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Are gators bigger in Swamp than Marsh? That's been my experience
Posted on 4/13/25 at 3:38 am
Posted on 4/13/25 at 3:38 am
When I see of gators killed in Toledo Bend, Lake Bistineau, Lake St John, Cross and Caddo Lake, they are mostly 10 foot plus. When I go fishing in the marsh, whether Dularge or Pecan Island, the gators are never bigger than 5 or 6 ft. I've never seen a 8 ft or bigger gator in brackish water. Is this other's experience as well?
7
Posted on 4/13/25 at 5:12 am to Saunson69
Guess you have never been to Pier 90 or Des Allmends. 12 -14 footers are common.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 6:56 am to Saunson69
quote:
I've never seen a 8 ft or bigger gator in brackish water. Is this other's experience as well?
Had one eat my 100lb lab “like a potato chip” according to my wife’s testimony in the marsh. I’m sure that was embellished a bit. They don’t hunt them on our property, just harvest the eggs, so they go unmolested. 8’ gator is a baby down there.
The more interesting thing is we are seeing them spread towards the coast. Not sure if it’s due to the diversion of freshwater into the area, or simply a function of overcrowding to the north.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 7:24 am to Saunson69
I think the record gator resides in NE LA along the MS River
However if someone told me they were willing to pay me to go see 10 10’+ alligators in a day it would be in south LA
I thought Rockafeller was the gator capitol of the world but after spending two days in the basin and on Lake Verret this weekend I change my answer
That place is infested with alligators. Saw no less than 200 alligators in one day and at one point in a dead end canal there were 6 over 10’ around us
However if someone told me they were willing to pay me to go see 10 10’+ alligators in a day it would be in south LA
I thought Rockafeller was the gator capitol of the world but after spending two days in the basin and on Lake Verret this weekend I change my answer
That place is infested with alligators. Saw no less than 200 alligators in one day and at one point in a dead end canal there were 6 over 10’ around us
Posted on 4/13/25 at 8:34 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
That place is infested with alligators. Saw no less than 200 alligators in one day and at one point in a dead end canal there were 6 over 10’ around us
Family had camp on Belle river for over 50 years, we rarely saw them down there in the 70s and early 80s.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 9:03 am to iron banks
quote:
Guess you have never been to Pier 90 or Des Allmends. 12 -14 footers are common.
Yep. On hwy 90 between Des Allmends and Morgan City there were 3 10’+ gators that were dead on the side of the road. One had to have been 14’, the largest I’d ever seen dead on the side of the road.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 9:26 am to Capt ST
quote:
Family had camp on Belle river for over 50 years, we rarely saw them down there in the 70s and early 80s.
That’s wild. I remember when we would see one on the ouachita river in the late 80s and freaking out. Also a bald eagle used to be a big deal now they are everywhere
Verret is the perfect place for alligators to thrive. They have miles of levees in those canals they can nest on and endless shallow backwater
Posted on 4/13/25 at 9:28 am to Saunson69
cameron and vermillion parish marshes
Posted on 4/13/25 at 10:33 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
Rockafeller
Went to explore around Rock last year. Saw a few hundred gators. Mostly small. But… I know the big ones are there. Biggest one I have ever seen in the water was around Lake St. John outside of Ferriday.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 10:40 am to Honest Tune
quote:
know the big ones are there. Biggest one I have ever seen in the water was around Lake St. John outside of Ferriday.
Yeah St John, st Joe, and Yucatán have some studs
Posted on 4/13/25 at 10:47 am to Ron Cheramie
I used to check cotton when I was in high school. We checked thousands of acres all over Franklin, Tensas, Concordia, etc. One day I was cutting through a corn field close to LSJ and came upon a nest of eggs not too far from the water’s edge… I was all alone out there and figured I was about to meet my maker at the teeth of a pissed off mama gator. Luckily she was out on food patrol or something… I went on ahead and got the hell far away from that nest. No cell phone then either, this was summer of 98… could have been bad if she were on that nest.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 11:10 am to Honest Tune
Checking cotton for the Young's?
