I am sitting here recovering from what was supposed to be smallmouth fishing trip. In some grass along the edge of the stream I found a Cottonmouth or Copperhead. Not certain as I did not see the snake. It did however leave two puncture holes and some venom in my foot. I must have stepped on it in the grass at the edge of the stream. The grass was in water about 3-5 inches deep. I spent yesterday in the emergency room and last night in ICU. I am home now but the foot is incredibly swollen.
Pay attention out there! There be snakes in the water!
Wayne, Get well soon. Hope you have no after effects from the snakebite. Had one do that to me once, but only punctured my tennis shoe and left some yellowish venom on my thick socks. I’ve always loved thick socks since then.
As a fellow Arkie (I live in Cave Springs and have property over on Beaver Lake) I’d like
to know where you ran into the snake. I have run into all three types of poisonous snakes over on Beaver lake, but only rarely. So far I’ve not been bitten.
Glad the story ends well. People should know that in New England there are no venomous water snakes. There are about 12 rattlesnakes, most of which are known by name so if you do see a snake, don’t panic.
On the other hand it is good to make sure that pretty box turtle is not a snapping turtle. Snappers can do damage!
I’m really sorry to hear about your unfortunate snake encounter. :shock: I hope that you make a quick recovery and get back to the business of fishing very soon. The good news is that you can probably stomp around in high grass for the rest of your life and never have this happen again. 8T
I must tie my flies really well because I have some flies that I so beat up, I really try to lose them by casting them into tight holes and right into the middle of snags. Now, let me put on a nice fresh fly and I will hang it on the first cast 28 feet above the water. Fly fishing and life are funny like that. 8T
Sorry folks this post ended up in the wrong topic. It has nothing to do with snakes and is totally schizophrenic in this context and I can’t find the delete button. My mistake :? :?
Wow Wayne. No fun man!! Accidents, they get like that.
I’m glad to hear you got some good help and hopefully all will heal well. Sounds like he hit you good to get sick/poisoned like that. That’s one thing I really don’t have to worry about around home.
Good luck to you. Chalk it up to …“shtuff” happens…Thanks for the post.
Dang sorry story hope you recover soon. I was out about 3 years ago on a local river (the Llano River) and had a Cottonmouth snake try a couple times for my fly which was a red crawfish imitation I tie sometimes. Made me take notice…this part of the river has many Cottonmouths in the spring of the year but they seem non-aggressive and go about their snake business. Still gives me the willies…I don’t care much for them critter’s.
I looked around a couple of weeks back and had close encounter with a copperhead inspecting the Rebel Minnow tied on to the spinning rod strapped to the front of my tube. Too close for me to enough that part of nature. Had it been a cottonmouth I might had been repeating Wayne’s story. Cottonmouths are territorial mean and nasty. I had a director of a nature center try to tell me there were no cottonmouth north of Atlanta, I haven’t bought that story.
Take care of the foot and wish you a speedy recovery.
An update. The swelling has done down a little. But I can tell this wont be a quick process. The pain has subsided some as I am requiring less pain medication.
One thing the snake venom did was affect the coagulation factors in my blood. That was the reason they kept me over night in the hospital ICU ward. It makes the blood thin and not clot as well. They wanted that to be stabilized before going home. They took blood and repeated the test every 4 hours until it stabilized.
They don’t give anti-venom these days unless you have other systemic problems, like heart or lung troubles.
:shock: OMG!!! To test your blood that many time, in that short a period, you wouldn’t need anti-venom!! You wouldn’t have any blood left to circulate the venum!!! <ohhhh, seeing spots … ringing in my ears … needles … gotta go lay down!>
waynep, thanks for the update on your ordeal. I didn’t know that anti-venom wasn’t used anymore, good info. You know where us southern boys live, fish, and hunt we are always under the event of getting bitten, just something you learn to live with and not fret over.
Current medical advice for snake bites is this: Get to a Hospital ASAP !!!
That is what I did. I was there 30 minutes after the bite. My foot was just starting to swell and the pain was still not unbearable at that time. By the time I got in a room and an IV started, it was time for pain medicine.
Current medical practice is watch, manage pain, and watch for systemic problems. Systemic problems are things like affected breathing, heart problems etc. I was on heart monitor, auto blood pressure cuffs, blood oxygen meter and a nurse checking on me several times an hour administering pain meds. Believe me, if you get bit, you’ll need the pain meds. This is a very painful experience. Morphine did not work after the first hour. Had to go to Dilaudid which makes the room spin when given by IV as well as relieve the pain. I was on Dilaudid for almost 18 hours for pain management.
I can’t imagine getting bit during a float and be an hour or more from a hospital. I think that would warrant a 911 call and a helicopter
Betty My love;
Here in Tennessee we wear snake bite proof boots, carry .357 pistols and machetties to deal with the harmless water snakes we encounter. However all jesting aside, you check out all tree branches before walking under!! I make light of it because you must if you want to fish, just be careful!
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