Water Moccasin Attack

pblum22987 · Post by **pblum22987** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:19 am

I was fishing pan fish and Rio Grande Perch when I noticed that a water moccasin had been attracted by the commotion. I stood up to try and scare away the snake. As soon as the snake saw me he turned around and swam away... or so i thought! Several minutes later I hooked a fish, and as soon as i lifted the fish out of the water the snake attacked the fish. the fish managed to unhook himself leaving the confused snake to try and attack the floater. The water Moccasin than showed his fangs and lunged towards myself. I must admit that I was caught of guard and reacted by hitting the snake with my fishing pole.

Below is a link of the video. it is a little bit shaky but still very intersting to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAIG9hSviK0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mwrose777 · Post by **mwrose777** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:19 pm

Pretty cool video!

pblum22987 · Post by **pblum22987** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:06 pm

mwrose777 wrote:Pretty cool video!

Thanks!

mwrose777 · Post by **mwrose777** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:49 pm

You handled that a lot better than I would have, thats for sure. I woulda been 100 yds away when that snake came at you. I may look like a chubby white dude, but I'm quick!

pblum22987 · Post by **pblum22987** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:25 pm

mwrose777 wrote:You handled that a lot better than I would have, thats for sure. I woulda been 100 yds away when that snake came at you. I may look like a chubby white dude, but I'm quick!

it was one of those situations were i didnt think i just reacted.

cliftonio · Post by **cliftonio** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:30 pm

NOOOOOO not a CORAL-RATTLE-MOCCASIN!

Alsatian · Post by **Alsatian** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:28 pm

cliftonio wrote:NOOOOOO not a CORAL-RATTLE-MOCCASIN!

aka: snow snake. There getting bad. This is the third or fourth one so far.

Jigawatt · Post by **Jigawatt** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 11:02 pm

Thanks for posting that video. You captured some interesting snake behavior there. It's been awhile since my herpetology days, but I'd bet $0.25 that the snake was either a blotched or diamond back water snake - biters, but fortunately not venomous.

HighPlainsDrifter · Post by **HighPlainsDrifter** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:27 am

cliftonio wrote:NOOOOOO not a CORAL-RATTLE-MOCCASIN!

well played.

Chief Brody · Post by **Chief Brody** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 11:34 am

cool video, thanks for posting it.

Pretty sure if he wanted to 'attack' you, he would have got you - they can actually grab their own tail with their mouth to form a wheel shape when their prey tries to run away. Been clocked at 16 mph. I think it's been verified on that tv show that proves stuff.

Tough to really tell the species from the video - I sent it to a friend of mine who is a herpetologist, I'll post if he has an opinion.

You handled that well. I was chest deep wade fishing in a pond near Goliad once and a 3 foot dark colored snake swimming across noticed my lure and started towards me. When he got within reach, I did what you did, tapped him on the head with my fishing pole, and he submerged. He submerged. I realized 2 nanoseconds later how bad an idea that was...

mwrose777 · Post by **mwrose777** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:48 pm

Chief Brody wrote:cool video, thanks for posting it.

Pretty sure if he wanted to 'attack' you, he would have got you - they can actually grab their own tail with their mouth to form a wheel shape when their prey tries to run away. Been clocked at 16 mph. I think it's been verified on that tv show that proves stuff.

Tough to really tell the species from the video - I sent it to a friend of mine who is a herpetologist, I'll post if he has an opinion.

You handled that well. I was chest deep wade fishing in a pond near Goliad once and a 3 foot dark colored snake swimming across noticed my lure and started towards me. When he got within reach, I did what you did, tapped him on the head with my fishing pole, and he submerged. He submerged. I realized 2 nanoseconds later how bad an idea that was...

I would have been out of the water so fast I wouldn't have even been wet.

cliftonio · Post by **cliftonio** » Tue Jul 08, 2014 12:59 pm

Chief Brody wrote: He submerged. I realized 2 nanoseconds later how bad an idea that was...

...trying to figure out what I hate worse

- watching a snake bite me
- feeling a snake bite me but not seeing him

[we need an emoticon for heebie-jeebies!]

On a similar note I see an emergency vet visit in my future. My new pup (aka red dog of unknown origin) seems to have an compulsion for leaping head-first into thick bushes, the typical bushes that seem to have a snake in them 50% of the times. I guess he will learn the hard way!

pblum22987 · Post by **pblum22987** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:21 pm

cliftonio wrote:
Chief Brody wrote: He submerged. I realized 2 nanoseconds later how bad an idea that was...
...trying to figure out what I hate worse

- watching a snake bite me
- feeling a snake bite me but not seeing him

[we need an emoticon for heebie-jeebies!]

On a similar note I see an emergency vet visit in my future. My new pup (aka red dog of unknown origin) seems to have an compulsion for leaping head-first into thick bushes, the typical bushes that seem to have a snake in them 50% of the times. I guess he will learn the hard way!

