new warm water species for me! not quite a snakehead...

  • Thread starter glenrockonthefly
  • Start date
G

glenrockonthefly

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
107
OK so I'm fishing a favorite warm water spot yesterday catching sunfish and smallies. While wading I hear some splashing upstream from me and see a larg northern water snake wrestling a sucker to the shore to get ready to eat it. I have seen this a few times before so I take a look and continue upstream.

So I start casting and look to see how the snake is doing...well it went back in the water, my wooly bugger is just sitting in the current at this point and I hook a fish, well not a fish! I see that the snake is on my line. First I think I snagged it , but as I get it closer I see it's mouth wide open and my bugger hooked inside.

So I get it to shore pin it down use my forceps to retreive my bugger and off it swam off unharmed. My guess is once it got back in the water the fish got away and the snake saw my bugger and grabbed it.

I didn't beleive it at first but when the hook was in it's mouth I can't see that as an accident.

So new species: 2 foot norther water snake!
 
I am so happy this hasnt happened to me yet. I dont want to go hand to hand with a big northerner, whether i snagged it or hooked fairly.
 
You need a camera phone that would made a nice pic.
 
Yeah those northern banded watersnakes are aggressive. They have a nice set of teeth to boot. I had a similar situation 20 years ago which ended with a snapping turtle grabbing the snake in the middle and twisting it to pieces like a gater would. Prior to that I did not know a snapping turtle could do a death roll. unfortuantely I did not get my streamer back. I watched transfixed as the turtle dispatched the snake, tore it apart, and ate it.
 
Yes, northerners are really aggressive. I most likely would have cut the line on it and let it fend for itself. It ate the streamer after all.

My brother has hooked a few snapping turtles before. Both times I suggested breaking them off. Much like the snakes, I do not care to wrestle a snapper to free a hook.
 
Yeah I am very familiar with how nasty a Northern can be! I weighed it's head own with a rock and a little pressure (not crushing) and if I did not have 6 inch forceps that snake would still be trailing 8 inches of mono and a WB!!!

Not only are they agressive and have nasty teeth, their saliva has an anti-coagulate to keep blood from clotting so you bleed like a stuck pig!!!
 
I caught a creek chub and a snake grabbed it and didn't want to let go. I had to keep lifting it out of the water and shaking it. If I had hooked him I probably would have cut the line.
 
Back
Top