Like most of you guys and gals in BR land, I love to throw topwater baits. Frogs, poppers, spooks, and of course the Whopper Plopper. But lately there a 5 minute or less time limit on how long I can throw a topwater.  Why? These guys:

 

The gators have been a real PITA lately. Every single fricking lagoon there's one, two, or three gators that converge any time a bait scoots along the surface. The juveniles you can fish around. But the 6-10 footers you can't. If you throw a normal underwater bait they'll sit there, but throw a topwater and they get all worked up. If you hook a decent sized bass there's no way you'll get it in before the gator grabs your line.

 

It doesn't help that it's mating season and they are VERY territorial. Over the past few weeks we've had a handful of them cruise across the water, not stop, and come right on shore.

 

To make matters worse we've had some nice gray sky days and the weather hasn't been brutally hot. Perfect days to throw my favorite topwater baits.

 

We'll be back at it tomorrow night trying some new lagoons. With any luck we'll find one without the dinosaurs.

I don't think I could bank fish in a place I knew there were 10' swamp lizards cruising around. 

same problem here in Florida. Try fishing out of a kayak and they get right up next to ya to say hi. never had one get aggressive or out of hand with bumping.most of the time they just go on they're way.

3 minutes ago, crypt said:

Try fishing out of a kayak and they get right up next to ya to say hi. never had one get aggressive or out of hand with bumping.most of the time they just go on they're way.

Agreed. Still makes me nervous though. Haven't had them ruin the fishing for me yet but I imagine it's only a matter of time

2 hours ago, crypt said:

Try fishing out of a kayak and they get right up next to ya to say hi.

 

That's exactly why I don't buy a kayak to fish down here. Kayaks sit way too low in the water for my comfort level with the gators around. If I was younger I'd probably give it a go, but I'm not as fearless as I once was now that I'm older.

6 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I don't think I could bank fish in a place I knew there were 10' swamp lizards cruising around. 

 

I fish in open areas where I have a good line of sight of the water. One thing that I won't do is fish in a small opening in a heavily wooded area - I want quick egress. Also, when I approach the bank I check out any vegetation in front of me.. In warmer weather they tend to hang out in places like that to ambush prey.

 

A few weeks ago a BIG gator came out of the woods and over the rip rap near where I was fishing. Scared the poop out of me. He was fast enough over that rip rap that I didn't have enough time to pull out my phone and snap a picture.

Speak of the devil guys. I hit up a pond early in the morning today and when I reached the waters edge there was one of those swamp dinos (about 6' long). He checked me and my brother out and then swam out to the middle of the pond. Didn't ruin the bite though. Caught 4 on buzzbaits right where he had been sitting ? We never saw him for the rest of the day 

Haha... holy crap. I get annoyed at all the Carp In My local.

 

Gotta rethink my priorities...

3 minutes ago, Eric J said:

Haha... holy crap. I get annoyed at all the Carp In My local.

 

Gotta rethink my priorities...

Carp can be annoying but gators are a little on the freaky side ?

Tragic news from Florida regarding an alligator attack: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/08/florida-woman-reportedly-dragged-by-alligator-into-pond-confirmed-dead-authorities-say.html

 

She was walking her dogs along a pond and a witness saw her dragged into the water by a 12" foot alligator. They captured the gator and found human remains during the necropsy.

 

It was noted that one of her dogs was injured, so my guess is she was walking the dogs too close to the water and the alligator went after one of the dogs. She then put herself between the gator and her dogs and that was that.

 

I never walk my dog near any lagoons. One of our neighbors let her lab swim in a lagoon and was then surprised when a gator came barreling across the water. Luckily she had enough time to get her dog out.

 

 

This is why I live where the outside air hurts my face in the winter time. That’s a whole lotta nope.

There's a park in Texas (Brazos Bend State Park if your familiar with the area) that is famous for its gators. They have signs posted everywhere to stay a safe distance and not feed etc. But every year someone's dog always gets chomped cause someone's let it run free or walked it too close to the water's edge. Those guys don't be give one darn about humans. If they want it, they'll get it.

Throw a cheap rummage bin topwater and hold on!

59 minutes ago, UPSmallie said:

Throw a cheap rummage bin topwater and hold on!

How about some heavy line so you can enjoy the fight for a while???  I was thinking savage gear duck or bat

On 6/8/2018 at 11:04 PM, Mbirdsley said:

This is why I live where the outside air hurts my face in the winter time. That’s a whole lotta nope.

x2

 

I would not own a kayak if I had to fish around those things

4 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

x2

 

I would not own a kayak if I had to fish around those things

no way. I wouldn't even think about it 

Never walk straight down a bank towards the water where you can’t see the shoreline. Always at an angle so you can see them and more importantly they can see you and you don’t spook them. That’s when they get stupid fast and aggressive. We’ve eased up on some 12 footers that whipped around and the wake and splash they make is unreal!

be careful!

On 6/8/2018 at 7:47 PM, Eric J said:

Haha... holy crap. I get annoyed at all the Carp In My local.

 

Gotta rethink my priorities...

At least a carp won't jump out of the water to attack you.

21 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

At least a carp won't jump out of the water to attack you.

Welllllllll……….

 

maybe Indiana is not so bad, we don't got any of those bait stealers, and don't want any! can't imagine wading the creek fishing, thinking I might be the bait no thanks!

I know guys that freak out if a water snake swims to close to the boat.  I wonder what they would do if a gator swam by.