LITTLE MAUMELLE ALLIGATOR (Not an April Fools)

Took my neighbor Friday to LM, did alright, nothing of much size other than a couple of nice bass. Supposed to hook up with CEB but ended up having to go in early because of husbandly duties were calling (running the charcoal grill). Went back Saturday with a friend, (I thought the rain had quit) we ended up fishing in the rain for a little while. Caught a few nice ones before the sun came out. After the sun came out, didn't catch much. Went back today with my wife and we COULD NOT find them. Tried some deeper water on the way out and caught a few. Ended up with about 27 for the whole weekend. Not too good.

BUT today while we were fishing we CONFIRMED the rumors of an Alligator on the Little Maumelle River. Holly S**t, that is something to see while trying to boat a few Crappie. Very cool to watch him (or her, I did not get close enough to check the sex).

Couple of the nicer fish for the weekend.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...aw/Fish068.jpg

First spotted it catching some sun!!!!!!!!!!

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...aw/Fish057.jpg

Made it (and me) a little nervous as we got closer.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...aw/Fish060.jpg

Got busy trying to take its picture and realized it was not going to go back to the bank but was coming right at us about 20ft away!

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...aw/Fish062.jpg

We followed it for a while and watched it. You should have seen the geese haul but out of the water when it was swiming toward them.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...aw/Fish063.jpg


Hope everyone had a good weekend. Fishing has been better but had a large time trying.

Good post and great pics. Wow that's neat being that close to an alligator.

Hey Helms, that's just river fishin' right there. They can mess with your head pretty quick, especially during the spring. But, at least y'all had fun on the water and caught a good mess.

And as to the gator....you think he likes rosies? He can't be that much tougher than those ol' alligator gar...:eek: :D

Boy, I told you that thing was in there. You thought that I was joking. The game and fish have been trying to catch him. Looks like they should call us. We know where that thing is.

I am not sure if he likes rosies or not but if he climbed in the boat with us I was prepared to offer my dog as an appetizer and was wondering if I could out swim my wife. Just kidding about the wife comment. We need to go fishing next week.

Kent, you sure did. He was right past the RR bridge on the right.

How do you think that I will do in the morning after the rain a couple of days ago?

Let me know how deep you were fishing. I am going to try your spot, but I will have to offer up my brother in law to the gator. I don't have a dog?

Helms those are some great pics. I sure would like to see what that thing could do to my mother in-law. May have you take her for a littel boat ride this week before the AGFC sends it down to J Laughlin in Louisiana.

I wonder if there has been any run ins with it and some of those kayaking birdwatching folks? Could be a Kodak moment for sure.

Think I will stay down at the 430 bridge and keep some space between it and me. Gators and snakes give me the creeps bad.

Kent, I am telling you I have had decent fishing nearly everytime out up stream on LM, if not numbers then size and if not size then numbers. Today sucked (fishing, it was an absolute great day to be on the water with my wife and dog). Not sure if I can say sucked on here or not but today did. We fished a favorite tree of mine on the way out, sits on a shelf in 12-18 ft of water, the only fish I found on the FF all day and they were right on the bottom. Spent a few minutes tapping them on the head with a jig, got three to bite but we were ready to go in so we left them for another day. I don't know what to tell you about tomorrow. I think between the rain, cold front and cooler temps it pushed them deeper and the deepest water in "my" spot is 8ft. Water temp was as high as 74.

Great pics man.......We got a bunch of gators down this way in places. One night frog hunting I quit counting them at 30. That was down on Moores Bayou.

Gooch, let me know on the mother-in-law. ;) If she is not up for a boat ride, I know a guy that has a hog farm.:D
Sorry I missed Quachita. We did not get the invite until too late. We sure would have been there. Amen on the snakes and gators. You should see me when I bump one of those Cypress trees and it starts moving. My wife nearly wets herself watching me trying to decide whether to run to other end of the boat (and abandon the trolling motor) or stand my ground and kick the trolling motor on high trying to get off that tree. I nearly dropped a big fat snake in the boat with us the other day, I freaked then got myself under control, worked my way around the group of trees only to snag a nice Crappie on the other side of that same tree (but did not realize it until my wife reminded me during my excitement that the snake I freaked about was a few feet from my back side). :eek: Needless to say, I took my nice crappie and my pole to the back of the boat to finish getting him off the hook.

"Great pics man.......We got a bunch of gators down this way in places. One night frog hunting I quit counting them at 30. That was down on Moores Bayou."

Wing hunting, they need to come get this one and you could count 31 next time frog hunting on Moores Bayou.

Great Gator pics!!:) Let us know when you check it for male or female!;)

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Originally Posted by Helmslaw

Wing hunting, they need to come get this one and you could count 31 next time frog hunting on Moores Bayou.

