Things you were not expecting in the dip net

This actually didn't end up in my net, but it was an interesting find while collecting. While in the Little Miami, I once found a small blue safe in the water that someone had thrown from a nearby bridge. I opened it and it had $100.00 gift certificate and some kind of savings bond in it. I called the local police, and the woman to whom the safe belonged and turned it over to the local authorities. She must have been a victim of a robbery. I never did find out what that was all about. I'm still curious.
-Thom

While doing dives to collect mussels in the Tennessee near Huntsville, AL, we've found an amazing number of guns near bridges. One day we collected 30 guns, mostly rifles but also shotguns and handguns, at the bridge where Highway 231 crosses the river. We called the Madison County Sheriff's Department and they took them all. At least one or two were connected to robberies or burglaries we heard later.

30 guns! That is bizzarre. And quite scary. I can't imagine how many of those were used in crimes that had not been reported.

During the 2003 NANFA Monster Florida Fling, a group of us stopped at a boat ramp on the north end of Lake Rochell. It was heavily vegetated and packed with f. chrysotus (some of them melanistic) h. formosa and florida flag fish . I pulled up a net full of vegetation and when I bent down to look in the net a huge bullfrog jumped out and smacked me right in the mouth. I went down like a rock. Filled up my waders. Oh yeah, got some water in them too... Yes Laura, I screamed like a girl.

A long time ago in a creek far away i pulled up a siene net full of water moccasines and yes I did scream like alittle girl. I also found you can run on water but you have to be very fast (quote from some dumb movie)....Jim

Way back when I was in 5th grade, a friend of mine stopped by my house and told me there was a "huge sucker" almost as long as his arm in the local creek. He said it was trapped in a pool below the culvert under the road. Now this was a fairly small stream where we often went to catch minnows, crayfish, frogs, etc... The creek was actually formed by the emptying of the town's storm drains, and this was a town of less than 1500 people so it wasn't a large creek by any means but typically flowed year round except in the driest of summers. Still does I suppose. Anyway, I wanted to see this "huge sucker" for myself, so grabbed my super high tech dip net (made from an old sweatshirt, a wire clothes hanger, and a broom handle) and we headed down to the creek. When we arrived, the water was all muddied up as a couple other kids were down there wading around with their own nets. They were complaining about not finding any minnows or crayfish. We asked about the sucker but they hadn't seen it. They left and we looked about trying to see if it was still there.
Suddenly a long ribbon like fin, longer than the fin on anything in that creek should ever be, emerged from the water and began to undulate. I had no idea what it was but looked at my friend and said "that aint no sucker". After about another 10 minutes or so the water cleared up enough that we could clearly see him. By this time my friend and I were on opposite sides of the stream and it was right below my friend. He grabbed my net and made a desperate scoop. I thought for sure he would just scare it away and make it all the more wary of us, but he actually caught it. We carried it back to my house, and put it in a wagon and filled it with water from the hose. Took some pictures then had mom make a few phone calls to find out what it was. It was a bowfin, 24 inches long and at that time probably about the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

this spring i got a cast net for the first time so i took it out and some guy was fishing and asked me if i could get a fish he dropped in the water by mistake (it was dead, he wanted to eat it) so i said sure. About 4 or 5 try's, (i just got the net so i was not to sure how to toss it yet) i finally got this mans fish, (about a 10 inch perch) and i pulled the net string back to lock it and it felt like i snagged a log.......i caught a 36inch northern pike in a 3ft diameter cast net. all the commotion of the net and the dead fish much have attracted the pike and it looked like the pike bit the fish at about the same time i pulled the net up! my buddy and the guy s*** them selves

My wife and I seined up a four foot Cotton mouth one day. He was not a happy camper. That was the last time my wife ever went seining with me in freshwater.

My wife and I seined up a four foot Cotton mouth one day. He was not a happy camper. That was the last time my wife ever went seining with me in freshwater.

I don't like cottonmouthes. They have a real attitude problem. Never had a problem with rattlers or copperheads, they're usually pretty shy, found a magnificent 4' rat snake on my farm last year, and I'd love to come across a hognose. That's an interesting snake.

But the cottonmouth? Bad news. They will come after you.

But the cottonmouth? Bad news. They will come after you.

Interesting. I've never had one come after me, and I've been near quite a few. The closest I've ever come to being bitten was when I stood on a small downed tree trunk to get a better view of a South Carolina swamp and there had been one under it. He posed at me about 1 foot away from my ankle, showed his cotton, and let me back off slowly. Usually if I see one when I am working, they move off or just sit there.

I think cottonmouths have a got an un-statistical based bad wrap.

I will admit it I do not care for poisonous snakes, but as far as poisonous snakes go cottonmouths seems to be the most timid, docile, and shy.

I have constant trouble with Nerodia sp. and them actually coming after me (ok that is a bit of an exaggeration but I have had problems with them).

