[Paddlewise] You Just Never Know (trip report)

We had two slightly injured paddlers who insisted on paddling so we set up
a short trip on the protected waters of the Nueces River.  At our location
the Nueces is a costal river 15-20 yards wide with almost no current unless
major releases are being made at the dam some 40 miles upstream.  I got
down to the launch area at Hazel Bazemore county park an hour early so I
could get in some exercise paddling before what I assumed was going to be a
rather slow paced trip.  With no current from releases at the dam and the
light wind blocked by the trees along the banks the water's surface was
almost like glass.  I headed upstream along the park's shoreline enjoying
the quite.  I was intrigued by the number of wasps that were just floating
in the middle of the river.  They were never in a large group, but every
3-4 boat lengths I would flush a couple who lifted off quickly to avoid
being run over.  I paddled for about 30 minutes then turned to head back to
meet the rest of the group at the launch.  I got to see a couple of yellow
breasted flycatchers, a great blue heron, and an immature green heron.  I
think the brilliant chestnut streaking on the white neck and breast against
the dark greenish blue wings makes the immature green one of the most
striking of our local birds.  

I got back to the launch just as the other 3 paddlers were arriving.  It
was 12:30 and the temp was getting into the 90's.  Fortunately the breeze
had come up a little so it was not unbearable.  Still I pulled over under
some overhanging trees to wait for the others to get their kayaks into the
water.  With all the kayaks in the water we headed back up river.  We saw
basically the same things I had seen earlier.  We did get to see a few 3-4
ft gar come rolling up on the surface with big splashes.  I even saw one
small needle-nose gar hovering just inches below the surface right next to
my kayak.  The paddle plant sent it diving to the bottom.  We reached the
limit for our injured paddlers after about 50 minutes.  It was just short
of where I had turned around on my solo part of the trip. 

 As we were taking a water break before heading back,  a small fish popped
up to the surface and began flopping on its side.  It went under and then
popped back again.  I thought it was probably injured by a feeding gar. 
Jeff, who was quite a bit closer to it, yelled "You got to come see this. 
It's in the mouth of a snake."   I paddled over and sure enough you could
just barely see the top of the snake's jaw around the middle of the fish. 
The main part of the snake's head and its body were underwater, but you
could just make out a swimming motion under the surface.  I watched
fascinated as it swam its catch over to shore and started to climb over
some tree roots to get over the bank.  As it came out of the water I
realized that it was a bigger snake than I had imagined.  It was about 1"
in diameter and 3 ft long.  I am not much of a snake expert, but from the
dark coloring I think it was a water moccasin.  I have seen lots of snakes
while paddling, but this was definitely a first for me.  After this
encounter I was a little less comfortable pulling under low hanging trees
for shade on the way back to the launch.  Definitely an unexpected,
memorable event on what I thought was going to be a routine, less than
exciting trip.  You just never know what you will encounter on a paddle.

Mark Arnold


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************