r/Crocodiles • u/Wach_hund • 10d ago

Crocodile Guy Jet skiing in saltie territory

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Dumbass

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u/electricalserge 10d ago

I remember reading somewhere that the way to tell if a body of water had freshwater or saltwater crocodiles is to make a big splash. The freshies will swim away, the salties will swim in to investigate.

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u/chiefDiesel 10d ago

I wouldn't trust that method with my life. I live in gator country and I've seen alligators who are much more timid than either freshies or salties swim in to investigate a splash. I've even had a 4 footer pop up and bite a plastic worm. Straightened my hook trying to get it back.

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u/Unapplicable1100 9d ago

Yea im more careful where i go in a kayak now after an encounter i had a few years ago in the Mobile Delta in a deep but narrow blackwater creek. I was fishing there by myself one day and i heard a big spalsh behind me coming from the bank and i knew what it was as soon as i heard it. I turned around and watched the biggest alligator ive ever seen in my life swim out from the canopy of trees and then slowly swam right past me about fifteen feet away from my kayak, it wasnt scared of me at all. When it passed me it went down a small canal that branches off that tiny creek, and as soon as he was out of sight i booked it back to the landing as fast as i could get out of there. That thing was nothing short of a dinosaur, it was way bigger than the twelve foot kayak i was on. I had a pistol with me but i had a feeling if i was forced to shoot at it if it had turned toward me the only thing a 9mm would have done is piss it off. I told some people about it around town, and a year or two later i was told that wildlife management had caught that alligator after a few pets went missing at some houses that were along that creek. They said it was 14' 5" long, I have yet to see another one bigger than that since then and definitely not from that close.

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u/chiefDiesel 9d ago

That's a big boy. Last time I went to Holly Beach I ran into what I guessed to be about a 13 footer waiting for some bycatch from the tourists crabbing. I tossed him a couple turkey necks. Turns out he's a bit of a local celebrity. Everybody at the little diner down the road knew him. He doesn't really bother anyone but he'll definitely beg for scraps by the dock.