For Floridia People

My sister in law lives near Seminole, I think. We have to visit her, I do not want to. So I said we can go down and I will fish some ponds while you 2 spend time together. Her sister said that there are alligators all over and that it would be crazy for me fish these ponds.

I think she is crazy, do I really have to be that careful?

Near ponds I would be, Spend some time and Google Earth the area, but look for a lake/park. Most of the ponds you see will look good from above, but you will find gates and no fishing signs (at least by Tampa they did) when you get there.

BensalemAngler said:

My sister in law lives near Seminole, I think. We have to visit her, I do not want to. So I said we can go down and I will fish some ponds while you 2 spend time together. Her sister said that there are alligators all over and that it would be crazy for me fish these ponds.

I think she is crazy, do I really have to be that careful?

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Nah.... just don't go too near the water's edge and carry your .357. :wink:

Go for it! Just stay a few feet back form the edge...and don't bring the little ones.

i used to live next to seminal. you can walk rite up to the alligators and they wont bother you. your not going to be the first person they've ever seen. your rite close to the bay too plenty of good fishin around

dont worry about it but if u want tohave a little fun with them take a buzz bait and swim it right by there nose any you can catch them :lol:

Here's some reading on the subject.....

https://www.ecofloridamag.com/askeditor_alligator_attacks.htm

https://agrigator.ifas.ufl.edu/gators/#humans

https://agrigator.ifas.ufl.edu/gators/#encounter

The only time you need to worry about them is when people are feeding them and they loose their fear of humans. I deal with them almost daily at work and fishing. The shipyard where I work is infested with them and they never bother anyone unless someone starts feeding them. We had a little 4 footer get into our office area and you should have seen the 100+ people tripping over themselves to get out :lol: We caught him and turned him loose about 10 miles away. If you are caught feeding them, you are fired no questions asked and it's illegal everywhere. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.

I grew up on the Pearl River and we swam, fished, and camped next to them all my life and never had a problem.

Dalton is right. They will eat a buzzbait or topwater better than the fish sometimes.

Having paddled the Okefenokee swamp a time, I will tell you not to be worried. I think our gator count for day one was like 67. Much of our time paddling was through canoe "trails" which are 3 foot wide cuts in the swamp, that aren't very deep. If you are the lead canoe through those, and you accidentally hit one on the head with your paddle, he doesn't like it. Lets just say I was lead man in lead canoe, and his head looked a lot like a log until it moved. And, it didn't move until after I hit it (thinking it was a log I was going to push off of). Then, it about got into the boat. One claw was completely over the side, and both my scoutmaster (backseat of said canoe) and I thought he was coming in. Apparently, he was just trying to get away. Scared the living daylights out of me.

Anyway, in your case, don't stand right at the waters edge. 3 feet will be more than plenty, and don't mess with a sleeping gator on the shore. Those are the ones to be afraid of. Give them some space.