# Hellbender v/s Water Snake



## whitetailfreak (Apr 5, 2019)

Unbelievable shot of a lifetime for outdoor photographer David Herasimtschuk. Taken along Tellico River East Tennessee. I pulled from Tellico Hatchery Facebook page.


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## Nicodemus (Apr 5, 2019)

That watersnake is doomed.


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## ryanh487 (Apr 5, 2019)

Yeah I'd say the hellbender won that one


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## Buckman18 (Apr 5, 2019)

We call Hellbenders ‘Water dogs.’ For folks who’ve never seen one, they can reach over 2 ft long. They’re in the Tennessee River drainage in north GA, and Killer Kyle says they’re in the Chattooga also. The upper Hiawassee River is absolutely full of them.


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## whitetailfreak (Apr 5, 2019)

I see more in the Snowbird drainage than anywhere else.


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## turkeykirk (Apr 5, 2019)

Have seen a few in the Bradly Fork of the Oconaluftee River in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Something to see for sure.


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## Deer Fanatic (Apr 6, 2019)

This south Ga boy aint never seen no creature like that!!!! Is it some sort of lizard or what???? Looks like some sort of star wars creature!!!!


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## Ruger#3 (Apr 6, 2019)




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## NCHillbilly (Apr 6, 2019)

whitetailfreak said:


> I see more in the Snowbird drainage than anywhere else.


Yep, every time I fish Snowbird, I see one or three. I had two following me down the creek there a couple years ago trying to get the fish on the stringer tied to my belt.


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## Cmp1 (Apr 6, 2019)

Great video and Carolina gals,,,,


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## TurkeyH90 (Apr 6, 2019)

My wife once snagged one with a rooster tail he had about a dead 6" rainbow in his mouth. She freaked out.


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 7, 2019)

A guy that used to date one of my sisters used to like to trout fish with nightcrawlers. He was also extremely terrified and disgusted of snakes and any such creepy crawly things. He couldn't even watch a snake on tv.

He was fishing with me one day at Cherokee, and the creek was high and fairly stained. He got a good bite, set the hook and fought it a minute, and it ran up under a big rock. He hollered at me that he had hooked a really big brown, and he wanted me to come hold his pole while he waded out there and got it out from under the rock. 

He waded out about chest-deep in the creek, and reached down the line and tried to find his fish. He hollered, "It's still on, I can feel its tail!" He siezed his big brown trout  by the tail and pulled it out of the water. 

Except it wasn't a trout. It was a big, ugly hellbender about two feet long. He looked at it, it looked at him and started thrashing around. He screamed like a woman, threw it as hard as he could, and fell over backwards and went under. He came back up coughing and sputtering and thrashing, and I saw with my own eyes that the Lord wasn't the only feller that could walk on water.


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## Cmp1 (Apr 7, 2019)

NCHillbilly said:


> A guy that used to date one of my sisters used to like to trout fish with nightcrawlers. He was also extremely terrified and disgusted of snakes and any such creepy crawly things. He couldn't even watch a snake on tv.
> 
> He was fishing with me one day at Cherokee, and the creek was high and fairly stained. He got a good bite, set the hook and fought it a minute, and it ran up under a big rock. He hollered at me that he had hooked a really big brown, and he wanted me to come hold his pole while he waded out there and got it out from under the rock.
> 
> ...


That had to have been funny,,,,


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## Hillbilly stalker (Apr 7, 2019)

We called them mud dogs back in WV


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## Cmp1 (Apr 7, 2019)

Any eels in those creeks?


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## Ruger#3 (Apr 7, 2019)

We would occasionally get one in the seine when we used to seine creeks for bait long ago.


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 7, 2019)

Cmp1 said:


> Any eels in those creeks?


Nope.


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## Cmp1 (Apr 7, 2019)

Really clear mountain water,,,,at the end of the video,,,,


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## whitetailfreak (Apr 7, 2019)

I see a Mountain Brook Lamprey from time to time. I went to net a trout a month ago and ended up with trout and lamprey in my net. They are non parasitic so it was an unusual event. They're only 6-7" long, and inhabit well oxygenated, clean, clear, fast moving streams.


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## whitetailfreak (Apr 7, 2019)

NCHillbilly said:


> A guy that used to date one of my sisters used to like to trout fish with nightcrawlers. He was also extremely terrified and disgusted of snakes and any such creepy crawly things. He couldn't even watch a snake on tv.
> 
> He was fishing with me one day at Cherokee, and the creek was high and fairly stained. He got a good bite, set the hook and fought it a minute, and it ran up under a big rock. He hollered at me that he had hooked a really big brown, and he wanted me to come hold his pole while he waded out there and got it out from under the rock.
> 
> ...



That's the funniest story I've read in a long time. She didn't marry that ol boy did she?


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## NCHillbilly (Apr 7, 2019)

whitetailfreak said:


> That's the funniest story I've read in a long time. She didn't marry that ol boy did she?


Nope. He was a pretty good feller, but he had a tendency to get a bit testy when he got into the likker. She didn't marry him and I didn't have to kill him, so it worked out all right in the end.


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## Shug (Apr 7, 2019)

Tellico River has some big ones and the Hiawassee River has eels


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## Cmp1 (Apr 7, 2019)

Shug said:


> Tellico River has some big ones and the Hiawassee River has eels


Germans eat smoked eel,,,,not me,,,,


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## rip18 (Apr 9, 2019)

That's just dog-gone cool!


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