Big snake....moccasin or something!!!! I was 3 steps away from making a trip to the ER.....keep in mind I wear a size 16 shoe so you can tell how big it was in the 2nd pic

I dont think that is a moccasin. Not fat enough from my experience.

But I will let the snake experts ramble on.

Would have scared the shazzle out of me.

its a DEAD snake now!

about as dead as it can get haha

Yea, that is/was a rat (chicken) snake. It was harmless, and actually benificial due to it eating rats and mice.

just a water snake

I was hoping I wasn't the only one who saw it that way.

+1

chicken snake but at least its dead...harmless huh it will make you mess yourself..

Also a little long for a moccasin. usually their short and fat. But none the less it still woulda hurt like S#%@ if it would have got ya.

One of the things that freaks me out about fishing in San Diego and Texas. Rattlesnakes, etc. snakes all over the place. Fortunately I haven't seen one in person yet and I pray I don't have to. Although when I was fishing in Cisco a few months ago I almost had a panic attack- I was getting my crankbait off a stump (stuck) and a few yards away I see this 5 foot long snake whizzing through the water. What did I do? Left the crankbait and booked LOL. I hate snakes. Not sure if it was a water moccasin or a 'harmless' water snake, didn't stay long enough to find out!

Doesn't look like a Moccasin but it does look like a good snake now......Dead!

Congratulations for killing a harmless snake.

Well Done!!!

Rat snake. 3 steps from a harmless animal. Was it coming straight for you??
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/149674/its-coming-right-for-us

LOL...Ned and Jimbo vs. the duck billed paltypus

platypus...typing accuracy is a little off today

Ya thats a rat snake. If it looks deadly shoot it.

today i walked up on one of those little cranes that look like a penguin and there was an enormous moccasin on right behind the bird luckly when i walked up the bird took off!! the snake was as fat as a 24 oz beer can

It looks like a rattlemocasinwatercobra

Does obamacare cover non venemous snake bite?

Is that big skin still hangin' in the shop at the state park
at Falcon? Was a monster. Muy ciudado a la Presa Falcon'...

I walked up on a den of these bad mamajamas today! I snapped a pic of this one with my phone then walked a couple a feet a saw a bunch just relaxing under a rock!

I am snake proof, I will never die from a snakebite, because I will be dead from a heart attack before it hits me.
Good Snakes are dead snakes!

All snakes are safe from me. I've never seen a snake and said to myself "I gotta kill that thing.". I pretty much run and never go back. I would NEVER be close enough to kill one.

I shoot first then ask questions later.....I wasn't gonna take a chance that was a poisonous snake!!! Sorry for all u snake lovers but the way I see it is a good snake is a dead snake

bang bang bang bang bang bang,...reload. repeat.

+1

I stepped on one a few weeks ago shore fishing. It must have been very cold/lethargic and didn't move when I stepped on it. Poked it with my rod, yep, alive!

The problem with whether "it looks deadly or not" is that looks is relative. It doesn't look deadly to an outdoorsman, but it does to some people outdoors. This species doesn't look deadly to my son, even when he was younger.

+1

If I were to say the only good bass is a dead bass on this forum people would be pissed, and rightfully so. They would correctly say that bass do not hurt anybody. Well, that snake is about as harmless as a bass. Yes, it could bite you and it might hurt. Here are some other things that could bite you and might hurt. Your dog. Your kid. Your cat. An ostrich. A wombat. I guess it's a good thing not everybody chooses some random animal to destroy for no reason.

King Snake
Good snake eats lots of rats and will kill and eat rattle snakes. Very agressive though.

Yes but if some bass were poisonous and some werent....and if they could somehow attack you...I think they would be more likely to be killed for the fact that some people won't take the time to check and see if it's dangerous or not because by then it's usually too late. IMO

Everyones gonna have their own opinion on whether to kill them or not. Me personally, I just let them go most of the time weather I know its poisonious or not. But I don't get upset if someone else kills one. I look at that person in the same sense how I look at spiders. the only good spider is a dead one.

