Do you Southerners wade?

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I wade a small river in South Ga when in the summer it nearly dries up. You Target the deeper water and they get stacked, snakes are abundant but lizards are few.

 

Just be cautious and take protection if you decide to. I enjoy it

[davecon]

When I was in my teens and twenties we waded all the time. Keep in mind that this was before “catch and release” was ever thought of. We had to go to croaker sacks to keep the fish in because if you put them on a stringer the gators would try to steal them. We didn’t think anything about it, it’s just what we did.

 

However, with the influx of northerners feeding gators for some strange reason the gators have lost most of their fear of humans.

 

I’m getting pretty old to wade nowadays but probably would in the right places. Wouldn’t be in a residential area though.

[Catt]

@soflabasser Exactly!

 

I've hunted, fished, & trapped all over the Gulf Coast & while I always carried a gun of some type I've never fired a single shot other than hunting. Well except for one nutria rat in the bottom of a duck blind I had just jumped into!

 

I'm way more concerned with water moccasins than alligators!

[Mobasser]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

@soflabasser Exactly!

 

I've hunted, fished, & trapped all over the Gulf Coast & while I always carried a gun of some type I've never fired a single shot other than hunting. Well except for one nutria rat in the bottom of a duck blind I had just jumped into!

 

I'm way more concerned with water moccasins than alligators!

Catt, I've done a lot of the same stuff as you, here in Missouri. We don't have gators of course, but we do have copperheads and the occasional moccasins. I'm not afraid of snakes, and we have others that are non poisonous, but I always just leave them be. I've seen plenty, but have never been bit. It pays to know what's in your area for sure!

[N Florida Mike]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Snakes are the least of my worries!  ?

 

 

You got that right !?

[smr913]

I'm lucky to be at the very north of the water moccasin's territory and have never seen one in person. I encourage anyone to get out and wade. The numbers of fish I caught went up when I got off the bank and started wading. It went up again when I got a kayak. Moral of the story is the easiest accessed water will be the most pressured. 

[N Florida Mike]

I've been wading most of my life here in Florida. Especially the St John's river. Have only been skeered once or twice of Gators.

 

1 hour ago, davecon said:

We had to go to croaker sacks to keep the fish in because if you put them on a stringer the gators would try to steal them

  Or the Alligator snappin turtles , lol. I saw one bite a bream in half off a stringer a friend had on his belt. 

Another friend felt a tug on a stringer of fish he was cleaning, and when he pulled it up there was a big cottonmouth hanging on.

 

One time 2 nine foot Gators came out , one in front and one behind me. They weren't trying to get me, I obviously didn't look like like a food source ? Giving you the short version of that story though , but it ended after dark ?.

It's just something I grew up with. We did a lot of things in the woods and swamps we could have died or got hurt from back then. And a lot of it barefoot !!

I don't do much wading anymore in the river. Getting lazy.

Don't know if I'd advise anyone to do what I did. But so far so good....

 

 

[PhishLI]

I'm in NY, not the south, but...I night wade during the summer. Last season I was pretty far out and above my waist when a Smithsonian sized snapping turtle cruised within inches of me. It was the size of an ottoman. The reptile core of my brain told me to flee to safety, so I did. I realize a turtle isn't a crocodilian or a venomous snake, but the beak on this thing was terrifying. I sped home then googled "titanium underwear".

[gnappi]

Growing  up in upstate New York you simply couldn't fish the narrow streams without wading. Down here in South East Florida most canals are deep right at the water's edge, and at lakes walking into a few feet of water doesn't get me anywhere a decent cast won't.

 

Even my boat, we stick close to the shoreline as the fishing is best there for us. With my DF, I mark lots of fish in deeper water, but don't really fish there.

 

Walking along a canal or lake you're just as likely to meet a snake or gator as wading, they never bother me, but my buddy was attacked by a huge otter once ?

 

 

[Koz]

"Do you southerners wade?"

 

No.

 

 

[Hog Basser]

Not in the Arkansas Delta.  We have a few gators, never know if they're around or not.  I pretty much kill at least one cottonmouth every time I go out.  Keep "the judge" handy with 410 shells.  The lake I fish is separated from a large bayou by a levee, so gators come and go.  

[Tennessee Boy]

I spent a lot of time wading in Tennessee as a youngster.  No gators here.  Only had one close encounter with a cotton mouth.   Never went back to that creek.

[the reel ess]

There are a lot of southerners named Wade

 

I got the kayak so I could...Row (vs wade) 

[.ghoti.]

