Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Bright green snake (or something) with a silver tail.

Any ideas on what kind this is?

We were fly fishing at Lake Taneycomo in Branson, MO Friday. Temp of water is around mid 40s. This was around 12pm cst.

Initially I thought it was my buddy's green fly line but realized he was way to far away to even cast it over there. As I started to follow it glide back and forth up stream I yelled over to a couple other people who laughed at the idea of a snake being in that cold of water. As it took off the opposite direction from me I noticed that the tail was bright silver and almost looked like a 2 inch metallic stinger. The entire length of this thing was about 6-8 ft and just a little thicker than the size of a finger.

One of the other guys who initially laughed and thought it was fly line noticed it coming his way upstream. As soon as he moved in on it, it turn around and headed back down stream. He almost caught up with it using the tip of his pole but unfortunately he barely missed it. So he knew right away from the movement that it was alive.

This thing never came up out of the water in the 10-15 minute period we were observing it.

Not sure what it was, but from the description, I would rule out a snake. Too thin at that length to be one..at least any native snake. Any other snake that might match at least part of the description would be tropical & would not be able to manage in the cold water. My guess would be some sort of aquatic animal. Are there any fish in that area that it might be..including exotics?

~~Greg~~

Thanks

Not sure about the aquatic life there; other than the fact that this crystal clear lake is stocked with trout.

It moved just like a snake too.

Even the other guy who's been to that area before was amazed.

If your description of the dimensions is accurate, I really doubt it was a snake. Even with an exotic, any snake that thin would certainly be tree dwelling. Water snakes tend to be fairly thick bodied. Any snake can swim, but not likely anything other than a water snake would stay down that long.

I'm thinking a fish you couldn't see with some fly line and a lure or leader trailing from it's mouth...

Or, perhaps it was trying to find it's way back to the mother ship?

How fast was it swimming?
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."

From the description It suggests possibly an eel or lamprey-which I agree, could be trailing a lure creating the effect that it was much larger than it really was.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."