As soon as I get in the area, I'm going to rush right over there and catch some nice fish in that shallow water. Maybe I'll catch a few cottonmouths too.
Watch out billhilly, cottonmouths are probably endangered or threatened species in that area.
Rattlesnakes and copperheads are endangered (or threatened, species can't remember) here in Tennessee, so it's illegal to kill them (although this law is loosely enforced). And we have plenty sightings of these critters.
A few years ago I received a news release from the state wildlife agency and it had info about a man who was arrested for poaching bears. Agency officials also found more than 100 poisonous snakes in his freezer.
I was perplexed -- why would anybody keep all those snakes in the freezer. So I called the agency and was told the man was very "religious."
Turns out he was one of those preachers at these snake handling churches we have up here (yes, they are all over east TN and southerneastern KY). He would just thaw his out and shake 'em around in front of his flock of worshipers. A cheater, so to speak ;)This is a true story.