Hi folks, it’s been a while since I’ve been here and it’s been waaaay too long since I’ve been on the water. Me family and I are on vacation right now in E. TN.
My son caught his first wild trout this morning on the Hiawassee River without the aid of a guide or any assistance from anyone else. I think he has now caught the fever.
After he had caught two small browns the water lever started to come up due to a generator coming online so we picked up and moved downstream a few miles. At our new downstream position he was shortly surprised by a copperhead swimming downstream. The snake came within about two feet of him before both were surprised beyond belief. He did a magnificent job at his first attempt of the copperhead two step. He went one way the snake went the other…perfect choreography if ever I’ve seen it.
After the dance was over he asked me how often that happens. I’ve personally never had it happen to me and I was just wondering if anyone else has had a like experience.
Hello shirleybug, welcome back to the board and good for your son on his first wild trout ! Well, we don’t have copperheads and water moccassins where I am but we have rattlers and garters and other snakes that seem to like to swim. I always get a good laugh when a good sized garter gets real close unexpectedly, like if I’m stepping in the stream and out flashes the snake from under some overhanging vegetation or other. I’ve only seen the rattlers swimming but not just once or twice, actually a number of times. I wasn’t close enough to be in any danger but I would imagine if ‘cornered’ in the water so to speak, the rattler or other vipers as in your area, would have to strike. I carry a wading staff most always and the garters are easy to just lift out of the way at the times when they seem to be blindly coming right towards me. Can’t wait to see other’s replies !
Excellent job, with the fish and the snake.
I almost tripped over a rattler, a number of years back, when fishing a small brook in the area. He was sunning himself on a foot path and I was just about to step down , when I saw him. I’ve never jumped that high in my life! When I came back through, he was gone.
We usually expect to see snakes on the trails and such. Being from Florida it’s also second nature to look for alligators. It was just that it was a surprise to see the snake in the water up here.
A wading staff would have been a definite help. I must admit I only thought of them in terms of keeping ones footing and balance while wading, This was an epiphany.
Oops…I should have noticed the “rusty” sig. Anyway, yeah, the wading staff has come in handy for a lot of things…getting the fly from high branches, wading of course, hiking up and down banks, saved my fav hat from washing downriver once and almost as importantly as the aforementioned, warding off all sorts of critters over the years, including but not limited to snakes, a crazed wild turkey that was talons out, screaming bloody murder and coming at my face and this is the clincher, a pack of ‘running wild’ domestic dogs that were coming for me with murder in their eyes. Hope I din’t take away too much from the intent of your post rusty !
Not on the Hiawassee River although I have fished that river many times when our family had property up there. A fishbud and me were on Popcorn Creek and we had to do the Copperhead two-step on that creek. Snake decided to take a downstream swim off of the log it was on. It happened quite a bit on those Georgia mountain streams to me and believe me, Georgia has a good supply of Copperheads and in no danger of running out any time soon. Be very careful when moving logs or rocks up there. The snakes like to hide under them. We were just thankful the snake went between us and not through the wickets :shock:. Glad your son is alright.
Well I don’t know Duck, dangerous? I guess it’s all relative.
The grand and glorious part of the whole trip is the fact that Jr. has been bitten by the bug. Now it’s up to me to feed it. Strike while the iron is hot.
I believe it was Darwin Atkins who told his story of breaking a brand new sage rod in six pieces trying to scare a rattler from his float tube on Lake Success.
Hah! I know beyond a shadow of a doubt if I asked the guys I fish with most of the time Quote “After the dance was over he asked me how often that happens. I’ve personally never had it happen to me and I was just wondering if anyone else has had a like experience.” Unquote
You would have heard something like this;
Huh! Snakes, oh yea all the time . Someone else would pipe in with Yep bout 2-3 a day wouldn’t ya say. Yep sometimes more. Mostly rattlers but a few sidewinders too. Not as bad as the scorpions on shore tho. Nope Scorpions are worst then theres the bears…etc etc etc. followed by gales of laughter.
No way would you get the truth.
As for the snakes being confined to the deep South. Linemender and I ran into 3 of them ( rattlers ) in Washington state thats pretty far north. :shock:
Especially when encountering cotton mouths while in the water, know that they can coil and strike right there from the water’s surface - maybe not as far as they can while on land, but none-the-less, they can do it!
Well true ducksterman, I’m ‘south’…you know, in the swampier climes of OR…actually when I say ‘out here’ that takes in WA, ID, and CA as well as OR…the biggest rattler I saw swimming was at the confluence of the Selway and the Lochsa in ID…couldn’t believe it. I don’t think about snakes in the water till I see 'em but I always get a nice heart check up when they surprise me !
I’ve never been afraid of snakes, but one time I was hiking in Idaho and here comes this big rock that has a undercut beneath it and lo and behold a HUGE (Thank Heaven) Bull snake was all coiled up. THAT! got my attention!
Doug
From what I have seen and heard, snakes can bite underwater without striking per se. All that thay have to do is to be close enough and then execute a bite. We have lots of snakes in the waters of Tennessee, no fish, but lots of snakes. 8)
BTW, if you do fish where there are both cottonmouths and banded water snakes &/or queen snakes, please learn the difference between the poisonous and the non-poisonous. The same applies to copperheads and corn snakes.
Copperheads usually don’t go for swims; unless of course the fast water level rise caught it off guard but even then; you would figure the snake would already know about the water level changes since they are regular events.
I’ve seen snakes in the water, but up this way there are virtually no poisoness snakes. I am always careful where I fish, so I don’t fish in TN, NC, FL etc. etc.
Everyone must be very careful when around water during these abnormal dry conditions. I have lived in Tennessee for 27 years and I must say that I have seen many snakes while fishing, but, I can honestly say that I have not seen a poisonous snake yet. Mind you, I am not complaining! I could live the rest of my life and not see one and would not be disappointed! I have noticed that the “locals” here call every snake they see swimming in any water a cottonmouth. I am sure that if I lived in East Tennessee that I would see some snakes that are poisonous. The closer you get to the mountains the better your chances of seeing one.
Everyone justs need to be very careful. The snakes I have seen are just as afraid of me as I am of them and we both head in opposite directions when we are aware of each other! Thank God!!
