56Sierra 1,844 Posted October 30, 2023 Quiet night on the fishing pier with my wife pulling in the White Trout faster than I could fillet them when she spots the big Alligator about 50' out swimming toward a Trout carcass which it quietly ate. A few minutes later the Gator surfaces about 8' away and quickly leaves. She then started jigging for the Trout right off the pier when the Gator jumps up out of the water within a few feet of her. Water depth was about 3' and the floor of the pier about 32" above the water. I didn't see it since my back was turned but Marvin the Herron sure made some racket. My concern is that this Gator which by judging the distance between his eyes and nose bump is around 12 feet long is lunging for humans and not the Trout gathering around the lighted pier. @fishfiles What is your opinion? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishfiles 20,145 Posted October 30, 2023 1 hour ago, 56Sierra said: Quiet night on the fishing pier with my wife pulling in the White Trout faster than I could fillet them when she spots the big Alligator about 50' out swimming toward a Trout carcass which it quietly ate. A few minutes later the Gator surfaces about 8' away and quickly leaves. She then started jigging for the Trout right off the pier when the Gator jumps up out of the water within a few feet of her. Water depth was about 3' and the floor of the pier about 32" above the water. I didn't see it since my back was turned but Marvin the Herron sure made some racket. My concern is that this Gator which by judging the distance between his eyes and nose bump is around 12 feet long is lunging for humans and not the Trout gathering around the lighted pier. @fishfiles What is your opinion? They can lunge out the water 5 foot ------ like a great white shark going air born --- I recently seen a video of a aligator grabbing a dog off a dock , will see if I can find it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56Sierra 1,844 Posted October 30, 2023 It appears an Alligator needs enough depth of water in order to use his tail to thrust upward. Shallow water may force him to make more of a horizontal lunge which is what my wife describes as happening. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fishfiles 20,145 Posted October 31, 2023 Do you remember this video ----- The captain on this tour boat lost his job and the tour company took a lot of protesters and heat , because of this video >>>> I think it was some 300 wheel spacers that I bought from him right after this happened ---- i'm good with it , alligators got to eat too , LOL 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56Sierra 1,844 Posted October 31, 2023 I had a good discussion with the Alabama Dist. 5 large carnivore specialist yesterday. We came to the conclusion that fisherman throwing entrails into the water are attracting the gators and they are losing their fear of humans. I am guilty of this too since I'm assuming that if the fishing charter captains do this it must be legal and accepted practice. Turns out is is illegal and unacceptable to throw the remain of fish back into the water. Too much is considered pollution and it attracts sharks and gators. He added that if this gator exhibits similar behavior in the future he wanted to know about it and something would be done. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeepwm69 7,611 Posted November 1, 2023 23 hours ago, 56Sierra said: I had a good discussion with the Alabama Dist. 5 large carnivore specialist yesterday. We came to the conclusion that fisherman throwing entrails into the water are attracting the gators and they are losing their fear of humans. I am guilty of this too since I'm assuming that if the fishing charter captains do this it must be legal and accepted practice. Turns out is is illegal and unacceptable to throw the remain of fish back into the water. Too much is considered pollution and it attracts sharks and gators. He added that if this gator exhibits similar behavior in the future he wanted to know about it and something would be done. Something I honestly never would have even thought about. Nature takes care of remains, but I can see how people repeatedly doing it could condition animals to lose their fear of humans. I've always tossed fish guts in the water. FIgured crabs and fish would eat them, but I guess gator population has come back in a big way now so it could certainly cause a problem. When we visited the Serpentarium at Edisto Island SC last year, the gators moved over to the feeding spot a full 1/2 hour before the guy showed up to feed them. They knew when and where the foot would be coming from. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
56Sierra 1,844 Posted November 1, 2023 Last year I heard a guy on the beach got fined for throwing the remains of a fish back in the water. Never gave it thought doing so would attract sharks I usually keep a sturdy kitchen sized garbage bag on the pier for the usual beer cans etc. I'll now casually mention to fisherman that they can put their fish remains in there and I'll make sure it gets dumped on a regular basis. If I had my druthers that gator would be made into shoes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
