Gator Awareness - Fork

Today while fishing across from Hideaway Harbor we came in contact with a +10 foot gator. Being from Southern Louisiana and fishing around gators my entire life, I’ve rarely come across aggressive gators. However, I just wanted to make others aware of its presence. As seen in the pictures, this gator had no issue coming out to greet us and kept it’s back out of the water the entire time. We showed it respect and moved to another cove.

That is awesome. Saw my first gator on Fork a few weeks ago. Maybe 6-7 feet long. Very cool. Prefer them to snakes!!!

Seen the one at Lake Arlington a few times now. They pretty much keep to themselves if you leave them alone. Cool pics

Binoculars and a iPhone.

Does his back being above the water signify anything or is it normal to swim that way?

the choke gators are fun to be around. i dont understand why people freak out about texas gators. they are in almost every lake and are harmless.

I’m not sure if it’s scientifically proven but I’ve always known more aggressive gators to have their entire bodies up. Im no expert but I think it’s a display display of dominance. Often times you will only see the head above water and if you get close they will sink under and resurface in a new location further away. This is especially true with small gators.

I think that could be true. It’s like turtles they jump into the water when you’re close.

Seen dozens on Sheldon just about every tine I go.

FIFY

Go to the back of houssen bay on Toledo bend in the back and shine a light you can see all the gators you want to look at. Big Sam got some nice ones in it to

Big Gator! Awesome site.

Lots of big gators in back of Little Caney. Spoke to a guy that lives on that part of the lake that counted over 20 babies last spring.

How close do you get with your kayak?

May be time to start a cull program

Signifies he ain’t scared! For the most part gators are “shy” around humans. Keep their distance. When I see the Squaw Creek gators they were almost always off in the distance and would swim away or submerge before you could get close to them. The OP’s point is this one had no fear of the humans being close. Doesn’t mean anything....just an observation. I think the American alligator is one of the success stories of my lifetime. In Texas and most southern states they were nearly all gone. As a kid they were almost just urban lore. Now they are all over southern, northern and eastern Texas. As a kid who would have thought I would see gators and bald eagles in North Texas?

I see alligators in the lakes around here all the time. In the spring the males will get up high in the water. I think it is a mating thing. Pretty awsome to hear them bellowing. Lured a big one up within 10 ft of the boat with a frog a couple of days ago. When he tore out it was a very impressive wake. He came up a little further out in the late and I lured him back again. I see big gators all the time that I try to get close enough to get a good picture. Some you can get within 30 yards, most go down way before that. Of course they are hunted here every year in September, so Louisiana gators may be a lot more skittish than the ones in Texas.

Probably had some young ones around. we are at the end of there mate-ing season.

Well then get your azz in the water and then let's just see how harmless they are

Been swimming Texas lakes for over 40 years, but thanks for your concern...

A lot of people swim and sit chest high in the water at Choke when their fishing off the rocks at Calliham. Not me!! I had a 12 +/- footer surface right next to me one day, I could have leaned over and pat him on the head. Instead, my azz puckered up and I quickly went on my way. At a club tournament, my buddy had one that tried to get on board at the stern. Double pucker!!

Fished around gators in MS for long time. They don't really bother me. Except for the one that was eyeballing me from about 3' away....

those 20 baby gators probable ended up as gator food for momma or papa. Alligators eat everything including their own babies. Lots of ducks, coons, deer, turtles, squirrels, otters
and anything else that drinks water from the lake. I'd say nutrients because they used to be everywhere but I hardly see them anymore.

I think that the alligators babies should be caught and moved to other coves at Fork to solve the turtle/hydrilla problem. While we know that hydrilla is in the soil and will grow if left alone, the turtles love to eat immature plants. Proven by the fences put up in remote locations.

I saw one in Little Caney last year that might have been 12' just swimming along on the surface not near any boats or even knowing anyone else was around. So that might be normal behavior for them.

I grew up swimming and water skiing on the Tickfaw River in south Louisiana, never had a problem.

Have a good friend in Tickfaw La. But first time I've seen Tickfaw mentioned online. He'd be proud.

