Water Hunter - Water Snake

I found this picture on the Ohio Game Fish page.

I thought water snakes ate bugs. I guess not: Hopefully photo loads

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Nice. I say that one is at the max of what it can bite off there. Wonder if it hunted it down or is scavengin a found neal

I've seen smaller ones dive around the dock and come up with shiners in their mouth. They're excellent hunters, I doubt that was a scavenging situation.

Sure that is a water snake and was taken around here? With triangular head common to poisonous snakes, diamonds on the back and what looks like rattles on the tail, I am wondering if that is a rattler?

That's definitely a Lake Erie Water Snake. Often times you can't even see markings on mature snakes until they're in water. The pattern is much more visible on young snakes when dry. They are harmless but like most water snakes, they have a bad disposition. Just leave alone and let them do their thing.

The Lake Erie Watersnake is closely related to the Northern Watersnake and the two can be misidentified or mistaken for each other. If you see the snake on one of the islands or shores near the islands, it's most likely a LE watersnake. The photo below shows the color variations.

They are excellent underwater hunters and eat a lot of gobies in Lake Erie, along with other species of fish. I've seen them in the water with a goby in their mouth. I also happened to film one underwater while it was hunting - pretty rare video. The video is on the videos page of the website www.ilakeerie.com.

They are plentiful around the Islands but still on the Ohio Threatened Species list (removed from the USFWS list).

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Notice the variety of colors and banding visibility.

I have a 4 footer that is either on the end of my dock or hiding around the corner on my swim platform 9 of the last 10 times I have gone to visit the boat this spring........ and yes I know, a 4 footer is a small one.

Best moment was when it was coiled up on the end of the dock, next to my dock rope as we came in from fishing, my buddy gave out a little scream when he reached for the dock rope and it slithered off the dock, thru his fingers.

Can't wait until I find the little sucker on the boat, after we have left the dock, should be interesting.

That happened to my dad opened the boat went for something under the seat and there it was. Dad said he would had been u derived way and came out he would had been off the boat with ir running on plane. Needless to say my dad doesn't like snakes....not even a dead one.

My nephew snagged one last year. Not on accident either, but we all know how 8 y/o boys are. He cried when I made him take if off. That was one pissed off snake.

Had a small snake, about 2 ft crawl up out of the water in front of the boat this evening with this little blue gill as his prise.

To go with my last boat story, my brother took my 19 fter out for an small afternoon trip today. had his wife, his son, and our nephew. My sister in law was behind the wheel with 6 in lines out. A small snake came across her foot and some how as she had a small panic the boat did a quick hard turn since she stood up and let go of the wheel, needles to say a hard 180 does a good job of making a mess of 6 lines. I'm glad my brother was the one out there to clean that one up.