When a rattlesnake glided across the lake Sunday to visit a Wyoming fisherman, the fisherman wasn’t flattered. Posted on 07/25/2022 5:08:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
When a rattlesnake glided across the lake Sunday to visit a Wyoming fisherman, the fisherman wasn’t flattered.
Patrick Edwards, avid fisherman and voice of Radcast Outdoors, recorded a video Sunday evening of a rattlesnake slithering toward him across the surface of Boysen Reservoir. He’d been fishing for Walleye with two of his four children – an 8-year-old and 12-year-old – and with his father and his wife’s grandfather.
“This is not what you want to see when you go fishing,” said Edwards in the video. “That is a big’n… and he’s wanting to come hang out while I am fishing. Not very cool.”
Edwards posted the video to one of his Facebook pages and was surprised when it was linked by photography profile Wyoming Through the Lens – and went viral.
VIDEO AT LINK...............
About half the people responding to the post were shocked that rattlesnakes would swim across the lake, said Edwards. But he’s been seeing it all his life.
“They actually cross Boysen all the time. I’ve seen it probably 20 times at least on Boysen, I’ve seen it on the Seminoe Reservoir down by Sinclair, the Glendo Reservoir… Flaming Gorge,” he said. “They’re not afraid to get in the water.”
About 20 years ago, a rattler tried slithering into the boat while Edwards and his dad fished.
Edwards said the rattlers often will cross the lake when the water is warmest in the early evening, but even then they need a moment to recover their body heat when they hit the bank.
When Edwards’ video reached the sand 10 yards away from him, he thought the snake would relax for a few minutes. But the snake recovered quickly.
“He sat there for a minute and he started to slither toward me,” said Edwards, recounting what happened after he stopped recording. “I thought ‘Oh crap – I don’t want you over here.’”
Edwards threw a few rocks toward the snake and it meandered the other direction.
Second Rattler
But that was only the first rattler of the evening.
The family discovered a second snake by accident while ambling toward their truck in the half-dark of evening, about 9:30.
Edwards came within five feet of the rattlesnake, and it let him know.
“He started rattling really loud.”
The family avoided the snake as they got into their truck and left. That incident concerned Edwards because unlike the earlier snake encounter, it was a complete surprise.
“I’ve always been terrified of snakes, so that was not helpful.”
‘The Ones You Can’t See’
Edwards said his children handled the shock fine, since they’d seen other rattlesnakes on the family farm earlier this year.
“It’s the ones you can’t see that you’ve got to worry about,” he said, adding that many people have approached him since he made the viral post, and have told him they paddleboard and play in the lake water.
Edwards tells those people to pay close attention to what’s in the water, watch for graceful serpentine movement. And paddle away.
“I always worry about people who are waterskiing,” Edwards said. “You can run over a rattlesnake.”
Non-venomous bull snakes and many other breeds also swim in lakes, but the rattlesnake has a flatter, broader head and can be identified by its rattles as well.
I went fishing this morning, but after a short time I ran out of worms. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth. "Frogs are good bass bait" I thought to myself.
Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind the head, took the frog, and put it in my bait bucket.
Just then, I realized I had a problem, how was I going to release the snake without getting bit? So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. The snake's eyes rolled back and he went limp. I released him into the lake without incident and carried on fishing using the frog. A little later, I felt a nudge at my foot. There was that same snake with two more frogs in his mouth.
Life is good Wishing you Blue Skies and Tight Lines
True story!
I have a book or frontier fables and myths of the 1800’s and a version of that story is in there!................
Funny!
Funny!
Haha!
One of my snake encounters....
Gatun Lake, Panama fishing for peacock bass with two Army buddies, 1990’s.
Just about too drunk to fish and a large fer-de-lance slithers over the transom of our john boat.
Killed it with the emergency oar after several minutes of expletives and hilarity.
We still laugh about it.
Somewhere on a NC fishing website is a photo of rattler in the surf on the NC coast.
Yeah, fer-de-lances are hilarious!...................
Thanks for the morning laugh!
The snakes are mostly peaceful.
With Jack Daniels they are downright friendly!.....................
Bass Pro fisherman Bill Dance has some great blooper reels from his show. A number of them involve unexpected encounters with snakes.
I’ve seen it!
Like the one where he closes the tailgate on the pickup truck and destroys about a thousand dollars worth of rods..................
My dad was fishing with his two brothers in law.
He was in the middle of the boat and a BIL was in the bow and the stern.
A rattlesnake swam up, approaching the boat. Having a presence of mind, my dad grabbed a paddle and in a sweeping blow. struck the rattlesnake with a ferocious blow with the paddle edge.
On raising the paddle for a second blow, the snake slid down the paddle and into the boat. My uncle in the front somehow fell into the water. My uncle in the stern calmly grabbed the pistol and began shooting holes in the bottom of the boat.
I have heard that tale seemingly thousands of times at family gatherings. I don’t know what happened to the rattlesnake
Summer lake water in Wyoming is always cool to chilly.
My first instinct - hard to believe that reptiles can survive for more than a few minutes without going into hypothermia.
I checked Google for average rattlesnake body temp...
Ideal comfort - 86-89 F.
Average temp in the wild - 70-74 F.
And, no, I do not know how you take the body temp of a wild rattlesnake!
Very carefully..........................
With Jack Daniels they are downright friendly!.....................
—
Just don’t run out!
And, no, I do not know how you take the body temp of a wild rattlesnake!
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Thermometer on a stick?
Ditto :-)
Even reptiles like a bit of strong drink now and then. When will the first rattlesnakes be seen patronizing a whiskey bar?
;-)
Yes, rattlesnakes can swim in salt water. So can alligators.
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