Saw one in the small cove next to Wolfe last Saturday... maybe 2-3 ft long.

Walked up on one at Fork 2 weeks ago while doing a little late night bank fishing. Scared the [censored] out of me. 6'-7' footer. Location was in the cove behind Mustang Resort.

I'm awaiting my first encounter with one...I have yet to see an alligator in the wild. Only behind glass at zoos / aquariums.

It is pretty cool that there are alligators on fisheries across Texas. They are amazing creatures and much more than not seem to keep to themselves which is great. If there was one area in which I might be a bit nervous in swimming through during the nighttime on Lake Fork it without a doubt be in the top 20% of water in the northern areas of Little Caney. It seems that the alligators in Fork really enjoy shallow water coves that are not only protected from heavy winds but that also back up to ponds which are separated from the main lake coves on Lake Fork. I think they also like these areas due to the amount of dense aquatic vegetation that seems to be present year after year which they can use for cover as well as the amount of nutrias in those areas which they can feed upon. I will never forget fishing on Choke Canyon Reservoir the first time many years ago and seeing zoo sized alligators sunning themselves on the bank in groups of over 5 at a time. That is one lake you will never find me swimming in or talking a stroll on the land for any reason whatsoever..no way. It was an incredible sight to witness as I had no idea we have lakes in Texas with such large sized alligators. Perhaps I missed them but I think Choke Canyon Reservoir could use a few more signs at their public boat ramps informing the fisherman that there are alligators the size of their glass bass boats in that fishery.

gators are common in the lakes in south Georgia....typically the only time you see several gators in one spot is during mating season....a few times over the years I've hooked big gators when I was punching/flipping matted grass....you will think you have just hooked a world record bass until you see a trail of bubbles coming to the top as the gator swims off...if you're flipping with braid,get your scissors out and cut the line soon as you can or the gator will take all your line...

Looks like a good place to do some innertube fishing!

Fork needs more gators!
Never seen so many turtles in a lake before......they are EVERYWHERE back in coves

I know of two in Choke that are at least 19 feet. Saw one chowing on a huge doe that came down for a drink of water and ended up being breakfast. That gator grabbed that deer right before we came around the point and it was in the killing stage. That was a sight to see!!

If they are 19' they are US record size class. I mean pushing longest ever in the US.

The current record is a 14.8-foot, 880-pound alligator taken near Lufkin, Texas, in 2008. Owens, who is also a certified scorer for Safari Club International, measured the gator for the official world record application.

Yeah, no one has ever caught or killed an American gator over 15ft. The world record was just under 15ft in Alabama.

But there's a bunch of fishermen in here and you all know how much we exaggerate.

How do you respect to a gator?

I've only seen 2 on Fork that were around 12 ft. in length. One was in Double in Birch. Which I havent seen him in years. And the other is back in Little Caney in the same area this one is in. Seen a bunch of 5 to 7 ft. ones though.

Dont call it a crocodile?

There’s an 18’8” on Clark!


Oh....wait....that’s a skeeter.

19ft. Lol

You might want to change your name to Bongwater

Let me guess TW, you gotta Ranger that runs 85 GPS.

19 footer, lmao. I've spent alot of time on Choke when I lived down there. Sounds like the 19 pounders I was catching in her glory days...

6ft waves too.

Don't use turtle wax to shine them

I was thinking more 12 foot also but it’s hard to tell from 50 feet away. It’s up there with some of the big ones I’ve seen in the swamp.

I guarantee theres a couple at rayburn that will threaten that record. Atleast there was when that big drought was there. I've seen atleast 3 that were pushing the 14' range. Once over by new Orleans we were fishing down a little backwater with tons of gators. We were in a small aluminum and there were so many in such a small area it made me worry. We kind of sped up to go on by and we startled a huge one, I never got a look at it but the wave was big enough i thought we would flip. Scared the living $#!+ out of us

Seen on fork little Caney 8 or 10 baby alligators chirping...never seen the moma but there were big slides on the bank and what appeared to be a mound beside the bank ..most likely she was right under our boat the whole time....it was in a small pond beside the lake that was flooded enough to get our boat in.....this was probably 4 years ago......and a 5 footer on Rayburn burst out of pads to attack my top water popper on Rayburn....

