I've noticed a lot of posts lately on the Alabama board from Kayak fishermen...and it's great to see them. I live in Northwest Florida (1 hour from Lake Talquin) and fish the lower end of the Apalachicola River (Tate's Hell Swamp) on a regular basis. My only concern kayaking would be large gators. We have some huge ones down here, some over 14 feet, and they can be pretty agressive at times. I fish out of a 17ft, wide beam aluminum boat and have had a mama gator at least 14ft long come right up to the boat. I had to hit her in the head with an oar to get her to move away and she still stayed within 30 ft of the boat for nearly an hour. That's a scary situation when you are by yourself. Also saw a large gator come at least 3 to 4 feet out of the water to take a crane out of the air that had been walking around on some floating vegetation. I know gators submerge and go the other way, normally avoiding any contact with humans. However, it seems the lone fisherman in a kayak (especially the sit on top style) would be extremely vulnerable to a large gator attack. Could some of you kayakers let us know if you have had any experiences with gators. Just curious.