# To Close for Comfort: Your Experiences with Gators



## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

Okay guys looking for some advice/stories. Im an avid bass fisherman and all around fisherman and used to kayak fish but sold it on impulse awhile back and regretted it ever since (currently saving to get another ) I know a few times when I was in Horsepen and Mud Lake I would come across a few Gators here and there but never had a problem with them following me or being curious and coming over, always seemed to stay in their place or move on. I did however have about an 8' one come rushing down the bayou the other day while I was bank fishing when he heard a bass smack my frog and he even chased it up the bank as I reeled it in, I know he wasn't after me but it was still discomforting, see pic below. 

My question to everyone is, when you've been out wherever it is that you fish salt or fresh, lakes or creeks, have gators ever given you any trouble or reason to be concerned when you've been out and if so how did you take preventative measures or avoid getting into a potentially dangerous situation? Have they chased you, come up to your boat, acted aggressive etc etc. I'd like to know what you guys do when you come face to face with one whether it has been on accident or they were in your path etc and what you carry or do if a situation was to/has occurred with one?

They wont stop me from kayak fishing I just got curious about it when that one chased my fish and when I saw a 10 footer the other day in Horsepen, right where I was fishing. I just wondered what steps or actions you would take or have taken against them when you felt threatened or in danger.

Thanks everybody, much appreciated for any feedback.
I circled the alligators head in red on the photo, I had no idea I even captured him in the picture till I zoomed in on it the other day. If you can click on the photo and zoom in on the circle, he actually slid up the bank a little but once I saw him going for the bass I hurried up the hill away from him.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Any time the gator thinks you are smaller than him you are in danger. Very few animals (in good health) will ever attack a prey that appears larger than they can handle or eat. Even a rattler only strikes at a foot that is too close. If it realizes that there is a big man on the other end it backs off.
I had a 12 foot female gator that built a nest very near the store on Kickapoo. She was very aggressive until her eggs hatched. But even when she was guarding the nest she only made false charges at a grown man. She did chase a German Sheppard clear into the creek once but the dog escaped.
Maybe as a defensive warning to an approaching gator you can shout, "Hey Junior, Jay Paul and Troy. Har's a big un. Get da gun. Chut'em" 
Every gator in the world knows not to mess with those good ol' boys from down near Houma. LOL


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## big-john (Jan 6, 2011)

I had an old cajun friend that I use to fish with and we had an incident with a good sized alligator on Sheldon reservoir that bumped our boat a couple of times and hissed at us for awhile about 20 years ago I think .That is the only time I've had one come up close all the others I've seen take off or watch me from a good distance. 

Edit: I had forgoten we had a stringer of crappie taken from the shore line at Sheldon also, but he didn't want nothing to do with us ,it was a stealthy snatch and run.

My Cajun friend told me a secret, he told me if a gator ever grabbed me ,I'd best not start screaming, cussing and yelling like a ******* or that gator will realize he has a hold of a **** fine meal and he is gonna drowned ya and eat you...He said if one of them gators grab you ,you yell Aieeeee! as loud as you can and that gator will think he done grabbed ahold of a ****-arse and the wrong end of the food chain at the same time and he is gonna let you go and try to get the hell out of town before you can get ahold of him. 

I have thankfully never had a chance to test his advise but I fully plan on it if the need ever arises...lol


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## pYr8 (Apr 17, 2012)

Biggest I've run across is ol' Walter up around White Rock marina, swam under the lil 12' jon we were in & rocked it around a little. Smaller ones that get curious & close just get a thump on the snout with a rod tip & their off on their way. From what I hear, get attacked by a gator is similar to a shark attack, uncommon. Poke em in the eye & fight em like you're a UFC champion, LOL...


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

You could bring some hot dogs to feed them.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

fishingcacher said:


> You could bring some hot dogs to feed them.


Not good advice. That will only make the problem worse.


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## 9121SS (Jun 28, 2009)

When I used to duck hunt in the marsh I would put decoys out with gators within 50 yards. Never had a problem with one.


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## SetDaHook (Oct 21, 2010)

I was fishing a shoreline once on Toledo Bend from a small bass boat and came across a large one on the bank. I was just admiring the sight of such a large animal. She went from looking like a concrete yard art, to an olympic sprint star in about 1 second. She charged my boat and slapped her tail almost making fiberglass splinters, then resurfaced and hissed at me. Ever since then, I've given them a much wider berth. If I were in a kayak, I wouldn't even want one in sight of me.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Fishin' Soldier said:


> Not good advice. That will only make the problem worse.


