On the Upper Hillsborough River at least. I had a love-sick gator bellowing at my little green guide canoe as I was passing the bend he was sunning himself on. I guess he decided to slide off the bank and sing his love song. We could here him still calling after we were at least two bends further downstream.
On the return leg of the tour he didn’t bother waiting for the little green canoe to arrive, he got in the river and swam toward me as soon as he saw it. I waited until he got within 25 feet before I slapped the water with my paddle. He slowed but didn’t stop until I yelled at him in a deep voice that I really wasn’t what he was wanting while pointing my paddle at him. He stopped, turned right as he went under and resurfaced close to the bank near his hang out. I wasn’t concerned but I don’t want any 14 foot gator mistaking my 9 ft. green canoe for a love interest.
I guess it’s time to put away the guide canoe and paddle the large aluminum barges for about a month.
HA!
Good pic…
Great pic, but since it’s your idea…
I’ll let you install it!
Mating Seaon Is Spring
It could be a female gator protecting young.
I used to paddle the Upper Hillsborough on a regular basis. They have some good sized gators there, but if you really want to see some monsters, check out Lake Hancock in Polk County
male gators
When male gators are interested, they will approach the object of their interest, come to the surface and start vibrating. The water above their back starts vibrating in a way which is reminescent of a heavy rain.
Most are afraid of an object the size of a canoe, but a 9 foot hull might be investigated by a really large gator.
Pagayeur,
un amie des cocodries
April - June
Is mating season.
not a fan of gators
I am pretty new to kayaking and bought my boat a few months ago with the intention of bass fishing on one of my newly adopted states bass fishing lakes.
I have to say I was a bit scared about the gators but everything I read pretty much told me that they are instinctively scared of people I would would probably never run into a problem with them.
Well while fishing on a remote lake outside of Daytona I had one stalk me. The lake was blackwater and you couldnt even see a millimeter deep. I just so happened to turn around and all i see is this big gator head swimmimng right towards me from behind. He was about 4 feet away (yes that close!) and my panic startled him.
Now what else I have read about gators is if you hear them crashing through the water its them being scared and rushing away from potential danger, but when they are on the attack, they very slyly stalk their prey. I am pretty much convinced if i didnt turn around I would have been lunch.
I dont think this was a case of mom protecting the new brood, as i was in the middle of the lake and out there long enough after put in that I was too far away and long gone from the shoreline where i would expect a nest.
Well I havent entered freshwater again, and am limiting myself to the bay (intercoastal). I wish i could shake my fear, but I just cant. It was clearly the most scared I had ever been.
Gators can be curious. Its doubtful
one would intentionally stalk something as big or bigger than it. It may have wanted to check out whether there was another gator. I've had them closer, even hit them with my kayak, no problem.
A lake near my home has much of it covered in hydrilla in the summer. Sometimes, especially when its foggy early on a summer morning, they gather on the hydrilla mats. Its fun watching them cavort and have gator fun. Many of them are in the 10-12 range, placed there by the Houston zoo when they got overcrowded. I've never had one bother me, though both gators and I have surprised one another. I do stay away from the shoreline in mating, nesting, and egg hatching season(s).
Gators like brackish water too
It wasn’t stalking you.
it was either after your bait or after the smaller injured fish that it was hoping you would discard in the water.
Where ever there is a popular fishing spot you will find a gator or two waiting for a hand out opportunity.
Cheers,
JackL
Maybe LSU beating Florida will take
some of the testosterone out of those Gators.
Actually, we have two mating seasons…
if the water stays warm long enough into the fall. Very few females actually get that large. Any that do are beyond breeding age. And with over 45 years of Florida wilderness experience I think I already know the difference between a curious female and lustful male.
There's some monsters as well in the creeks and swamps feeding into the Hillsborough.
Yes, it was a male.
I mentioned the bellowing. (re: male gators)
Again, in central and south Florida
we can have two mating seasons if the water and air temps stay warm long enough. (re: April-June)
not sure…
it was either after your bait or after the smaller injured fish that it was hoping you would discard in the water.
Where ever there is a popular fishing spot you will find a gator or two waiting for a hand out opportunity.
I have a few comments about this.
People do get attacked by gators in florida, i think close to twenty per year, including adults.
The lure I was working no doubt got his attention as I was working a top water popper lure, however I was casting out in front of me at 11 o’clock, whereas the gator was coming towards me at 7 o’clock. So he obviously wasn’t swimming towards the bait, but towards me.
If he is waiting for a handout, I honestly don’t feel like watching a gators mouth come up and steal a bass out of my hand.
I have never seen another fisherman at this lake, its a WMA, so its mostly hunters.
Lastly, gators attack people after they have been fed by them. gators are not smart at all, all they know is human=food. so it waiting for a bass coming in on my line is rather doubtful, and instead all he knew was human=food.
hull = handout
In my neck of the woods there are plenty of gators. Mostly when people in hulls stop they want to see the gators up close so toss food into the water. fishermen toss half a sandwich or boaters toss a twinkie, etc. The worst offenders are the swamp tour boats. They bring raw chicken parts to attract the biggest gators and give the tourists a thrill. So when you stop here comes classically conditioned Mr. gator to get his handout. This is dangerous as gators loose their fear of humans and alos are expecting food from a stopped hull.
Stopped hull=food is the more likely case.
Pagayeur