RootConservative
Senior Member
Want to get into Kayak fishing. One worry is gators. I regularly fish out of a canoe on lakes, but no longer do so on rivers in remote areas. Three different times while in canoe I've had my boat bumped by a big gator. All of the times were in remote areas of east central Florida. First time was between Puzzle Lake and Lake Poinsett in the backwater of St. Johns River. Second time was same river but further south between Lake Winder and Lake Washington (which is just west of Satellite Beach area). The other time was on a small tributary river called the Little Econlockhatchee River with lots of snags and having to drag the canoe over fallen trees. Granted this hasn't happened to me in more than 20 years. I did not get hurt just scared the you know what out of you. I now fish out of a 18' G3 alumnimum bassboat. However, I have property in Dodge/Telfair/Wilcox counties and fish the Ocmulgee River near Abbeville. The stretch of river I fish is between Hawkinsville and Jacksonville, Ga. Depending on the time of the year the river gets very low and there are a lot of snags. I have seen some big gators in the river too. Has anyone run into gators bumping their canoe or kayak in South Georgia?