Actually I was just kidding but that's what they do on those Cajun Swamp Tours but most of them are babies.


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## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

Thanks for the advice guys. I never had any bump me or come close in my kayak a few years ago but I did come across some. I think when I get another yak if I do come near one or upon one ill be sure and keep my eye on it and keep my distance.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

They hibernate cold weather. Maybe if one gets too close you can give it a big blast in the snout from a CO2 fire extinguisher.
Then get the flock out of Dodge before it wakes up.


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## big-john (Jan 6, 2011)

looking at the records there have only been about 15 attacks in Texas the last aprox 60 year and none were fatal. Compared to about 350 in FL with 15 deaths.looks like it is fairly safe here anyhow.

Someone here was talking earlier in the year about using fishing float tubes on lake Raven and there are more than a couple very large alligators out there.

There was a guy on Lake Houston earlier this year that was complaining about a good sized alligator trying to climb into his boat with him...that would have gotten my heart started...I wouldn't need coffee for at least a week.


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## Friendswoodmatt (Feb 22, 2005)

When I lived in the keys, we had a monster gator on Big Pine at a spot called the blue hole. The marine patrol and all the locals said he was over 15' and 1000+ pounds he had been there forever, but I had never seen him as he just didn't show up often.
The blue hole was a fresh water spring near the grocery store we shopped at. My Mom and I went to the grocery store and someone said that the big Gator was out and you could easily see him so we went down the road to look. 
When we got there, there was about 30 people standing around on the boat ramp saying "wow he is huge". I didn't see him, I looked at them to see where the were looking and it looked to me they were looking at the far end of the pond approximately 100-125 yds away. I looked and couldn't see him. I was 19-20 and thought I was pretty much bullet proof, so I wasn't going to look stupid and ask cause I knew it all. I thought if I got close to the water's edge I would be able to see a better silhouette and then pick him out. 
I went down to the waters edge, may be 1-2 feet away from it. I squatted down and still couldn't see him. I finally turned back and asked "I cant see him where is he"
An Older gentlemen said "He is right their son" . I said "right where" he said " by your foot" I froze and looked down into the water-- there was an approximate 15' gator literally 2-3' from the edge of the gin clear water laying on the boat ramp completely submerged. To this day that experience still gives me the willies. I don't like lizards at all-- gimme a nice shark to deal with and I am fine-- Gators= no Bueno
Pucker factor was high imagine what would have happened if I had slipped on the boat ramp--


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## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

Wow you guys have some pretty neat/close encounters. A lot of where I will be kayak fishing is Horsepen and Mud Lake, Sheldon, Lake Houston and probably Buffalo Run. It's just good to hear everyone's experiences to see how you may have dealt with them when you came across one. I've had some close encounters walking up on them by accident but I have never had one act aggressively towards which I'm thankful for. I saw 2 today in Horsepen bank fishing that were 6'-8' and they didn't pay no attention to me at all, they were just happy to be soaking up the sun and as long I was keeping my distance and minding my business so were they.


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## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

When I was younger though (20 now) around 13 or so my buddy and I were fishing in Horsepen and we spotted a huge one around 12' and when he saw us he submerged so that made us weary, shortly after we were standing on the bank trying to spot him as to knot walk upon him and sure enough he popped his head up about 3' off the bank right on front of us, we froze............one of the biggest heads of a gator I had ever seen. 

It's weird because you seem to be overcome by wanting to just watch them and admire them but also you freeze in preparation to gather your thoughts and figure out what your gonna do when that "what if" moment should occur. I have learned to spot them way before I even get close to them which has helped me a lot in avoiding them and keeping a safe distance.


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## chucktx (Sep 12, 2011)

big-john said:


> looking at the records there have only been about 15 attacks in Texas the last aprox 60 year and none were fatal. Compared to about 350 in FL with 15 deaths.looks like it is fairly safe here anyhow.
> 
> Someone here was talking earlier in the year about using fishing float tubes on lake Raven and there are more than a couple very large alligators out there.
> 
> There was a guy on Lake Houston earlier this year that was complaining about a good sized alligator trying to climb into his boat with him...that would have gotten my heart started...I wouldn't need coffee for at least a week.


i believe that report shows that texans are smarter than floridians........just sayin!!