Posted on 4/13/25 at 11:12 am to Crappieman
Old man Ray and his son, yessir.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 11:15 am to Honest Tune
They checked thousands of acres. Owned a fleet Toyota Tacomas. Lol. You from FP?
This post was edited on 4/13/25 at 11:17 am
Posted on 4/13/25 at 11:26 am to Crappieman
Yep. They checked around 50-60,000 acres IIRC. I grew up in Winnsboro. Somehow it was one of the best and worst jobs I have ever had… case in point, seeing cool nature stuff, finding arrowheads, tan was on point… $3.10/hr was what the wages came out to, ha… 5 am to 7:30 pm… that summer pretty much settled it for me that I wanted to go to college.
Pertinent to the thread, I later on lived on the north shore and would kayak the Tchefuncte around the canals where Tchefuncte met Lake P… thousands of gators holed up in there…
Pertinent to the thread, I later on lived on the north shore and would kayak the Tchefuncte around the canals where Tchefuncte met Lake P… thousands of gators holed up in there…
Posted on 4/13/25 at 11:30 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
the record gator resides in NE LA along the MS River
I don't see the numbers like in south la but the biggest I've seen have been in backwaters of the ms in SW ms and NE la. My theory is that they get fat from all the deer and critters that swim from one side of flooded creeks to another.
Biggest was on bayou peirre near port gibson. They was an 8' sunning beside him as we rounded the corner and it looked like a baby compared to the dinosaur that soon followed.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 3:44 pm to Turnblad85
We have duck hunting property north of the ICW in Terrebonne Parish. - bayou black area.
It’s infested. Always had alot. But recently, the population has exploded. Typically in the past, the big ones stayed in the canals and all the females were in the marsh. Nowadays, those huge bulls are everywhere. Scared to hunt my dog.
It’s infested. Always had alot. But recently, the population has exploded. Typically in the past, the big ones stayed in the canals and all the females were in the marsh. Nowadays, those huge bulls are everywhere. Scared to hunt my dog.
Posted on 4/13/25 at 4:12 pm to OGhunter777
quote:
We have duck hunting property north of the ICW in Terrebonne Parish. - bayou black area. It’s infested. Always had alot. But recently, the population has exploded. Typically in the past, the big ones stayed in the canals and all the females were in the marsh. Nowadays, those huge bulls are everywhere. Scared to hunt my dog.
I’ve been gator hunting back there for a long time.
This post was edited on 4/13/25 at 4:54 pm
Posted on 4/13/25 at 4:48 pm to Rize
I think a lot of it is pressure. Some of the largest gators in the south are in southwest Arkansas in the millwood backwaters but it doesn’t get a lot of publicity because there isn’t a lot of human pressure. There are certainly lots of large gators in the marsh, but they’re hunted in most places. Likely same in ne la and ms backwaters.
This post was edited on 4/13/25 at 4:55 pm
Posted on 4/13/25 at 6:33 pm to OGhunter777
quote:Now see that's interesting...this year I saw a hundred million 4ft and under, and zero big ones all duck season. Granted it's cold but the little ones never hibernated.
We have duck hunting property north of the ICW in Terrebonne Parish. - bayou black area.
It’s infested. Always had alot. But recently, the population has exploded. Typically in the past, the big ones stayed in the canals and all the females were in the marsh. Nowadays, those huge bulls are everywhere. Scared to hunt my dog.
Went shoot nutria one afternoon a month or so ago and saw several bulls in the marsh, zero in the canals. We've been selling all pur tags to Frenchy recently. I'd like to keep a couple for my kids each year but idk.
My experience is gators are fatter and shorter in the dead water (marsh, swamp, etc) and longer and leaner in the high current areas. Obviously not always the case. But those basin gators are long because of the constant current.
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