Lakes in certain parts of the country contain more than something you want in your livewell. Alligators. They can be no more obvious than a rock or a log, so be careful. You want to get a bite, not get bit.
Let me share one of my bass fishing experiences with you.
This is bayou country. When I go to the lakes south of Houston, I have to watch for gators. So I’m always keeping an eyeball peeled for ’em. But sometimes …
So last night I look and everything is clear so I walk down to the water and start bass fishing. After a few minutes, while I’m looking around I see this big log. This big log that gets oddly thinner at the end up on the shore and thicker in the water, and has odd bumps on it. Hold on .. that doesn’t look right. I look further up the log to see how far it extends into the water and…
It has 2 big ol’ eyes … lookin’ at me!! And it’s only 10 feet away (just a quick couple of steps for a gator). Ooookay!
I slowly and calmly reel in my line (on the outside – on the inside, I’m in total panic) pick up my gear and move on.
So I go over to this other part of the lake, and now it’s dark so I get up on a pier. I’m sitting in the woods in the dark and I hear something walking down the pier towards me. Not heavy enough to be human footsteps. With what little bit of starlight there is, I can see something about the size of a medium dog coming at me. What do I do now?
Well, I can’t see what it is, but I can tell it’s not a dog. So I get aggressive towards it to see if I can scare