Open Water Wildlife

I got bumped in the chest by a small stingray during the Potomac River Swim. (However, that year it was held in a lake due to high winds/waves.) Some years ago I was trout fishing on the South Platte River in Colorado and I was just standing very still, watching, about mid-thigh deep in the stream when a beaver swam between my legs. Not sure who was more startled - me or the beaver. -LBJ

Leanord, was that 2008? I was there too, but I "broke away" from the swim and convinced some intrepid fools to accompany me to the buoy a few miles out. Took me over an hour to swim out 2.5 miles and 30 minutes to swim back, if that says anything about the conditions. I was bodysurfing on the way back.

I was run over by the buoy at the mouth of Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay

Just don't run into any of those "Brown Lake Trouts"! :afraid:

Just don't run into any of those "Brown Lake Trouts"! :afraid: I remember reading another post from you on this same subject. Is that why you're called Lump? :D Sorry, I just couldn't help it.

Two weeks ago on my recovery m yhand hit a very large carp as it entered the water, freaked me out something fierce.

2. The lifeguard at Fort Lauderdale beach who yelled at me to leave the beach or he'd call the police, because I swam more than 50 yards from shore; I had similar experience with lifeguards in Pensacola a couple of years ago. Given the number of people they've fished out of the Gulf over the years and my completely non-swimmer looking body, I don't hold it against them, though. I find a perch or a crappie bumping the toes are a great speed aid in lake swims when you need that short burst. Other than that, I've sighted mostly pompano, mackerel, sting rays, and the occasional shark back in the day. I've certainly heard (on this board perhaps?) about vicious territorial otters from others.

Sturgeon bumped me hard on the thigh when swimming in the Columbia River. Definitely got my attention. I've also been bumped by harbor seals when swimming the Pacific Ocean. Almost jumped out of my skin as it was in an area where Great Whites often hunt for seals...

Just wondering what kind of wildlife you all have encountered. My group swims at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, IN (Indianapolis) Our running list is attack swans (you have to roll over on your back and kick them in the chest to get them off of you) other assorted waterfowl, a crotch carp (one of the group members was standing in water thigh deep when a fish jumped into the air and hit him in the crotch, then bounced off and hit another group member in the chest) and this morning I swam past my new friend the lake snake. What could be next? :bow: And, I thought the seagulls at Jones Beach, LI, NY were bad!:afraid:I salute your dedication!!!!

Lots of pelicans, which are very, very big when they fly right overhead. They are graceful when they land, though, always just missing me. One time a young-ish harbor seal swam beside me and my friend for a while. It swam slowly so that we could keep up. I was a little worried that we would do something unintentionally to make it mad, because I don't know what makes seals mad (besides maybe poking them!), but it was very nice until we got too boring and it swam away. We have had some local incidents with sea lions biting people, but I have never gotten within biting range of a sea lion. In a local race last summer I saw a beautiful school of small fish swimming around in the kelp, but my nearest competitors said they hadn't seen them. I saw two sea turtles at the Waikiki Roughwater Swim last year, one while warming up before the race and one during the race as I turned in for the finish. Once in a local lake I saw a little furry mammal swimming along with a stick. It might have been an ordinary rat, because I don't think we have muskrats here and it was too small to be a beaver.