Some of you folks need to get in the country more often. Why would you be so frightened of something......with no frkn legs?
Real snakes have ........legs...and the big den is in D.C.
These Texas snakes are just tryin' to make a livin'..like us..

well since there is no shortage of rats and more and more constrictor species being illegally let go im sure we wont have a shortage of snakes either so if you have to kil it kill it thats how it goes sometimes..

Texas Rat Snake. Correction...Dead Texas Rat Snake.

+1

Bring that size 16 over........there was a frog on my patio eyeballing me earlier. I wouldn't want that thing getting out of hand. Haha

I found a rattler in the hallway where I worked a few years back (at night). I put it in a box and took it out back. I probably killed it later. I don't recall.

Fishing a point off Tiger Island on Falcon Tuesday,saw a snake swimming our way didn't think much about it at first. Then the boy asked,Dad, rattlesnakes swim? I said ya seen one on Ivie on time. He said, well you can say you've seen one on Falcon now too!He was within rods length from us and the boy was trying to piss him off with his brush hog when I hit high bypass on the tm and hauled butt the opposite way! He followed us 30 or 40 feet before he gave up on his free boat,cause if he got in, he could have it.... I'd be walkin on water! I'm not scared of snakes...I just don't like them!

gosh damn son just move over five feet and let it be. I bank fish all the time and see snakes bigger than that all the time just move out of its way and it will go away granted you killed this one but next time you see one and try to kill it for no good reason dont be surprised when it sneaks up on you and bits you on the...

My partner and I saw a big western diamondback sunning itself on a flat boulder at Lake Sutherland in eastern San Diego County one day. We decided we were going the other direction...

Good news is, looks like a texas rat snake, non venomous....bad news, they are the most aggressive snake found in southern regions.

I used to have a pier and beam house on Canyon Lake, I noticed on day the access door was open to the underside of house. I crawled through the access point in the latice under the deck. I notice there was some fecies on the threshold of the door. I thought to myself , great....now I have a raccon or something in there. I reluctantly stuck my head in and looked around to see any sight of such a varmit. With just my head sticking in i looked to the right...nothing. Turned to the left and on the brickledge of the outter wall 2 feet from my head was a 6 ft texas rat snake.

Latice repair = $25.00

Didn't bother with the access point. =)

ooooooo...spoooookyyy. icky ol snakes.

its ant food now. circile of life. good shot by the way.

Folks, if you are going to be outdoors and in the environment where you could come into contact with animals you need to educate yourself.

1. You do not need to know all snake IDs, there are only 4 types of venomous snake in Texas, all are very distinct. Rattlesnakes have rattles, Coral snakes are red/yellow/black striped (As are some king/milk snakes, just remember "red touch yellow kill a fellow"), copperheads are quite distinctively coppery tan and brown colored with a distinct diamond pattern, and water moccasins are very much like dark brown or black variants of copperheads

2. This is a Texas Rat Snake, completely harmless and fully beneficial to have around homes and farms. let one live in your attic and you will never have rat/squirrel issues.

3. Some species of snakes are endangered and if you kill them you can be fined or even jailed, yes, it's true. Pay very close attention to the last entry.

Scarlet Snake Threatened

Black-striped Snake Threatened

Texas Indigo Snake Threatened

Speckled Racer Drymobius margaritiferus Threatened

Northern Cat-eyed Snake Threatened

Brazos Water Snake Threatened

Concho Water Snake Threatened - Proposed for Delisting

Smooth Green Snake Threatened

Louisiana Pine Snake Threatened Federal Candidate for Listing

Trans-Pecos Black-headed Snake Threatened

Chihuahuan Desert Lyre Snake Threatened

Timber (Canebrake) Rattlesnake Threatened

So as you can see, killing every snake you come across because you don't know any better is a bad idea. Ignorance of the law is no defense, we have all heard it said and that is the truth. If you are caught killing one of these animals you will suffer legal consequences, that is why if you are going to be outdoors you have to educate yourselves, just like carrying a concealed weapon, YOU are responsible for your actions.