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Thats alright......yall need to keep that one up there. We have plenty!

AGFC needs to catch that thing before it has babies or eats somebody, cool pics for sure.

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Originally Posted by LazyJ

AGFC needs to catch that thing before it has babies or eats somebody, cool pics for sure.

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I plan to hit the lil' maumelle one day early this week. Never fear, I'll round him up for the AGFC. I'm sure that I can handle him somehow with that torture device hanging off the bow...:D

You know, me in my 10' pelican boat with a trolling motor may look like a big spinner bait to that guy!!!!:D :D

Helmslaw...I'd give you a case of budweiser and a few freezer bags full-o-fish, for just one tender morsel of that Gator Tenderloin....mmmm, mmmm, mmmm! I sure wish I could run up on something like that, I've seen some cool cool creatures out and about, but nothing that cool. I did get the chance to see a "Bald Eagle Picnic"...it was about 400-500 bald eagles way up the arm of the white river off Beaver Lake, about 5-6 weeks ago...some were even in the water, bet you've never seen a school of shad devoured by Bald Eagles!! I am extremely patriotic and it gave me chillbumps my buddy and I were silent for almost 2 hrs as we viewed them...even saw a few Paragon Falcons (endangered species) attack a surfacing 25 lb. striper until they killed it. I didn't realize until later that those Kamikaze dives those Paragons do is b/c they have extra bony skull-structure, and they get up to speeds over 140 mph before they actually NAIL the surface...incredible. Glad you had a good time man, good luck this week! MM :D

If it is a guy gator, I'd be worried about him thinking that lil green Pelican puddleboat was a sweet thing, if you see him blowing bubbles at you get the heck outta there. From Widipedia...

The alligators breeding season begins in April, during which time the courtship rituals begin. The courtship rituals of the alligator are quite complex, involving touching, rubbing, the blowing of bubbles and some vocalizations. The actual mating takes place in open water, and involves a coitus method not unlike most animals. Alligators are not monogamous, one male may service up to ten or more females in his territory. Male alligators are territorial animals during the breeding season, and will defend their area against other male intruders.

Man, I guess I need to get in the tub tonight and start blowing some bubbles.

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Originally Posted by LRJoe

Man, I guess I need to get in the tub tonight and start blowing some bubbles.

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LRJOE, hahahaha! That is too much man...I am not quite sure but I would assume when it said, "....blowing bubbles...." it didn't mean the TOXIC kind that kill you when they finally surface and POP! hahaha! MM

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Originally Posted by LazyJ

If it is a guy gator, I'd be worried about him thinking that lil green Pelican puddleboat was a sweet thing, if you see him blowing bubbles at you get the heck outta there. From Widipedia...

The alligators breeding season begins in April, during which time the courtship rituals begin. The courtship rituals of the alligator are quite complex, involving touching, rubbing, the blowing of bubbles and some vocalizations. The actual mating takes place in open water, and involves a coitus method not unlike most animals. Alligators are not monogamous, one male may service up to ten or more females in his territory. Male alligators are territorial animals during the breeding season, and will defend their area against other male intruders.

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That does it..........I'm painting some scales on the puddleboat. And I'm going to call it "Sweet Nasty"......:D :D

How long does the mating take? I just want to know what kind of "ride" I'm in for if he decides to breed the Plastic gator!!!!:D :D :D

Some poor guy that is trying to run yo-yo's will finally get tired of that gator and take it out. Down here when you hear one of your yo-yo's trip at night, you better get to it quickly. I think gators can hear em trip from 200 yards. They're cool at first, but you get over it quickly.

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Originally Posted by dafshklr

That does it..........I'm painting some scales on the puddleboat. And I'm going to call it "Sweet Nasty"......:D :D

How long does the mating take? I just want to know what kind of "ride" I'm in for if he decides to breed the Plastic gator!!!!:D :D :D

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It is too funny that you are talking about being around that gator in a small boat. When we were working our way up the cove that he was in, there was a guy in a very small Gehnue (spelling?) with a trolling motor on it. He was coming out of there pretty quick because it was swimming around his boat and he felt like it got too close for his comfort. He decided he was going to fish somewhere else. If I see the same man back out there, I will let him know that it might just be wanting to borrow his boat for a while (kind of like a dog sometimes does with your guest's leg).

Moore's bayou has at least 1 that's 15 feet long.

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Originally Posted by Helmslaw

I am not sure if he likes rosies or not but if he climbed in the boat with us I was prepared to offer my dog as an appetizer and was wondering if I could out swim my wife. Just kidding about the wife comment. We need to go fishing next week.

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LOL at the wife comment!

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Originally Posted by Bullsprig

Moore's bayou has at least 1 that's 15 feet long.

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I would be that its probably got more than 1!