Coming from the dam I turned my boat to the left and slowed to a crawl. Idling slowly up into Twiltley Branch Cove towards the beach, we pulled our youngest daughter on a tube when I spotted an odd sight on the clay bank on the south side of the cove. Suddenly my fears were confirmed, as a large alligator started running towards us down the clay bank.

    Kawoosh! The big gator dove into the water bent on finding an easy meal. “What kind of animal is that?” yelled Mikayla. I dared not answer, but quickly made a maneuver in response to the hungry gator.

    In case you didn’t know it, there are plenty of gators on Okatibbee Lake, though many go unseen by most humans. Surely everybody knows about the gators by now. For years I’ve seen them up above the Centerhill-Martin Road up the creek on the north end of the lake. The creeks, sloughs, and beaver ponds have always been full of them.

    And one only has to go up there at night with a powerful QBeem spotlight and you’ll see enough red eyed gators to send chills up your spine. Yep, they’ve always been up there where they can eat snakes, beavers, nutria and all manner of rodents and fish.

Feeding photo

    Kye Clearman even snapped a photo of a large gator with a huge fish in his mouth on the upper end of the lake. And I don’t have a problem with them being way up there controlling the rodent population.

    But living and hanging out around campgrounds, beaches and near skiers, that’s a bit too much even for me. Now, we don’t ski, and don’t camp a lot, but when we do we camp in tents near where the big gator was spotted.

    A few years ago we had a drought and more gators were seen in areas frequented by humans.  And yes, I’ve seen them up near the marina, and even along the dam. But I was fishing out of big boats back then, and not pulling a youngster on a tube. Now that’s a bit much.

    Kawoosh! The enraged gator slashed the water and walloped his tail from side to side as he catapulted towards our boat. I couldn’t stop now. With Mikayla being towed on a rope behind the boat. I shudder to think what might have happened.

    I held the boat on a steady course and didn’t slow down until we got near the beach whereupon we pulled the tube to the boat and got Mikayla safely inside. Turning back towards the main lake we passed right by the area where we spotted the gator.

Whose territory?

    As we scoured the clay bank for any sign of the gator we spotted him about 50 yards off the clay bank, right where Mikayla had been only minutes before. I shudder to think what might have happened had she fallen in the water at the wrong time.

    Needless to say we vacated the premises and didn’t go back in that area again. It’s one thing to fish in a boat around gators and such, but quite another to ski or pull kids on tubes. Was that gator looking for an easy meal from a boater, or camper? Had campers and anglers been feeding him?

    Or did he see our tube and potential food on it? I’m not sure I want to know the answer, but it really opened my eyes of the potential danger in the water. We should always be careful when fishing, swimming, skiing or tubing on any lake. But with gators on the prowl it’s even more important to keep a wary eye out at all times.

    Beware of the alligators at Okatibbee Lake. Be safe, be careful, keep an eye open at all times and never take anything for granted while you’re on the water. You’ll be glad you did, I guarantee. Enjoy yourself but don’t feed the gators.

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at Giles1958@bellsouth.net