I've had one 3 foot water snake grab a very small bluegill once and another time, I accidently hooked another one about the same size in the back when I tried to twitch my fly out of some weeds. Both times, the snakes were a bit irate, but I can't say that I really blame them. I actually really like reptiles and snakes do not usually bother me at all. I think the one exception was when I was wet wading fishing a beaver pond. I leaned back to sit on a fallen tree that ran parrellel to the bank. I would fish a while, then scoot my butt down 4 - 5 feet and fish some more. One time, I put my hand down to push off the log and placed it right on top of a very large coiled up snake that had been peacfully sunning itself. When I noticed that the log didn't feel quite right, it was a bit squishy and wiggling around, I looked down and the snake was flailing around trying to get away and strike at the big oaf (that would be me) that had just interupted his nap. That startled me a bit so I removed my hand pretty quickly. I continued on fishing, however, I was a lot more careful where I placed my hands and feet.

Jim Smith