Yosser

Saturday was just perfect.

Air temp was 87 deg, water temp was 55 deg, wind was 25-35 mph, sunny blue skies......Yosser windsurfing with the wind blowing in my hair (well not quite as I shave my head)......wind blowing across my slaphead.

5 hours later, totally knackered, arms are dropping off. My wife has been trying to call me...

"theres a bloody girt aligator in the lake" she cries....
"Oh bugger off, stop trying to wind me up"...

Little did I know?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7149328/

NC Penguin

Good story. I take it you didn't have alligator steaks for dinner at the weekend then?



NC Penguin

Yosser

I'll get down there tonight with my fishing rod, see if I can catch the bugger

Personally not worried about alligators in the lake, but water mochisan (sp?)
snakes, can be a bit painfull if you get bitten by one. The snakes also hang out around the rocks and tree stumps, so launching off is usually done in double quick time

Ray

8ft ... Thats just a plaything..... and I think you mean Water Moccasin also known as the Cottonmouth ..good to hunt

NC Penguin

Are you gonna tell us one of your tales when you were a young man and wrestled alligators?

Alligators= good rifle targets?




NC Penguin

Ray

Oops he tangles last weekend and lost
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/3/15/74610.html

Ash UK/US

Probably was watching you thinking 'Mmmm fresh water Yosser for din-dins tonight'

Ash

ImHere

Actually 8 foot is a diddly one. The bastards down here regularly grow to over 15 foot and are often seen lounging around on river banks and lakesides. Something like 200 dogs per year are eaten by them round here. Mind you at least you normally see the big'ns before you step on them. The Water Moccasins and the Eastern Diamond Backs are far more dangerous.

Sarah

You could have ended up like this guy....

Alligator Attack: Man Found Dead After Attack by Florida Alligator That's Later Captured and Killed

LAKELAND, Fla. Mar 15, 2005 — A man found dead in a pond was the victim of a nearly nine-foot alligator that was captured and killed, the medical examiner's office said Tuesday.

Officials did not know what Don Owen, 56, a truck driver from Bartow, was doing at the pond about a dozen miles from his home. He had been missing since Wednesday when he was seen at a convenience store.

On Saturday his remains were found by several men fishing in Six Pound Pond. An autopsy determined he had been killed by the eight-foot, nine-inch alligator, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

Trappers caught the alligator Monday. Owen's forearm was found in its stomach.

Residents said they had fed the alligator, which is illegal and dangerous, said Gary Morse, spokesman for the wildlife commission.

Alligators normally flee from humans unless threatened or cornered, but alligators that have been fed by humans begin to look at them as a food source, he noted.

Since 1948, 330 alligator attacks have been documented by the commission. Sixteen have been fatal, including Owen's.