Like was said above, there are no poisonous water dwelling snakes up here. Too cold for too long. The snakes you see in the water in that area are harmless, albeit they will scare the pants off your wife, but they will not harm anything. And also like has been mentioned, tall grass attracts snakes that need cover since they are the favorite meal for several predators, hawks, owls, etc. I'm new up here, but have spent a bunch of time in the back water swampy parts of several conservation lakes... no bad snakes. That said, I don't hunt so I don't know what is around as far as timber rattlers or copper heads.