Also, before I knew how to differentiate northern water snakes and cottonmouths everytime I seen a northern water snake I labled it as a cottonmouth and therefore attached an aggressive stigma to cottonmouths (I was quite a bit younger, not to mention I was 200 miles north of cottonmouths range).

Furthermore, I read a story when in the 1940's a whole teamed cleared a cypress swamp and not one person was bitten or approached, so they can't be that bad (not to discredit encounters that people have had).

Blake

Northern Water Snakes get mistaken for cottonmouths and water moccasins around here all the time. While not poisonous Northerns can be nasty customers and more than willing to bite you. I have been nailed by northerns many times, ouch. The few cottonmouths I have encountered have been pretty timid though. Not that I pressed my luck with them. <g>

I've been working with and around cottonmouths for years. They are not aggressive snakes, but nor are they afraid of you; a big cottonmouth will stand its ground. Smaller snakes usually try to flee, but at a more leisurely pace than nonvenomous snakes. Some individuals will not bother changing their intended path if you happen to be in the way, which could be mistaken for aggression. They also sometimes approach boats; this is not aggression-related either (they are attracted to floating logs, which make good fishing perches) but can certainly be unnerving.

Like Blake and Sam said, many people's "cottonmouth" encounters actually involve Nerodia watersnakes. These snakes are not aggressive either, but they can be pugnacious when harassed. Cottonmouths are essentially a Coastal Plain snake; they also occur in the valleys of larger rivers around the fringes of the CP in the Piedmont, Interior Low Plateau, and Ozarks. Aquatic snakes seen elsewhere are almost certainly not this species.

The only snakes in the US that will approach humans in an aggressive manner are members of the racer/ coachwhip/ whipsnake group. Even with these guys it's just a bluff; stand your ground or approach them and they'll flee. I have heard that mambas will deliberately pursue and attack humans, but this behavior is otherwise unknown in snakes.

Edited by Newt, 24 November 2008 - 07:25 PM.

My experiences with cottonmouths have been mixed. Most of the time, anything < 2ft tends to be dashing for cover by the time I see it, whereas the larger ones tend to stand there ground. I will never forget blowing up a beaver dam in west TN (Milan) and the largest cottonmouth I have ever seen was lunging at my friend Drew and I while trying to plant the sticks in the dam. Luckily Drew got a stick and slung him into the bushes nearby.
Though I have never encountered a northern, our banded watersnakes in GA have quite the temper as well.

My sons and I were dip netting in the Spill way of Greenfield lake one evening just after dark and we stirred up a rather large cotton mouth. he came out of the water and very aggressively came toward us. I picked him up in the dip net and flipped him back out into the water and he came back at us again. we tried to just move out of the way but he followed us. I flipped him back into the water two more times before we finally left. Each time he would exit the water in a different place and come toward us. It was unnerving to see this large snake come out of the water and move rapidly toward us. Even when we tried to out maneuver him he still came our way. I've had them act aggressively before but nothing like this one. He was just over 4 feet long, very thick and persistent.

The snake you encountered must have had rabies...

But really - that is bizzarre. That's the kind of thing that would give you nightmares. That reminds me of a swarm of jellyfish I ran into when I was little... gave me nightmares for a week.

The snake you encountered must have had rabies...

But really - that is bizzarre. That's the kind of thing that would give you nightmares. That reminds me of a swarm of jellyfish I ran into when I was little... gave me nightmares for a week.

I agree it was extremely bizarre, I had always told my sons that snakes are basically harmless as long as you know where they are and that snakes will avoid you when ever possible. They both got as big kick out of seeing Dad proved wrong. While the encounter was going on both of them thought is was hilarious because the snake seemed to be after me. They kept saying "Dad, just tell it it's not supposed to do that!" I've black racers act aggressive toward me when cornered or something like that but this cotton mouth was really going after us.

My experiences with cottonmouths have been mixed. Most of the time, anything < 2ft tends to be dashing for cover by the time I see it, whereas the larger ones tend to stand there ground. I will never forget blowing up a beaver dam in west TN (Milan) and the largest cottonmouth I have ever seen was lunging at my friend Drew and I while trying to plant the sticks in the dam. Luckily Drew got a stick and slung him into the bushes nearby.
Though I have never encountered a northern, our banded watersnakes in GA have quite the temper as well.

I've gotta contradict you Uncle Willie. I've been run out of quite a few streams by aggressive Northerns. They don't seem to care that I am six feet and they are only two. Come to think of it, I don't care either and I go the opposite way!

I've gotta contradict you Uncle Willie. I've been run out of quite a few streams by aggressive Northerns. They don't seem to care that I am six feet and they are only two. Come to think of it, I don't care either and I go the opposite way!

I'm sorry, but I dont really understand what you are contradicting. I have zero experiences with Northern watersnakes, so I cannot comment on them. I have only run into Cottonmouths and Banded watersnakes.

Baby Hypostomus plecostomus, barely a centimeter in length, downstream of the Spring Lake spillway at the San Marcos River, San Marcos, TX.