Who knows snakes?

[jediangler]

Went to Mountsberg with brother Joonmoon to try for some pike today. We fished from 10:30am until 1:30pm. I fished from my kayak and Joonmoon fished from shore.

I was also trying out a new camera mount for my kayak and I think now I have all the bugs worked out.

Had three hits and only hooked one, this little 17"er. It was caught on a perch twitchbait around 1pm. Joonmoon had some luck as well, bad luck that is.

He snagged this fellow with a musky buck and it was pretty upset, striking at him several times before he could unhook it and let it go. Can anyone identify the species?

Edited May 12, 2009 by jediangler

[ohhenrygsr]

I'm sorry your first picture is funny. I was trying to look for the snake and the only thing i could relate to a snake was that black cord attached to your paddle pole lol

[alphaalpha]

no idea on the snake but i have had success there before using white spinner baits and black and orange weedless mepps with an orange plastic worm on the hook.

[jediangler]

Thanks for the tip AA. I tried j-13 and x-rap rapalas, #4 bluefox spinners, and a white terminator spinnerbait before catching the pike on a matzuo perch.

[Joey]

Looks like a Northern Water Moccasin.

 

Joey

[kickingfrog]

Do you need an identification so you know if it OOS or not?

 

I say fox snake, but I'm not up on my herbs anymore.

 

Nice work for the camera mount btw.

[brifishrgy]

Looks like a Northern Water Moccasin.

 

Joey

yup I think so too

 

http://www.pcs.k12.va.us/vtrail/pa1.htm

[highdrifter]

I'd be concerned if that was a water moccasin, they're quite poisonus and their bite is quite painfull I'm told.

 

Pretty sure that's a harmless water snake.

 

water snake vs moccasin

 

cheers

HD

[duckdog]

Looks like a fox snake

[holdfast]

Was the tail sort of vertically flat, if so its some sort of water Snake. My guess Eastern Water snake. If not either a Fox or Rat snake.

Edited May 12, 2009 by holdfast

[MCTFisher9120]

Pretty cool report, your camera setup worked great! Never saw a snake get hooked before, a few years ago we use to use live frogs as bait in Kingston for bass and i had a water snake come up and bite onto the feet of the frog...after lot's of swinging of the rod the snake was off.

 

Thanks for sharing,

 

Mike

[Bob]

The only venomous snake found in Ontario is the Massassauga Rattlesnake. What you have there is a common watersnake. They can be very aggressive and their bite can hurt but they're non-venomous.

[Zubris21]

Looks like a common water snake to me, could be a black rat snake, but they are somewhat rare, and in my experience not as dull in colour as the one pictured.

[cram]

Not a rat snake --- they are jet black.

 

Either a water snake or a fox snake. Considering where you caught it, likely the water snake. They are also aggressive little buggers.....fox snakes aren't.

[bigpikemike]

ya right....was putting new bulbs in my trailer after an outing...so the trailer is still wet and im changing the bulb b4 i park it in my yard and out slithers a baby california king snake....i screamed like a litle girl...baby or no baby this thing was tryin to get me....i put it in a container matched it up on the web to a california king snake....called animal control and they wouldnt come get it!.....police ended comin to get it and all they did was let it go down the road.....question is how did it get in my trailer and where did it come from?....only thing i can think of is it was somebodies pet that they let go outside....it was an aggressive little bugger...picture this thing slithering out a trailer wire hole while ur underneath there face up to hit changing a bulb and it strikes at u repeatedly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[profisher25]

Im not expert, but from what I know, my first guess would be an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, but the patter looks more like a Timber rattlesnake. Both, however, live in marshes and wetlands mostly. Its probably just a normal watersnake though, but in my opinion, you should get a professional to help you out with that one, in the event that you come across another one!

[fishermccann]

Water snake!

[HTHM]

Is your buddy dead? If not, then it is probably not poisonous.....

[solopaddler]

I grew up in Carlisle and spent a lot of my youth fishing Mountsberg.

There were always lots of water snakes back in the day. Looks like there still are.

[irishfield]

You took it off??? You should have kept casting ! Nothing in the regs about water snakes as bait...

[duckdog]

http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.php?doc_...fact&id=146

 

Again just guessing, I know more about exotic species boas and pythons, used to breed them but the link above should be correct

[Bob]

Although water snakes are not considered an endangered species, they are a protected species in Ontario so I wouldn't advise using one for bait. I think that covers most all snakes in Ontario actually. Timber rattlesnakes have been extinct in Ontario for many years and there's no way it's a massassauga. They're much lighter in colour, heavier bodied and like all pit vipers, have a triangular shaped head and the classic sensor pits. Rattlesnakes have rattles and that one doesn't. No moccasins in Ontario and they're pit vipers and would also be heavy bodied with all the other features common to pit vipers.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Bob

[wolfmachine]

thats not a snake, thats a hammer handle pike