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## spurgersalty (Jun 29, 2010)

2 years ago on Dam B I was fishing the wp spawn and had one 10'+ show up behind my back 5' from my boat I swatted the 12' rod at her and she went under and left.
10 minutes later I turn again and she's there! Oh smack! Swat again and she leaves.
A few later I put another fat slab in the boat and turn to put it in the cooler and she has closed to less than 5'. That's it. 16oz miller unopened drilled into the top of her head and we both leave that zip code.
I'm hoping that little bit of pain might cause her to leave others alone. Hopefully.


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## malibu461 (Mar 18, 2008)

if you find a hungry one, call obama. he'll send him some food stamps


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## camarokid (Dec 27, 2011)

*Last Oct in Kickapoo*

Last October (2011) I was fishing Kickapoo by myself. The lake was at least 10ft low because of the drought, but that didn't bother me none. I came across one (probably about 7-8ft long). I was about 30 yards away and didn't think anything of her. I minded my business, and she minded hers. What stinks is that when I was working with the trolling motor, my hand got a little wet. In the process I lost my wedding ring in about 4ft of water. I was about to jump into the water and start looking for it, when I noticed that the aligator that I seen earlier had since submerged. I thought to myself....$50 wedding ring or a possible trip to the emergency room? Again, fishing alone...with no other boats in the area.

It sucked having to explain to the wife that I sacraficed my ring to Livingston, but she was happy that I didn't jump in after it. Lesson Learned: Buy a cheap wedding ring if there is a chance I am going to lose it.


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## Angler Innovations USA (Nov 13, 2012)

Problem with Florida is we just have so many Gators. Their habitats are shrinking and metropolitan areas are growing. We have problems down here with people feeding them too. Biggest one we ever saw, we rounded an enclosed by grass lagoon and a 12 footer was sunning on the bank. He saw us, jumped in the water and we were the only thing in between him and the exit. So we laid down on the boat of our 16 footer and he left with no problems. Generally they pose no threats and our way more scared of us. Mostly we worry about momma gators, and gators that have been fed by others.


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## chucktx (Sep 12, 2011)

i "heard" that they killed monster gator on livingston today........


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## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

camarokid said:


> Last October (2011) I was fishing Kickapoo by myself. The lake was at least 10ft low because of the drought, but that didn't bother me none. I came across one (probably about 7-8ft long). I was about 30 yards away and didn't think anything of her. I minded my business, and she minded hers. What stinks is that when I was working with the trolling motor, my hand got a little wet. In the process I lost my wedding ring in about 4ft of water. I was about to jump into the water and start looking for it, when I noticed that the aligator that I seen earlier had since submerged. I thought to myself....$50 wedding ring or a possible trip to the emergency room? Again, fishing alone...with no other boats in the area.
> 
> It sucked having to explain to the wife that I sacraficed my ring to Livingston, but she was happy that I didn't jump in after it. Lesson Learned: Buy a cheap wedding ring if there is a chance I am going to lose it.


Wow, I would have been tempted as well but seeing a big gator in the area that submerged would have me on edge as well, don't blame you for staying in the boat.


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## redman71 (Jan 11, 2005)

Had to shoot one in self defense a couple of years ago. About and hour before light, had dropped the other hunters, dogs, decoys etc at the blind and taken the boat up a small bayou to stash it out of sight.

Was walking back to the blind down the side of the bayou in the water with my shotgun, lighting the way with my head light. The bank was too steep and overgrown to walk. Noticed a pair of eyes about 10-12" apart coming at me up the bayou. I gave him a shout or two with no result, he kept coming. Let him get within about 10', then gave him 1 1/4 oz of steel at 1350 fps. He was still thrashing as I hustled on. Never saw/heard anything else from him. He must have sank, or went on with a severe headache.


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## KingTut (May 19, 2005)

I've never had any worry me too much. Both in my sea kayak and my G3, I've been wind-blown into the shallows and had one swim under the boat, banging his head on the way. Had another one block the back of a cut in the woods to keep us from her fifty or so newborns. And I've had plenty just watch me as I fished, they were far enough away to keep me from being concerned. And I have quite a collection of pics of them. Last month in Little Eddie just south of the Lake Houtson Dam I had a big one approach me and hang around until I became convinced some fool or many fools have been feeding it. It's never a good idea to create a greet & eat relationship with gators-never!


