Howdy folks,

This subject has been addressed on this forum before. Now I know what you are thinking. This guy is nuts . It shouldn't be a surprise because I am a kook anyway . You don't see float tubes in Florida for a reason even though you do see inner tubes and body boards pulled by boats, skiers, and swimmers. Maybe I'm not such a kook after all. But when we fish we all take risks. The level of the risks that we take depends on the person I guess. I have lived with gators my entire life and know their aggressive times (territoriality, mating and nesting) and docile times as well as their "natural" behavior as opposed to "unnatural" (being fed) behavior. You folks that can float tube and have no gators to worry about are lucky folks when your waters aren't frozen over. I want to float tube so bad I can taste it on some local ponds. Blame Bill Dance for float tubing on Versus. But he is from Tennessee, not Florida. A larger gator population combined with a larger human population in Florida means encroachment and more encounters. Apprehensive? You bet. When I was younger we thought nothing of floating down a river on an old inner tube "with the gators." But those times are gone when there were only native folks that knew better and did not feed gators. In those times past I would not even feel the need to be asking for opinions and just go. It is against the law to feed gators in the State of Florida with a penalty of both a heavy fine and jail time "if caught." Now I know these local ponds and that is probably key as Jack Ellis once of California and now of Texas would say. Here is what he had to say about it in his book The Sunfishes on page 65. I guess I'm not the only kook around to think about it.

Quote Originally Posted by Jack Ellis
Although alligators are of little concern during the day, they do become much more aggressive after dark. On waters with very large populations, float tubing is probably inadvisable at any time, but I know local people who "pay them no mind" at all and don't hesitate to get right into the water with them. They are curious creatures and I have had them swim around my tube staring at me --- I must confess to a certain feeling of discomfort when they slip beneath the surface, but I have never had one behave in a threatening manner. I can't imagine a finer, more appropriate way for an aging fly fisher to meet his Maker than being consumed by a gator; for his mortal remains to become a part of the very ecosystem that he has studied and loved. To play that final role in the timeless drama of predator and prey is a privilege devoutly to be wished. It would be the only meal Mr. Gator ever had that is served with a $400 graphite toothpick! I'm not ready yet, but one way to assure such a fate is to drag a stringer of fish in the water while tubing or wading, especially at night. Unless you enjoy close encounters with a variety of large reptiles, including the huge, vicious loggerhead turtle, NEVER drag fish around. Most snakes are also nocturnal but please don't allow irrational fear to spoil your fun. These are timid creatures and we certainly don't represent prey to them. Unless you bait them with a fish, step on one, or stick your hand in a hollow log, there is little to fear. Moreover the few bites that do occur, when properly treated, aren't really that serious. The biggest danger is driving in panic to the doctor!
Now Jack doesn't mention natural gators (unfed) as opposed to unnatural (fed) gators. Do I know if the gators in the ponds have been fed? No, I don't and that is the worry. Very few people get that far back to those two ponds. But the one or two gators that may be there (there may or may not be others) are small and are not aggressive and also leave or go into the water at my approach. They don't like me any more than I do them as that is the natural behavior of gators. If there was a large population of them, then I would not even consider (think about) it. Of course the natural apprehension is still there regardless. A common myth that gators are mindless brutes attacking unseen from below is a "Hollywood" misconception by folks more concerned with sensationalism than about facts. Don't believe everything you see, read, or hear without studying it for yourself first. Gators attack on the surface in the rare event that they do attack. At least I have never seen or heard of a gator attacking from below because that would not be natural for them (they need to be able to breathe while exerting effort even though they can stay fully submerged for hours without air). It probably takes a lot of cattle egrets, shore birds, and other shore critters for a gator to get real big. I am still mulling it over (vacillating, indecisive) since the only way to go way back there and get on those ponds other than limited bank fishing (scrub oaks along the shoreline prevent unlimited bank fishing) is with a float tube (no vehicle access). I can't get my personal pontoon boat back there either (the metal frame would add protection) as its too large to carry that far even being fairly lightweight (I'm not in the water and gators never mess with me on the little boat anyway). Now after reading all this dribble, what are your thoughts on the subject? Maybe with a tubing buddy? Too risky to get a float tube and try it or not? Wait until I get a two-seat canoe and have a buddy help carry it back there? Thanks.