Guys I'm headed to Reelfoot on Thursday is there really snakes everyone like you read online or is it a wife's tale.
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Guys I'm headed to Reelfoot on Thursday is there really snakes everyone like you read online or is it a wife's tale.
count on seeing snakes, if your fishing trees, look where you grabbing before you grab.
lots of big spiders too
Funny you mention spiders, me and a buddy of mine fishing back in Eagles Nest timber couple years ago...saw a spider that looked the size of a "Star Fish"...we call that spot "star fish" trees now...man that dude was B--I-G !
Been at the lake the last two weekends, seen 3 water snakes, no cottonmouths, the only one who stopped to look is in the video, other two just cruising, never seen one in a tree above me my entire life, I don't doubt it has happened, I've just never seen it. I was trolling open water 5 or 6 years ago and had one climb the outboard, one wack with a paddle and he was no more, turns out lacking arms and legs and not being able to spit venom renders them pretty defenseless against humans... The increase in birds has really hurt the snake population. Those big cypress spiders are harmless, I pick em up and pretend to eat them to mess with my son. For humility's sake though, I'll admit that if a cockroach walks across my shoe I scream like a girl and run out of the room until someone has disposed of it, we all have our thing..
This fat fella was taking it easy this weekend on Pinoak lake in Natchez Trace. It is that time of year.
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Here's a picture from Reelfoot
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That's 2 snakes. They were laying on some limbs a little above eye level. Snakes are not in every tree, but like someone said, watch where you put your hand. Most of what you will see are banded water snakes. Keep in mind there are some cotton mouths there.
looks like rattle headed copper moccasins to me
Oh man I HATE snakes!
I camp at the State RV campground fairly often and always get a site on the water. They are pretty thick swimming around in the cypress grove there and like to get up under the seawall where erosion has undercut it. Be very careful and observe your surroundings. My dog always finds them before I do. Most are just water snakes but the copperheads and cottonmouths are sure there to.
Old sayin goes dont bother them and they wont bother you!! With that being said I was fishing rat island last may and I guess I got to close to a cottonmouth that was layin in a blow down because he slithered off the top and tried to get in the boat but my home made snake nocker took care of that..lol.. As mentioned just be careful where you stick your hands you never know, like Josh I've been several times and only seen a few water snakes so far this year...
James you put those snakes it that tree... Lol
We had one fall out of a tree on Wednesday and hit the water in front of us. We saw two yesterday in the trees while we were jigging made me slow down and look before I grab a limb to hold the boat in place. LOL!! I hate snakes!!!
Y'all can have the knockers and all that, I'll take a cheap .22 pistol with rat shot or shot shells. I'll take the dings in the boat instead of missing him and hurting myself trying to avoid it. Carried one when I wade fished in FL and they work very well. Keeping track of what's going on around you and where you grab and all is the best advice regardless.
Sounds like they need to blow up the lake and start over :biggrin
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnriverluver
You ever do any good on Pin Oak? We used to rent a cabin there every year on my wife's birthday but I never could find the crappie. Her birthday is May 1rst though so I just assumed they were always in their post-spawn funk while we were there.
I mainly bream and bass fish there but do get the occasional crappie as a reward. I camp there a lot and take my little 8 ft basshunter since it fits in my toyhauler and is easy to launch from the bank. I troll crankbaits late in the year there and do pretty good on the white crappie. Only caught one white and a few blacks so far this year but that was fishing with crickets searching in vain for a large school of bream.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigKyd
That's what's wrong with the fishing. ... didn't see but one. No snakes no fishies
That'd be.....good news, bad news.
Biggest snakes in the world at Reelfoot!
I hunted at reelfoot when I was much younger on the first quota hunt ever held there for deer. I had a friend that found a way to get in the middle of the hunting area hoping the hunters coming in from either end would push deer towards us... that was the plan. This was in November when snakes should be dormant right? Well they were until about 10 am when the sun began to warm things up a bit. I have never seen so many cottonmouths in my life! Everywhere you looked either slipping back down a hole, swimming across a slough or just confronting you with their heads raised and mouths open! I said if God would just get me out of that swamp I would never go back and I haven't. That was about 38 years ago and I've kept my word! World record Crappie could be waiting for me there I'll never see him!
