JULY 29, 2020

5,000 Burmese Pythons Removed from Everglades

 

https://www.thefishingwire.com/releases/5bb58537-c44d-4763-ac96-51c4d0f6a8b0?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=August+Newsletter+-+Small+Water+Sportsman&utm_campaign=August+Small+Water+Sportsman+Newsletter

10 minutes ago, greentrout said:

 

 

 

   I think he's gonna need more than a 7/0 hook for that!    ?     jj

Good! 

That python would make one heck of an arrow for James Earl Jones’ character in the Conan movie. 

There are actually more big snakes in Florida than most people know of.   Here in Central Florida, we don't have pythons (yet).  It gets colder here than in South Florida, so maybe they will stay down there?   What we do have are pet snakes that escape or are released intentionally.  Someone buys a boa at a pet store as a pet.  What are you going to do with that snake when it's ten feet long?   A few years ago, two idiots in Orlando left a baby alone with a large pet snake and the baby was killed.  About fifteen years ago my wife saw a large snake crawling across the driveway leading to our house.  The snake was longer than the driveway was wide. I showed her some pictures and she identified the snake as a green tree boa.   Thank God we haven't seen it since.

I’m staying in Indiana!

On 8/5/2020 at 6:35 AM, Captain Phil said:

There are actually more big snakes in Florida than most people know of.   Here in Central Florida, we don't have pythons (yet).  It gets colder here than in South Florida, so maybe they will stay down there?   What we do have are pet snakes that escape or are released intentionally.  Someone buys a boa at a pet store as a pet.  What are you going to do with that snake when it's ten feet long?   A few years ago, two idiots in Orlando left a baby alone with a large pet snake and the baby was killed.  About fifteen years ago my wife saw a large snake crawling across the driveway leading to our house.  The snake was longer than the driveway was wide. I showed her some pictures and she identified the snake as a green tree boa.   Thank God we haven't seen it since.

I had read sometime ago that one of the hurricanes pre-Katrina, so it was awhile ago, had demolished one or more snake breeding facilities and that is what caused the snake problem in FL. That, plus the abundance of food has let them thrive. 

I was still living in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew went through in 1992.  It devastated large parts of South Miami and Homestead.  There were a number of zoos and animals attractions that were affected.  My understanding was many of these animals escaped and migrated to the everglades.

 

South Florida is full of exotic species.  My son lives in Weston, a suburb west of Ft. Lauderdale. His neighborhood has many large iguana lizards living in backyards. Some of these lizards can reach 6 feet long.  When a cold snap comes, the low temps stun them and they fall out of trees. They also have poisonous cane toads that can kill a dog if the dog bites them.  You never know what you are going to catch when you fish down there.  It may be a snook, a bass, an oscar, a peacock bass, a jack crevalle or a tarpon. 

 

The people are as diverse as the animals.  One of my clients was a prince from a foreign country that had over 80 brothers and sisters.  It's an interesting place that never fails to surprise.  We moved to a quieter place in 1996.  

Think I'll stay my boring remaining days in east Tennessee and read about all your adventures....six inch worms are big enough.

Did ICE send them back?

Let’s average that out numbers wise. Five thousand caught, let’s say 2,500 were female, that’s ten eggs per female that’s 25,000 they won’t have to kill. I hate snakes.

If you don't like snakes, alligators or creatures that go bump in the night, you should stay out of the Everglades.  I camped, hunted and fished the Everglades in my youth to well into my fifties.  I never saw anything I couldn't explain.  I never saw a Big Foot, aliens or anything that scared me.    

 

I fished alone in the summer at night 20 miles out from the ramp.  Fishing alone was stupid.  I saw alligators bigger than my boat.  I saw huge snakes and baby raccoons too.  The Everglades is a wonderful place.  The problem with humans is they build houses where they shouldn't.  A hundred and fifty years ago, all of South Florida from Lake Okeechobee to the Keys was a swamp.  They drained the swamp to develop the land. Many of the homes are less than a mile from the Everglades levy.  They ran out of buildable lots years ago.  The animals were there for thousands of years before man arrived, so it's no surprise what you may find in your yard.