticks up above the water. Combined with the fact that they have horrible eyesight, they probably don't realize what it is they are trying to climb. This explains why they aren't easily repelled when they are in the water.


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## trout250 (Aug 24, 2005)

we will see them swimming in the creek every once in a while they will usually have the rattles stuck up in the air trying to keep them dry i guess.


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## TX1836 (May 5, 2014)

I've seen them coiled up on the shoreline grass mats on SA Bay. During the summer, I suppose they were trying to coool off on the wet mats.


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## TxSlammin (Apr 11, 2008)

Few years ago a little kid got bit twice at the SLP park playing by the saltgrass and fell on it if i remember correctly


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## Lone-Star (Dec 19, 2009)

I was on an all night wading expedition one night and got back in the boat around 3-4 am to take a nap, woke up just before daylight and there was a rattlesnake in the boat coiled up near the motor.

Was wading the king ranch in the wee hours of the morning one day and had a big buck swim right into my back, that scared me more than the rattler did because of how big it was and it wasnt immediately clear just what in the hell it was in the dark.


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## Surf Rodder (Jun 28, 2013)

Try wackin' his one with your pole....


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## Fearless (Jun 28, 2015)

Surf Rodder said:


> Try wackin' his one with your pole....


That's in Florida. Eastern Diamondback. They don't get that big here in Texas.


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## rat race (Aug 10, 2006)

Fearless said:


> That's in Florida. Eastern Diamondback. They don't get that big here in Texas.


We have Easterns here in Texas and yes they do.

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## Surf Rodder (Jun 28, 2013)

Years ago (mid-late 80's) we took a bunch of high school youth from our church to a rental on the beach, West Beach. One evening Sean and his girlfriend come running up the stairs white as ghosts "Mr. Newby, Mr. Newby, we stepped on what we that was a large black hose and, man, it started moving!" Myself and the youth pastor jogged with them back into the darkness and soon found the thing. HUGE! Over 8 feet long. Took its head, skinned it, and then attached the perfect skin onto a 2"x6" (that skin wrapped all the way around it) and a week later I mounted it across the top of the door entry to the youth pastor's office as a testimony to the goodness of the LORD watching out for our kids.


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## letsgofishin (Sep 28, 2009)

*one night floundering!!!!!*



Haunted By Waters said:


> I was wading near Port A on Monday morning and had a rattlesnake try and climb onto my wade belt. He seemed to be trying to find the nearest place to get out of the water. Anyone else ever have this happen?


One night we were floundering the lagon (excuse my spelling) in Galveston we kept hearing splashing noises. Shined flounder light out of water and it was a huge snake with a crab in it's mouth! It looked like a rattlesnake? Saw several more and decided to go somewhere else to flounder!
:texasflag


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## Produce357 (Jan 8, 2013)

Leef, If there are no pictures it did not happen.
JB


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## sharkbait-tx70 (Jun 28, 2009)

*Rattles snakes*

I have seen some pretty good sized ones. We used to collect and sell them live for venom extraction... They would milk them several times and release back into the wild... I have seen several in the bay's and a mess of them swimming up and down the King ranch shoreline... Biggest one ever was down PINS. It was every bit of 6' and as big around as my bicep. He had a head as big as my fist. They are protected on pins and most of the state parks on the islands because they keep the rabbit and mice population down so they don't eat all the grass holding the dunes together, I was told by the ranger down there,


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## sharkbait-tx70 (Jun 28, 2009)

*Rattles snakes*

oh and they are pretty tasty fried up... Haha


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## Kansasoutdoorsman (Nov 17, 2014)

Another reason I love living in KS. Great hunting, great fishing and rarely does anything try and kill usâ€¦


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## SKIPJACKSLAYER (Nov 19, 2013)

Would rather have a tussle with a rattler any day than to step on a stingray that I didn't know was there


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

SKIPJACKSLAYER said:


> Would rather have a tussle with a rattler any day than to step on a stingray that I didn't know was there


Some choice!!!...lol


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## Shady Walls (Feb 20, 2014)

Had them try to (and have) get in the boat. Seen them come off the bank and head straight for the boat.


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## redfish203 (Aug 10, 2010)

rat race said:


> We have Easterns here in Texas and yes they do.
> 
> No easterns in TX, we have Westerns. Eastern is the largest venomous snake in NA and the largest ever properly documented Eastern was 8ft.


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## captnickm (Feb 16, 2011)

Clear lake a few months ago. Moccasin hiding......


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

TranTheMan said:


> But why are they in the salt water? For sure there is no food to be had.
> There are plenty of rats around the rocks at the jetties or dike, so I would expect them nearby at the base, but not in open water.


The barrier islands are all loaded with rodents and other tasty things for snakes. I don't know if the snakes set out to swim to the islands, but there are plenty of them out there. If you look at pictures they float very, very high on top of the water. I don't think swimming bothers them one bit.

And, yeah, they will skin up a fishing pole so quick you can't believe it.


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## redfish203 (Aug 10, 2010)

We get them because we are next to a boat ramp where they can easily get out of the salt. They are most active in spring when they are swimming to/from N Deer Island where they are likely feeding on newly hatched birds, but I have seen them swimming all over the bay There are several killed in Tiki every year.


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## Justin_Time (Jan 29, 2008)

rat race said:


> We have Easterns here in Texas and yes they do.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Westerns get pretty big too. This is one we killed.









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## cwbycrshr (May 23, 2013)

captnickm said:


> Clear lake a few months ago. Moccasin hiding......


I'd rather deal with a rattler all day. Had one of those evil pricks in a basement back in college. I had the bright idea to shoot it with a pellet gun. Well...I was clearing the door in reverse and the Moccasin was on my heals when the guy I lived with let the 12 Gauge loose and kept me from getting my arse bit. Still can't hear in that ear to good.


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## LarryG (Aug 12, 2005)

SKIPJACKSLAYER said:


> Would rather have a tussle with a rattler any day than to step on a stingray that I didn't know was there


I've been hit by a stingray above my ankle and also bitten by a copperhead on my finger. The stingray was worse.


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## Centex fisher (Apr 25, 2006)

Saw a big one on Friday crossing the inter-coastal at Port O' Connor.


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## Kansasoutdoorsman (Nov 17, 2014)

Justin_Time said:


> Westerns get pretty big too. This is one we killed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I really don't see enough bullet holes in that snakeâ€¦


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## bigbarr (Mar 9, 2010)

Justin_Time said:


> Westerns get pretty big too. This is one we killed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Doesn't look like the snake boots and shorts would have done you much good with that bad boy,,,


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## Main Frame 8 (Mar 16, 2007)

bigbarr said:


> Doesn't look like the snake boots and shorts would have done you much good with that bad boy,,,


 Bites on the lower extremities are almost exclusively ankle / foot.

You really don't need protection higher than the knee, assuming the snake is on the ground. They are going to hit what is closest to them.

Boots are not much help if it's sitting on an elevated object.


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## duckmania (Jun 3, 2014)

Ive seen quite a few in the bays through the years but never had one get up super close. I have stumbled up on them on the shorelines, some of those spoil islands in the laguna are covered with them.


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## Justin_Time (Jan 29, 2008)

bigbarr said:


> Doesn't look like the snake boots and shorts would have done you much good with that bad boy,,,


Not sure that anything other than chaps over boots would have stopped this one.

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