I've never received puncture wounds from a bass while I was swimming in the lake.



vs



and I would never try to lip a snake

Not a moccasin, not poisonous. Most snakes we come across are harmless and usually feed on vermin we want to be rid of anyway. King snakes are great to have around just to get rid of moccasins and rattlesnakes. Just because a snake strikes or tries to doesn't mean it's poisonous. Take some time and learn to identify the poisonous ones and you'll realize how few there are compared to the rest.

It's not the snakes fault if it bites you. It can't tell the difference between a deadly species of redneck and a harmless species. Alot of snakes think that the deadly species of redneck will be shorter and stubbier, with a melon-shaped head, but that's not always the case, so they bite first and ask questions later. The only good redneck is a bit redneck. I know a snake that lives on a deer lease that is infested with deadly rednecks. They even hide up in the trees. Gotta be careful out there snakies. Lmao.

LMFAO!!!! Too Funny!! It's amazing how many people dont know the difference.....not sure how anyone can be afraid of a non poisonous snake....The teeth/bristles in a Bass's mouth are probably bigger than a snakes lol

Are rat snakes water snakes? I saw one just like that on a golf course I fish and it went into the water. I also saw a moccasin eating a bass the next day!!

saw the last 12" of one going to lunch.. it was crossing the road... it was lucky! I didnt have a chance to run over it LOL!

I love playing with them rat snakes. They do get highly pissed easily. They spit at ya and chase ya.

even better to put a big ol ratsnake in someones livewell

I don't like any snake!!!! I'm not gonna take a chance that it's non poisonous!! Im not gonna get close enough to one to tell if it is or isn't lol

A friend and I was fishing Lake Winnsboro about 10 years ago, and he had turned to fish some stumps on the other side of the boat. I looked and up saw a Banded Water Snake swimming by, I eased my wacky worm up and casted over his back and snagged him on the way by. I just reeled up calmly and set the rod down by him and picked up another rod and started to make a cast. He asked what the commotion in the bottom of the boat was. Then he saw it, screamed like a girl, and climbed up on the cowling of my motor and threatened me with my life a few times if I came any closer. I finally let the snake go, but I laughed for a week about it. I still gets mad at me about that until this day

FYI there were a couple of copperheads in little caney laying in the railroad trussell boards. If you know where that is than be carefull. If you don't I wouldnt go lookin!1

I've been active in the outdoors all my life. Used to keep snakes as pets as a kid. Actually, I used to keep any live critter as a pet, or try to come to think of it.

Anyway, I had a bad encounter with a Cottonmouth one day (11 yrs old) where I was stuck knee deep in mud right next to a puddle with a big, thick CM in it. When I saw the snake, I started screaming bloody murder and freaked it out. The snake instantly moved closer, struck and missed, recoiled and never got fully extended on the second pass. My Dad killed it with a 410 from about 20 yards (close as he could get). I just knew I was about to get peppered or bitten and I experienced that rare, super-human adrenaline rush that propelled me out of the quagmire like I had rockets in my feet. Those were some brand new Chuck Taylors I left in those holes, too!

I was terrified of snakes for a long time after that. Today, they don't bother me as long as I can see and identify them. It's the big rattlers under a guyacan bush in S. Tx staring at a quail I just shot as I go to reach under the bush and pick up my bird that freak me out. Any venomous snake, really. I've been bitten once in my 17" snake boot by a rattler, and I have come very close several other times. They just happen to be the prevalent species in a bunch of places I visit regularly. I kill them all. Every other venomous snake in Texas too except a Timbler Rattler.

If that's wrong I'm sorry, but there are plenty of beneficial snakes in Texas that will do the work of the occasional venomous snake that I dispatch.

On a side note, I have caught by hand Indigo snakes on my South Texas deer leases that exceed 7 feet and are as big around as my forearm. They're very heavy and the numero dos predator of the rattlesnake, next to a feral hog. Every rancher I know down there protects their Indigos like their children. Now THAT'S a GOOD snake!

The king and milk snakes are as beneficial as the indigos in other parts of Texas. Prairie, speckled, and desert kings, as well as louisiana milks will all eat a coral, copperhead, or small moccasin for lunch if they run across 'em.