Not seeing the snake bite you would be worse in y opinion.

Fishinintx · Post by **Fishinintx** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 12:31 am

Yea diamond back water snake...I catch em all the time and show people at the park they are harmless. I let em bite me to show that it doesn't really hurt at since their teeth are very small. I caught a 5 ft rat snake a while back and that was a very aggressive snake...had to let her bite me to get her head. She left a few bloody marks on my hand but didn't really hurt. I took her and released her away from people the next day.

larry long shadows · Post by **larry long shadows** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 8:56 am

Fishinintx wrote:Yea diamond back water snake...I catch em all the time and show people at the park they are harmless. I let em bite me to show that it doesn't really hurt at since their teeth are very small. I caught a 5 ft rat snake a while back and that was a very aggressive snake...had to let her bite me to get her head. She left a few bloody marks on my hand but didn't really hurt. I took her and released her away from people the next day.

OK who was the first to try that and I believe you but would really like to see that

Yakfoot · Post by **Yakfoot** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:44 am

Quite a few years ago before I had a kayak I built myself a Cajun pirouge. One day I was cutting up a sunfish for cut bait for a trotline and I noticed a snake that kept circling the boat. His head was high up out of the water and he would get closer with every circle. I didn't pay much attention to him, but pretty soon he was right up next to the boat. Then all of a sudden quick as a wink he was up over the side into the boat looking for that cut up fish. Once he got inside the pirouge and saw me he got scared but he couldn't figure out how to get out. He started zipping back and forth from one end of the boat to the other. I'm not afraid of snakes but a pirouge's sides are only about three inches above the waterline at most, and having a three foot snake going back and forth between my legs caused me to ship a little water. He finally found his way back over the side and disappeared. That's one of the things that is so great about being in the outdoors. You get to see and experience things that other folks never do.

Fishinintx · Post by **Fishinintx** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:46 am

Hey Larry, yea I get that a lot. I was always bringing home snakes as a kid. Got bit a lot and you get you used to the shock factor and realize it stings a little but that's it. That rat snake was tough as I didn't really want to let it bit me but I had her by the tail and she kept coming around striking at me. I would flip her away stil holding on and we did a dance for a minute or so until.I realized if I wanted to catch her just to let her bite me. I might still gave the memory card with the bite pics on it. Will see if I can find em.

Isobar · Post by **Isobar** » Mon Aug 04, 2014 1:55 am

Years ago during my nighttime snake-hunting days I got out of my truck to move a diamondback water snake off the road before it became a reptile decal. Since snakes strike forward, I reached behind and to the side to grab it. The snake launched itself sideways and scraped across the top of my hand. I only received about four tooth scratches, but bled like the proverbial stuck pig. Of course now I like to tell people I have been bitten by a diamondback.

All I can figure is that snakes that make their living in or near the water innately need to strike in all directions to catch their prey. As a general rule of thumb, I've found that nearly all medium or large snakes that spend a lot of their time in the trees or near water are mean and nasty. The local exception is the terrestrial Texas Rat Snake; they're mean and nasty no matter where they live.

dmaxwell · Post by **dmaxwell** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:21 pm

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but you folks in it seems to be pretty familiar with species. Had a curious snake come around where I was wade fishing today (didn't feel safe on the yak due to wind). I didn't get a great look. It was fairly thin, maybe 1" around, and 2 - 2.5' long. Light on bottom, dark on top. Scales seemed fairly uniform. It might have been because it was partially submerged, but I seem to recall a line down the length of its body. Reminded me of a large version of a garden snake. Did not have a triangular shaped head. Thoughts on what it might be? I'm not good at recognizing snakes. I would like to at least be able to recognize a moccasin.

I had to resist my urge to try and "encourage" it to leave the area. Thankfully it eventually did without a spectacle occurring.

Chief Brody · Post by **Chief Brody** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:22 am

Look anything like this?

: saltmarsh snake.jpg (18.05 KiB) Viewed 6668 times

Gulf saltmarsh snake - if you were in salt or brackish water and it had a stripe this would be a good guess.

dmaxwell · Post by **dmaxwell** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:31 pm

It's fairly similar. We were in freshwater (Lake Grapevine). The top half seemed to be more uniform and I don't recall multiple horizontal stripes. It was several yards away and swimming so I didn't get a great look. The head was similar to this one in terms of shape. I wish I'd taken a picture, but my phone was in dry storage and by the time I would have got it out the snake was gone. I'll be back in that area again soon. I'll try and snap some photos for you.

fisher of people · Post by **fisher of people** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:17 pm

I have also very frequently seen Red Striped Ribbon Snakes in the water, they have a red line down the back.

beckman · Post by **beckman** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:49 pm

Great video. I couldn't have gotten out of there fast enough if I was in that situation.

TexasKayakFisherman.com

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