Ocean Swimming

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
here is a 10 footer spotted in hempstead county a this last spring just after the last freeze.
Mike
That is a big ol gater.
 

michaeltx

Moderator
Originally Posted by lovethesea
CRIKEY!!!
Why are they so prevelant now??? I am thinking they need to re-visit the "protected species" thing. Look where its getting Atlanta and their water problem.
Oh, and I can't stand lakes. Yuck. Especially the heavily boated kind.
They are pretty to look at, but thats it. Missouri has many heavily populated lakes and none are attractive to me.
That brain destroying ameboa would scare me to death. i am still trying to figure out what it is and where it came from.
they actually are going to go onto the big game hunt for arkansas along with bear and elk for this next years hunt. they were under a repopulate plan and its worked.
mike
 

michaeltx

Moderator
Originally Posted by stdreb27
That is a big ol gater.

yep and whats bad until a couple of years ago you would not be able to find ANYONE that has seen a gator in the wild no people see them everywhere.
Mike
 

bessycerka

Member
Ya know they say sharks are always moving in the water, well while diving in the Keys for some specimens, i turned around and 15 feet behind me was about a 12 footer just hovering still, watching me and the other diver. The boat was about 200 feet away and we carefully swam back, little by little, not splashing, it seemed to take forever. It took me a while to get back in the ocean after that.
 

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
yep and whats bad until a couple of years ago you would not be able to find ANYONE that has seen a gator in the wild no people see them everywhere.
Mike
too many people dropping their pets down the toilet!!
 

michaeltx

Moderator
Originally Posted by renogaw
too many people dropping their pets down the toilet!!
LOL probably so i think they imported them from florida LOL
 

michaeltx

Moderator
I wouldnt doubt that one cause of all the nature films of them taking down zebra and caraboos and all. They have amazing strenght!!!
Mike
 

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Here's an old picture authenticated.

When we were playing down at a state park near houston, I watched a gator swim underwater float up next do this goose without the goose even noticing, then from the side taking him in one big bite. It was spectacular.
 
thats funny about swimming with copepods, becuase i was scraping the bottom of my boat, i wore a long sleeve shirt becuase for some reason the barnicales burn your skin. when i got out of the water i had no less then a million copepods on my shirt. i ran to the water hose and sprayed them off.. i felt so gross. but on a good note, scraping the barnicales made the greenbacks come to the boat so catching bait was easy.
p.s
Did any one see the news footage on boca grande pass when people were getting the tarpons to the boats, the hammerhead sharks were eating the tarpons.. pretty crazy..
 

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by goober_hunter
p.s
Did any one see the news footage on boca grande pass when people were getting the tarpons to the boats, the hammerhead sharks were eating the tarpons.. pretty crazy..
I'm sad to say I've caught two tarpon heads in my life. Both taken by bulls in Captiva Pass and on the outside in about 20' of water. Check youtube there are a few tarpon eaten by shark videos.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Copepods! LOL When I was living in Key West, I used to frequent a popular public beach there that has a little man-made out-cropping of rocks just off shore. Naturally all of the beach-goers love to swim around the rocks.....and so do all the marine animals. I used to snorkel around the rocks with my mask, fins, etc. Guess who lived there? A huge (5 footer) barracuda! I remember seeing him just below the flaying legs of swimmers on more than one occasion. Little did anyone realize.

Sharks, now there's a few stories there too.
 

skipperdz

Active Member
Originally Posted by GrouperGenius
I'm just the opposite I guess. I REFUSE to swim in a freshwater pond/lake. Especially down here with Gators and amoebas and stuff.

oh come on now...the gators only mess with you when you poke sticks at them or swim with hot dogs!
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by MichaelTX
I wouldnt doubt that one cause of all the nature films of them taking down zebra and caraboos and all. They have amazing strenght!!!
Mike
Well, actually, those films are of Crocodiles, which normally get a heck of a lot bigger than our native alligators.
Although we do have sw crocs in Florida, but even those don't get to be the size of the Nile Croc.
 

kjr_trig

Active Member
I had been working at a golf course at an ocean front resort just outside of Charleston SC for about 1 month when some poor guy got attacked in "waist high" water. 240 stitches later they were able to assertain from the decription and the bite diameter that it was a 7 or 8 foot Tiger Shark....I try to tell myself it was a one in million thing, but the image of that guys butchered leg is ingrained in my brain, and always will be. I did go to about waist high this Summer in Maui (six years have passed), but I was on the lookout.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Ya. After I've been diving I'm definitely more comfortable underwater, as opposed to swimming around on the surface. Guess it's the whole "fear of the unknown" thing.
 

stdreb27

Active Member
The only time I was scared swimming in the gulf was one day a school of fish starting hitting the top. But these weren't just 3 inch mullet, they were larger mackerel, and they were being pushed up by something. It made me wonder whatever was eating these fish were some big fish.
 

kynekke

Member
My husband was in the US Navy for 4 years and during one of his deployments they stopped the boat (destroyer class) out in the BOONIES and let them all jump overboard! I seriously almost had a heart attack lol I do admit I've never actually seen the ocean other than from an airplane but it scares me to death all the "stuff" in it! 1% of the ocean is explored... dang... there could be an entire civilization down there waiting to nab your hiney while you're swimming heh
 
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