Like most Saturdays, I got up this morning bright and early and headed out to my favorite lake, even though I was worried that the recent rains had muddied the water and possibly turned off the fish for a few days. Well, I was right on both counts; the water was somewhat stained (but not as bad as I thought it was going to be) and for the most part, the bass had no interest in what I was throwing at them. I did catch three small ones, all about the same size, on Chatterbaits and a 4″ black Senko.
After one area didn’t produce, I walked down the bank to some cliffs near the dam (deep water) to see if I could increase my luck. As I was standing near the cliffs, fishing, I heard a weird sound nearby. “That sounds sort of like a frog croaking” I thought to myself, and when the noise continued, I walked over to investigate. Indeed, I was right, but more so than I knew. Not only was the frog croaking, it was really croaking (as always, click on images to see full-sized pics):
Yep, Kermit is in a bit of a predicament right now. A snake has latched onto his left rear leg and is trying to pull him out of the water.
Yes, I braved danger and got up close and personal. Anything for my readership.
Mr. Froggy is hanging on to those rocks for all he’s worth.
Is he going to make a quick get away?
Nope, doesn’t look like it at this point.
As you can see, the snake almost has the entire leg in its mouth by now.
The frog tries the old “pretend you’re dead” ploy…that only works on bears, doesn’t it?
Still playing dead, but the snake doesn’t seem to care.
Another close shot. The snake wasn’t bothered in the least by my proximity – it had other things on its plate 
By now, the snake has the entire leg in it’s mouth and I assume the two are at a Mexican standoff. I don’t think the snake could get any more of the frog down it’s gullet, but I also don’t think it was about to let go. This is how I left the two; it was getting hot and the fish weren’t biting so I packed my gear and headed on home. By the way, does anyone know what kind of snake this is?
Awesome pictures Nomad. I don’t know what type of snake that is, but you are much braver than I. When I see a snake I will drop everything and run to the oppossite location trying to put space between me and the snake quickly. Whats with the fishing line next to the snake?
I’ll take a guess,…it’s a King Cobra! No, no – wait – it’s an Anaconda! No- that’s not right either.
I think it’s a tiger keelback: http://www.bear.or.kr/wildlife/rhabdophis.htm
From http://notexactlyrocketscience.wordpress.com/2007/02/20/the-snake-that-eat-toads-to-steal-their-poison/:
The tiger keelback lives in Japan and uses its poisons for defence rather than attack. When threatened, it angles two glands on the back of its neck towards the predator. The fluid that oozes from these ‘nuchal glands’ contains chemicals called bufadienolides, that irritate airways and affect heart muscle.
But the glands themselves lack any of the secretory cells that you might expect in a poison-producing organ. So where does the snake get its poison from?
The answer lies in its diet – the snakes eat poisonous toads (from which bufadienolides get their name), and defend themselves with the weapons of their prey.
Great photos. That snake is a tiger keelback. It’s poisonous enough to kill you. But it is back-fanged which means its toxic fangs are located in the rear of its mouth and somewhat harmless in the sense that if the creature were to snap at you, he wouldn’t be able to sink his teeth into you. You would have to jam your finger down his throat. Once that frog gets partway down that snake’s mouth, the poison will be injected and its game over for the frog and a big dinner for the snake.
And the keelbacks are pretty common around the lowland bass lakes but I’ve found them to be not very aggressive. I’ve had them swim up to me while I’m waist deep in the water and they cruise on by.
The mamushi pit vipers are the ones to look out for. A little one bit me last year but it only tasted the thick leather of my hunting boots. Lucky for me. If I was wearing river sandals I might not be typing this.
I just got a frog gig, by the way. That snake won’t be the only one hunting frogs. Beer batter deep fried frog legs coming soon in my kitchen.
That’s not funny, James. Are you serious? LOL, I was inches away from that fucker! Hehe, it had other things on its mind anyways. I thought it was pretty cool, this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this AND had my camera along to take pics.
Is it just me being moderated? I’d like to be moderated in moderation! Ha!
Jenn,
Sorry – any post with 2 or more links gets put into moderation. All good now
Namad and James,
Are there bullfrogs here?
If so, where did you get that gig from?
I haven’t been to the lakes at night, so I haven’t heard any croakin.
Man my mouth is already waterin thinking about froglegs with a little cayanne pepper added to the batter.
Dave
Dave, yes there are bullfrogs. I’ve seen some huge ones at some of the lakes.
http://www.birdskorea.org/Upo01.asp
http://www.environmental-auditing.org.cn/english/EN/articleshow_artid_994.htm
You could probably order a frog gig online and then find a long pole to put it on over here.
Those are great pics–Wild Kingdom!
Great shots Nomad, that’s something you don’t see everyday
Great Pics!!!
Nomad, do the lakes that you fish, have that green stuff all over on the surface? There’s several lakes around Daegu that have it every summer.
michael, Steve,
Thanks
Another Basser,
Not yet, but yes, later on the lakes are covered with that green algae or pollen, whatever it is.
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The Korean name (according to the article) is “Ggot-paem”. I always wondered.
The Korean mamushi (salmo-sa) is actually not that poisonous. It’s in the same family as our copperhead (agkistrodon?). They also don’t get that big, and I’d never seen any except in deep mountains.
Up around 2ID, we used to see alot of the “ggot paem”, and a larger and more muscular snake they called a “nonggurongi”.
Beautiful snake–and I don’t like snakes. As for the fate of the frog, snakes unhinge their jaws and swallow huge prey whole. That entire toad was lunch. Could have taken an hour to get him all the way in though.
Tune in next week as Mutual of
Omaha’sOsan’s Wild Kingdom discovers remains of a snake that starved to death because it’s mouth was too full, as well as the rare three-legged Kermit who gets the last laugh.superb photos. I was eager to see the result.
Jon,
I think the result was either a stuffed snake or a three-legged frog
Great photographs, Nomad.
Here’s some scientific info on this species http://www.afpmb.org/pubs/living_hazards/snakes.html#Rhabdophistigrinus
Great pics Nomad. Alan and I saw a viper awimming across Andong the last time we aere out there and it was between 5 and 6 feet long.
Beuatiful snake by the way.
I’m curious about the frog. Is is a toad, a frog, or a trog? The Koreans call both toads and frogs gay-go-ri, unless it’s a bull-frog, they call those tukk-oh-bi.
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