Double D, come on over and fish with me I'll whoop the snakes while you drag in the fish! Lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by Double D
I should have taken a picture of the one I caught Friday afternoon
Reel Foot use to be on my bucket list, but now I don't know.:yikes Went to Normandy Lake yesterday and seen 6 different snakes, and as somebody else mentioned we had one get in our boat yesterday when we didn't know it and we did notice two others trying to get in my boat, but Tracy beat them with his rod till they changed their minds. I think 5 were just the banded water snakes, and the one that did make it in my boat was apparently one that fell from a tree that was startled once we went to moving and went to wanting to get out. My fishing partner yesterday got me to stop the boat with his yelling. I thought I was about to hit a 3 foot diameter log straight on but it was because we had a snake in front of our feet, at his mostly in the boat. Snake was like somebody else commented a water rattling copper headed moccasin cobra eyed corralled up kind, but in reality he was green and about 18 inches long.:Rofl He went up and over the side of the boat and out into the water as soon as I got boat stopped. We didn't mind him getting out on his own at all. Worse thing about yesterdays trip is we seen more snakes than keeper crappie.
GFC, don't let the snakes bother you. I think we were seeing them in the trees because they were just getting real active. I saw no snakes I. The trees yesterday and I was in some wooly ones. The fishing should get better over there in the next couple of weeks
More snake info... an addendum to my earlier post about my hunting trip at reelfoot years ago. I began seeing snakes like I said earlier as the sun began to warm things up. I would encounter them frequently as I tried to make my way back a small ridge I had traveled down into the swamp that morning BEFORE daylight. Every time I had a snake confront me on that trail out, he would be aggressive and threaten me. I accommodated them by using my deer rifle. Pretty soon I heard something approaching me thru the water and it was a guy that looked like he just walked out of the deliverance movie and yelled to ask who was doing all the shooting. I explained why it was me and he replied "Son ,you haven't got enough shells to kill all the snakes you're gonna see today" He quickly took out a saw he was toting in a holster and cut a small sapling and made a small whip. He said here I'll show you how to deal with a snake and after a few steps another snake appears and he just whipped that snakes head at the neck and presto! dead snake, no wiggle, no writhe, just dead snake. He turned promptly to me and said "Here use this, quit shooting in here I'm hunting in here" and he disappeared with his hip boots back into the swamp.
An old broken tip of a jig pole
Works just as well
Yes it does. If you don't have a broken tip with you, just wait until the first snake gets in the boat with you and you will have.Quote:
Originally Posted by arkcrappie
GCF you need to keep the foot on ur bucket list, its a beautiful lake and when the crappie are on its a great place to fish. You may fish several times and not even see a snake and you may see ten in one outing. Its been a real bad spring for crappie on the foot but as ARK. said it should get better in a couple weeks so come on up and fish:)
We jigged the trees on the north end yesterday morning for bluegill. Seen 27 snakes in 5 hours. No cottonmouths all just water snakes.
Were they in the trees or just in the water? I don't care how many I see swimmin! I like to go for a swim myself once in a while. I saw several in the water Saturday. Just water snakes, but I had fishing on my mind..........Quote:
Originally Posted by Lake Rat
I just got back from a successful trout trip on the Caney Fork and plan on getting back out on the Foot soon. The first full moon of May is coming. If the crappie won't cooperate then thew bluegill will :)
3 were in trees the rest were in the water.
As soon as we get through this cool spell, I would think you would need to worry more about the red wasp in the trees rather than the snakes.
Ain't that true. Saw a nest last year had to be a foot wide. Covered with red wasp. Sure glad I spotted that nest. I've had them get after me before. They will chase you down. Hurt like Hades.Quote:
Originally Posted by arkcrappie