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

My only gator experience:
My former step son and I were fishing on Lake Livingston one day. We were near the bridge over Kickapoo Creek on the right side on the edges of the creek. It was a pretty day hot day so he decided to take off his shoes and cool his feet down a little in the water He had put them on a floating log near the creek. I had not noticed anything alarming except a few gators way off the right of the creek near the East shoreline. I decided to move on down the creek a little ways, and turned around to see if his feet were back in the boat and away from the log. I had not paid any attention to his feet on the log until a baby gator he had his feet on starting to move! That 12 year old boy almost walked on water he was so scared!!. I asked if he wanted to fish somewhere else, and he said not no, but heel no, lets go back to the motor home and tell mom!
He and I never fished that area again. 
Years before I had fished that same area when there was still lots of trees and brush. I would put in a Big John's Marina and go over to the south side and hit the creek and turn left. I would go down the creek from the south side of the bridge to the east side of the creek, and there was a big drainage ditch that went off the the right to an old farmers field. You had to be on he lookout for it or you would miss it. I caught the heck out of the bass there on a Rebel Pop R that was chrome and I would scrape it down to the bone color and paint the eyes red and cut the bottom lip just a little. Drove those ol bass crazy.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

big-john said:


> I had an old cajun friend that I use to fish with and we had an incident with a good sized alligator on Sheldon reservoir that bumped our boat a couple of times and hissed at us for awhile about 20 years ago I think .That is the only time I've had one come up close all the others I've seen take off or watch me from a good distance.
> 
> Edit: I had forgoten we had a stringer of crappie taken from the shore line at Sheldon also, but he didn't want nothing to do with us ,it was a stealthy snatch and run.
> 
> ...


 We used to tube fish Sheldon Reservoir in my twenties. There were some awesome size Bass back then, and several times we would see gators go after the catch. They periodically drain that lake, and when I saw how many, and how big, I never went back there tubefishing, again!


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## Eat Sleep Fish (Apr 19, 2012)

I plan try to Sheldon sometime, I have heard there are some biggins in there. Ill be very alert to say the least.


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## Snookered (Jun 16, 2009)

This close enough? Back in my days with uSFWS....had to extricate this one from our sampling gear


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Back in Southeast Louisiana, when I was in Collage, I crawfished to make money. One night I decided to night fish out on hwy 11 just east of New Orleans. Back then I wasn't scared of anything and was around gators alot. Anyway, I baited my crawfish nets and set them out just after dark with my Peerow. I saw a few sets of eyes about 3-5 inches part and thought nothing of it. Went back to the truck and waited then went back out. Something had my nets all over the place and I started picking up a few. Something in the next net sent about a 2ft wave back at my peerow as I picked up the net. I then scanned around with the spot light only to see maybe 15 gators around me at 10ft-12ft or larger. When the red eyes are 6" apart no worry. When the red eyes are better than a foot apart and they are just as big as your 14 foot Peerow, its time to go. A Peerow has about 4" of free board to the water line. I push polled it back to the truck like I had the thing on plane. Slept in the truck till morning and picked up my nets. Never went back to that spot!


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## Ditto (Apr 18, 2005)

Wife and I were hanging out on the Tres Palacios river. She had to pee but the water was too cold to get in. She stepped down on the ladder and dunked her business end into the water. About that time a 4' gater started swimming toward her. That was the quickest bathroom break she ever took.


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## KingTut (May 19, 2005)

*A real close encounter*

We talked this one into sitting still long enough for a photo op! If you talk to em real nice like the little ones will let you handle em...........


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## shade (Aug 12, 2010)

you need to worry about two things -- his mama and obama


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Ditto said:


> Wife and I were hanging out on the Tres Palacios river. She had to pee but the water was too cold to get in. She stepped down on the ladder and dunked her business end into the water. About that time a 4' gater started swimming toward her. That was the quickest bathroom break she ever took.


Man! She will go fishing with you and you make her do that? Carry one of these plastic oval pitchers in the boat for that lady!


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

KingTut said:


> We talked this one into sitting still long enough for a photo op! If you talk to em real nice like the little ones will let you handle em...........


I really like your pic and the one Snookered attached.


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