We were out on the lake yesterday evening fishing for bass with topwaters before dark. The bass fishing was good but while we were out and about, we heard a loud BOOM in the background. We turned to see a big house boat beached on a bank shooting what appeared to be a cannon up into the air. The concussion was as loud as we’ve ever heard although it didn’t bother the bass or our fishing.
Our first thought, however, was this can’t be legal because the concussion was jarring even across a very large bay.
About 10 minutes later I see an animal swimming towards the boat from that side of the bay. At first I thought it might have been a beaver or a muskrat or something that got spooked by the cannon. As it got a little closer I could see that defining “S” pattern of a snake swimming. But I still couldn’t believe it because it was so large.
As it got about 60 yards out I told my partner to get up as he was down tying baits on in the bottom of the boat. I knew we needed to move because the snake was coming right to the boat as he probably viewed it as a place to get out of the water after his long swim. As he got closer we idled around him and got the video camera.
My first thought was it was a big rattle snake because of the distinct diamond pattern. Then I thought he might just be a diamond watersnake which are common in Kentucky. As we idled around closer to him he stopped and coiled up and then we saw it. He popped his rattle up like a periscope behind him.
It was hard to believe how big around the snake was but still how long it was. He really just wanted to get off one noisy bank and on to one that was hopefully less intrusive. That’s the largest snake we’ve seen on the water and unfortunately the most poisonous we’ve seen too. It sure makes you pucker up a little when it gets dark.
If you don’t like snakes, you probably don’t want to watch this video. It will certainly remind you to check your surroundings when out bass fishing in those low light hours.