Most of the true nerodia species (Watersnakes) primary means of defense is to look like a moccasin and act agressively like a ticked off moccasin even though they are harmless. With most fisherman that is a death sentence for them.

I am not passing judgment on anyone I am only saying as outdoors men aren't we obligated to know the animals we may encounter so we can make intelligent rational decisions what to do when we encounter them? I can understand killing or relocating a venomous snake from your yard, especially if you have kids or pets, but irrationally killing every snake because you fear them is a childish response and definitely doesn't reflect a stewardship of the environment we are supposed to espouse.

I fear spiders with every fiber of my being (Long story about too many landing on my face running the woods in East Texas and wolf spiders climbing on my head while swimming in the Trinity) but I let every one I cross paths with live because I know they are just another species doing what they do to live 99.9% of the time and are not "out to get me". I also know which ones to avoid like the plague and to get out of my house should I spot them.

I agree with every inch of this post. Even the irrational fear of spiders.

Jeeez....why would a completely harmless animal send you to the ER?

After reading the whole thread, it's clear that there's no shortage of "outdoorsmen" who know little about the outdoors outside of the tiny spheres that cure their boredom, and, to boot, are heavily inclined to act like little girls at the drop of a hat. But, of course, senseless panic is real big these days.

Bummer.

heart attack!

Best kind of snake!!

Last night on Fork I looked to the back deck of my boat and there was a foot long baby copperhead just sitting there. Had it not of been a copperhead I probably would of just tried to flip it out of the boat but instead I introduced him to my transom saver aka all purpose metal wacking rod. Freaked me out, was looking around for his little buddies all night.

This one was out today

I agree... here is how I roll...

That's a diamondback water snake. Harmless, one of the "nerodia" species. They will act aggressively and also musk ([censored]) heavily if you pick them up. They will also try to steal your stringer of fish..... dad almost swamped us all when one has swallowed half our stringer on a farm pond one day many years ago. Dad hated snakes with a passion.... and hated my fascination with 'em.

saw this pic in your post earlier...this my friend is a bad boy!!!!

I wanted to make sure people on this thread noticed the picture of the snake in the crappie forum.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5985988/Crappies_best_friend#Post5985988

Now this is a snake, I don't hink you want to mess with.
I will go out looking for snakes, and have only seen a snake like this twice, and decided I would be better off leaving it along (over 80% of the people bitten by a toxic snake, were playing the snake when it happened).

Look at the very thin tail, and fat body up to the head.

I have no fear of snakes, and I mess with a lot of snakes (been bitten by pygmy rattlesnake (3 times...I'm a slow learner)), and the snake pictures will certainly look odd to you from a distance. You don't need to look for fangs, it's eyes, or it's cotton mouth to tell that you want to fish in another location :)).

HILARIOUS. i never realized how many big SISSY bass fisherman there are til today. Now i know what to keep in my boat when people try to fish too close whip out a harmless ratsnake and they will hit the road. Really man pull your skirt up your girly parts are showing. as somebody else mentioned the people who get bit by snakes are usually messing with em not by accidentally walking by. I grew up on a pond and even most poisonous snakes will try to run before they engage you. I sat on a baby water moccasin as a kid by a stream, got up caught it and walked around with it showing/scaring my sissy stepdad with it. NOW that being said if you agitate a moc or copperheads and actually make em mad them dudes will chase you down. They have nasty attitudes when messed with. Just WOW man i bet some you boys freak out when a gator swims up beside the boat too think he is gonna crawl in there with ya.

Call me what you want....but I'm either hightailing it outta there or finding a way to kill whenever I come upon those slimy creatures. HATE 'EM ALL AND PROUD OF IT!

They are not slimy.

2 movements: a bowel movement and me moving. No freaking way I am getting close enough to any of those guys to kill them. But, it is the reason I carry a gun in my boat. One day I had a cotton mouth try to get in the boat with me. Never again. Shoot first, empty the gun, reload, empty the gun, reload, don't holster the gun but then I find out what kind of snake it is. Maybe. Usually I just leave.

+1

Amen

+1

PETA?