When we first bought lake house in North Texas one of the first things I did was build a nice big Pier with a large fishing deck, in a cove there was absolutely perfect habitat for attracting finding and feeding fish that was Chase Chad and spawning fish utilizing the thick cattails and potatoes fine to do their business. Lake Arrowhead, where I lived and fished for 25 years. Wichita falls is about as Northern and you can get other than Amarillo with extends through 400 MI north of us but I remember in the 70s a guy running a trotline over and Shoshone Park which is the river that connected Lake Kickapoo and Lake Arrowhead together for the city of Wichita falls watershed. This man running trotline across that River caught a 3-ft long alligator 🐊 but she killed and collected and called the game warden and it made the newspaper. While living on the lake I spent a lot of time on my fishing dock catching crappie and catfish and striped bass. One morning about noon I was fishing in a minute went about a foot and a half long alligator without initially thought was a gar, then I seen the head and realize it was about a foot and a half long alligator it had a hold of my hook but when it saw me it spit the hook and got away. People say these invasive fish and alligator can't survive in climate outside of their normal element is not true, for an alligator that was caught in the 1970s to reach 3 ft long and 100 lb and the one I almost caught is proof these creatures can adapt in the southern states for temperatures are warm. Now you hear everyday they're fighting new invasive species are a threat to our native species because they eat our native species roe end of are there young hatchlings and smaller species of fish.

I have lived and fished in three states known for huge Flathead and Blue catfish Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina but have fished in Louisiana Arkansas, Tennessee. I have no doubt out in the ocean there are species of fish that are capable of killing and eating a grown man, but one story I've heard over and over again, some dive team went down inspecting a reservoir dam, hurried back to the surface saying, there's catfish biggest Volkswagen and he's not going back scared to death. I've seen some of the record flatheads and blue catfish on Lake Texoma and I believe the largest one I seen was a 130 lb blue cat. I myself have caught 100 lb Flathead here in North Carolina though she was as strong as a bull and would be capable of pulling you out of a boat if you're not set up and experienced catching them. they're real strong, but they're not going to eat you whole. I've seen them attack and eat ducks snatching them off of water but not a grown adult man. Now I know there's Wells catfish and other species that have a reputation and huge sturgeon that might do the job, but not these fresh water giant stories of being as big as a Volkswagen beetle not in these freshwaters.

Story 2. This story is about a man supposedly being checked by a game warden for fishing license and asked has he caught anything? No, but a little boy fishing up the next cove on the river said that his worms were biting him and then the game warden rushes to his car and runs up to check on a little boy and find him dead. he was supposedly fishing with a bucket of baby poisonous snakes. I've heard this story and every area that I have fished in. I myself was digging for fishing worms on a piece of property I owned in Texas I hadn't developed anything on it yet. But my family and a friend cloud and made us a large garden on the property and there was some good spots that I found a lot of earthworms that I in my brother will go dig, as I was coming through the worms I dug up some baby snakes but I recognized it cover them up and left them alone. I think these stories are just what they sound like stories, even when I was a young boy capable of going fishing on my own, I knew the difference between digging up earthworms fishing and snakes filling my bucket with them to use his fishing bait.