Super User Koz Posted June 23, 2018 Super User Posted June 23, 2018 I fricking hate gators. Lately they've been a huge bother when fishing, and tonight was no different. We had just arrived to one of our favorite lagoons in Sun City Hilton Head. The same lagoon where a small gator chased me a few weeks ago. I've caught some 4 pounders here, but I know there are 7+ pounders in this lagoon and tonight I was going to find one. I was fan casting a Booyah Pad Crasher starting out and working my way in. On the fateful cast I was casting to my left down the shoreline and my intent was to put the frog beyond an outcrop of vegetation and walk it past that spot. But I hooked my cast a little to the left and it landed behind the vegetation where there was a lot of aquatic algae. As soon as my frog hit the water I caught a glimpse of something big, white and green flashing out of the water behind that vegetation. I reeled down, set the hook, and it felt like a lure hung up on a log. But there are no logs in this lagoon. The line tightened and nothing moved. I reeled some more and still nothing. Maybe the fish was hung up in the slop. So I moved closer as I reeled in. Awww frick! At that point I yelled for my son to grab my multi-tool and bring my phone to take a picture of the event. That's when he started to video. The video below is highly edited because for some reason he pointed the camera at the ground while repeating his new catch phrase about a million times (you'll here it in the video - ???) instead of actually filming the action. There was a long period where the gator had his head well out of the water and was chomping away at my favorite frog. There was another period where the gator raised it's body while in the water and you could see how big it was. It was a decent size, somewhere between 8 and 9 feet long. You can hear me opening and closing the spool when the gator went under and started moving. I wasn't about to wrestle with him or chance the line going tight and having him move towards me. At one point I made a loud noise and tried to scare him, but that didn't work. I tried popping the line but he kept shutting his jaws when the line was still attached. After cutting my line I set up my rod again and packed up to try another lagoon. And just as we were packing the gator came steaming through the water towards us again. I'm done with that lagoon until the HOA takes action. But wait - the day gets even worse. We moved to another lagoon and while my son was fishing a frog a little gator - about 3 feet long - started cruising towards his bait and picked up speed as he was reeling in. The gator was moving so fast that it actually raised itself out of the water. I'm screaming at him to get out of there and he's not moving. I start running towards him yelling and waving my arms like a mad man - hoping to scare off the gator - and Matt finally moves of the shore and the gator stops at the edge of the bank. But wait - there's more!. We move to another lagoon and I'm fishing a frog again. This time a bass hits it, I set the hook, and it feels like a decent sized fish. I start reeling and the line goes slack. Really, really slack. Like no frog on my line slack. Yep - my knot failed because of angler error. But wait - there's even more! I tie on a Whopper Plopper 110 and make a few casts around the fountain in the lagoon and wouldn't you know it, I snagged the rope cable and hung up my lure. I didn't get it back. Yeah - it was not a good day. Also included is a screen capture of him trying to devour my lure. Some day I'd like to post on here again about the fish that I caught or a new PB instead of dinosaurs ruining my day. 4 Quote
DINK WHISPERER Posted June 23, 2018 Posted June 23, 2018 I've learned to deal with that issue fishing here in S FL. They'll follow the boat and even try to get in! 2 Quote
Super User Chris at Tech Posted June 23, 2018 Super User Posted June 23, 2018 I'll be down in HHI the week of July 4th so I'm totally prepping myself for similar encounters 1 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted June 25, 2018 Global Moderator Posted June 25, 2018 Butt cheek on a stick hahha 1 1 Quote
Bassin' Brad Posted June 25, 2018 Posted June 25, 2018 Duuude, that hurt like a butt cheek on a stick!! Hahaha love it! ?? I'll defenitly be using that line.... 1 1 Quote
EGbassing Posted June 25, 2018 Posted June 25, 2018 Wow. Never had that happen before. I have had frogs chased by giant turtles though... Btw, has your son considered becoming a professional photographer? That was the best filming I've ever seen. ? Quote
Super User Koz Posted June 25, 2018 Author Super User Posted June 25, 2018 21 minutes ago, EGbassing said: Btw, has your son considered becoming a professional photographer? That was the best filming I've ever seen. ? We had a chat about that when I reviewed the video. I told him that while I appreciated his enthusiasm, next time it would be really great if he actually filmed the action. Earlier in the year he asked for one of those action cameras so he could film himself fishing, riding his bike, skateboarding, etc. He used it once. I enjoy photography myself, but not when I'm fishing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/koz16/albums UPDATE: I notified the HOA about the spate of aggressive alligator incidents, but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. We did fish a few other lagoons last night, including a few without any reptile intervention. But it was hot as blazes even at 6 pm (105 heat index) and managed only *** pounder in a few hours out there. 1 Quote
Terry_ Posted June 30, 2018 Posted June 30, 2018 You 2 gentlemen stay safe out there. From what I here, gator bites hurt like a butt cheek on a stick!! 1 5 Quote
Super User NHBull Posted June 30, 2018 Super User Posted June 30, 2018 Think I would have my.45 with me..... 1 Quote
Super User Log Catcher Posted June 30, 2018 Super User Posted June 30, 2018 The way your luck with gators has been going you might want to think about moving to another state where they don't have that problem. Please don't bring any of them with you. 1 Quote
Super User Koz Posted July 1, 2018 Author Super User Posted July 1, 2018 4 hours ago, Log Catcher said: The way your luck with gators has been going you might want to think about moving to another state where they don't have that problem. Please don't bring any of them with you. It's definitely been frustrating. But I fished one lagoon last night with a 7 footer nearby and when I landed a 3 pound bass the gator did not move an inch. That was refreshing. And tonight I fished a new, larger lagoon and NOT ONE GATOR IN SIGHT. Unfortunately, the bass were not biting tonight although I did three 5-7 pounders out there. Quote
LadiMopar Posted July 1, 2018 Posted July 1, 2018 Sorry for your reptilian problems...and I thought.angry beavers and snapping turtles would hurt like a stick in a butt cheek....I stand corrected! ?? Gotta love a 12 year olds ability to think this stuff up...but will be sure not to mention it to my 12 yr old grandson 1 Quote
Super User Log Catcher Posted July 1, 2018 Super User Posted July 1, 2018 14 hours ago, Koz said: It's definitely been frustrating. But I fished one lagoon last night with a 7 footer nearby and when I landed a 3 pound bass the gator did not move an inch. That was refreshing. And tonight I fished a new, larger lagoon and NOT ONE GATOR IN SIGHT. Unfortunately, the bass were not biting tonight although I did three 5-7 pounders out there. Glad you can go out and deal with them and be okay. AS NHBull said I would not go out to an area like that without being armed. Quote
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