Saw the gator in the article below in the Deer Stand area of Rayburn last summer. Being raised in Deep SE Texas I have seen hundreds of gators in the wild but this was the largest I have ever seen.

https://www.kjas.com/news/local_news/article_28f64690-2b2b-11e9-85d8-4321486b17e3.html

I don't know, maybe 25 feet to get a good picture. I fished for many years in the Everglades and once had a 10 foot crocodile run right over the bow of my kayak as I came around a wind protected point trying to get out of an approaching wind and rain storm. It was sunning on that bank and high stepped onto and over kayak in less than a foot of water, barely broke stride.

I'm still fascinated with them. Hit two with my car over the years driving into Everglades National Park.


Crocodile in one of my favorite snook holes... 15 or so years ago.


Crocodile, 2019.




Only dead one I've seen in nature.. above.

Great pics.

Awe hell no! I would have either had a heart attack or ran across the water all the way to my truck if one of those things came across my bow in a yak

You can estimate their length by measuring their eyes to the tip of their nose this will give u some idea of how long they are. La Ron can chime in he's caught a 12'9" 750 lber.

Lake Raven in Huntsville is loaded with them. Makes for some good entertainment when the fish arent biting

that guy has been there a LONG time. My mentor Bert had a place near Hanks Creek years ago...and he and I watched that very gator in a staredown on the hump on the backside of the Deerstand with a blue heron. The heron was standing on the hump and the gator (about 10ft at the time) was about 3 ft from him. Neither moved a muscle for the whole two hours we fished there. That was about 15-16 years ago. Last fall I saw what I thought was a large log in that area and used my trolling motor to go near it. The gator went under my 21ft bay boat and was 3/4 as big as the boat. That's a huge gator there. Every bit of 12-14ft.

Did I read somewhere Texas parks and Wildlife was releasing gators into Fork some reason? Did ny brain make that up? I'm a but tired

Since we don't have those big lizards up this way... School me, what does showing his back mean???... I get down Florida way and Texas occasionally and would like to know what that means... Dan

I lived in South Florida for 20 years, so very accustomed to gators. When they intend to be stealthy, they may only have their eyes and nostrils above the surface. If they want to bluff you away, or defend a spot, they will hold more air in their lungs to become more buoyant. This raises their body up to the surface where you see a lot more of their body. They're trying to intimidate by showing off their size, just like a bird that may puff up or spread its wings in standing ground.

Pretty rare but I'm not sure I would go as far as "Harmless"
https://www.foxnews.com/us/alligator-encounter-leaves-south-carolina-woman-dead

Well that lady wanted to be killed from what the witnesses have said.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — A woman killed by an alligator at a South Carolina pond told a friend she wanted to get close to the animal and didn’t scream as it attacked her and dragged her into the water, according to a police report.

Cynthia Covert, 58, died in the attack Friday afternoon on Kiawah Island, Charleston County deputies said.


A deputy had to shoot and kill the alligator to get Covert away from the animal, according to the police report released Monday.

The woman Covert was staying with said she didn’t seem herself Friday and walked toward the alligator, which lunged and grabbed her in its mouth when she was about 4 feet away, deputies said.

Covert, of Johns Island, made no sound as the alligator pulled her under, the woman told police.

I've heard this as well, was told it was run in conjunction with their unicorn stockings in the early 80's.








Apparently, it was more successful than the unicorns...……..

https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/04/us/texas-alligator-attack/index.html

This guy was stoopid but an alligator that was desensitized to humans was the culprit.

Black helicopters man.

Yeah, a real record smasher, like 4 foot larger than ever recorded in the US (15') and just a foot shorter than the largest crocodile ever. Gotta call bovine scat on this one.

Grew up in the marshes of SE Tx and SW La and seen some big ones ... 10 foot is very big and 12' is huge !

https://abcnews.go.com/US/alligator-largest-caught-alive-texas-wildlife-refuge/story?id=42776750


https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/young-texas-hunter-bags-800-pound-alligator/

14'3"