2 hours ago, the reel ess said:

There are a lot of southerners named Wade

 

I got the kayak so I could...Row (vs wade) 

Now that's funny right there!!!

[GReb]

As a kid I would wade fish and swim all the time. Snakes always scared more than gators. We still swim and ski at Ross Barnett all summer long but stay in the areas where gators are less prevalent. The more “fishy” areas have 8-12 footers everywhere though. 

 

People wade for crappie at Grenada Lake all year long. They dont have as many gators up there though. 

[Darren.]

I will wade where I can, if I am in the mood to do so, usually

if there's a hard sandy bottom. Unfortunately, most of the 

reservoirs where I fish are mush and suck your shoes off, LOL.

 

We also have a lot of snakes, and water mocs are common

here, less-seen are copperheads, but they're around, I've 

seen them. Fortunately, no gators.

 

There are river otters and beavers, too. Had the bahookie

scared outta me a few times with beavers sneaking up on me

and slapping their tail on the water. Otters are curious critters.

[billmac]

Do you guys not have any rivers with rapids?  By far most of the bass I've caught in my life have been in river rapids.

[detroit1]

By those pictures..that looks like a Culprit...

[Lead Head]

I have wade fished some of the smaller rivers around here (Saline, Ouchita) never ran up on a gator but people swear they are around. In my experience most of the snakes people call cottonmouth (or water moccasin) are harmless banded water snakes. Not saying it's never a cottonmouth, just that the water snakes are far more abundant and 90% of people I know declare every snake they see in the water a moccasin. I have come face to face with a swimming copperhead while wading waist deep water on lake ouachita.

[Koz]

We have to be very careful this time of year because it's alligator mating season and the alligators are moving from lagoon to lagoon and very aggressive. In fact, today I got chased off of three different lagoons by gators. Most of the time they hang out in the distance, but today each came right at me once they saw me. There's no way I'd ever chance a kayak with them, especially this time of year.

[Yumeya]

I wade here in Northern Utah, but like the OP said we don't have any animals that will eat you.

 

I did have a beaver chase me that was the size of a Labrador, d**n thing was a giant, I carry a .22 mag just in case. 

[OCdockskipper]

My sister lives in Southern Georgia, right on the Florida border and has a couple of small lakes on her property.  Each has a small gator that rules the roost, but are pretty people shy. 

 

First time this dumb Californian went to visit her there, she told me what was the best way to navigate around the lakes and to never take shortcuts across the feeder creeks.  So of course, after fishing one side of the larger lake, I cut across the feeder creek to get to the other side.  As I am going along, all of a sudden one of my legs is knee deep in mud.  It was stuck and not moving.  As I wiggled my leg out of my boot to get it free, I remembered seeing one of the aforementioned gators earlier in the day.  I would have been in a bad position to fight him off had he decided to come over & investigate what was struggling in the mud.

 

With added urgency, i got my leg free, recovered my boot out of the mudhole and started listening to what my sister advised...

[TnRiver46]

12 hours ago, billmac said:

Do you guys not have any rivers with rapids?  By far most of the bass I've caught in my life have been in river rapids.

Yes I wade those all the time . Fun stuff 

[Koz]

10 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

My sister lives in Southern Georgia, right on the Florida border and has a couple of small lakes on her property.  Each has a small gator that rules the roost, but are pretty people shy. 

 

First time this dumb Californian went to visit her there, she told me what was the best way to navigate around the lakes and to never take shortcuts across the feeder creeks.  So of course, after fishing one side of the larger lake, I cut across the feeder creek to get to the other side.  As I am going along, all of a sudden one of my legs is knee deep in mud.  It was stuck and not moving.  As I wiggled my leg out of my boot to get it free, I remembered seeing one of the aforementioned gators earlier in the day.  I would have been in a bad position to fight him off had he decided to come over & investigate what was struggling in the mud.

 

With added urgency, i got my leg free, recovered my boot out of the mudhole and started listening to what my sister advised...

 

A lot of people don't realize that gators aren't always in the lakes and ponds. The females especially will make big nests in boggy areas for their eggs. If you're in the woods and see a big mound of dirt and debris it's always best to steer clear.

 

One day I was about to go fish my favorite rip rap spillway area and as I neared a big 12 foot bull gator came out of the woods and over the spillway. I don't fish there anymore.

[junyer357]

Most of the ponds i fish are too soft to wade.  You will sink over knee deep in water that would be ankle deep on a harder bottom. 

 I wade a few creeks, but they have harder bottoms. 

As far as snakes, i try to avoid them, and have a pistol for the ones i cant.