NW fishing/timber rattlesnake

I was fishing a stocked stream here in the NW for some stockies and wild trout. I walked a good mile 1/2 upstream with my gf and we caught 2 browns 1 stocked, 1 streambred, I caught a few native brookies 6-8 inches, also landed a few small wild rainbows. Well after a long hike up we decided to take a break and have a beer at a large hold just above us. Half way through the beer a very strange muscular yellow/goldish bodied snake about 3 ft long slithered off a log above the hole and swam across the stream. I knew this was no ordinary snake. I loaded my 9mm and got the digital camera off my gf and decided to investigate. I waded over to the roots of a tree on the other shore only to get within 3 feet of what turned out to be a timber rattler!!! It was easy to tell upon the descripition of the snake which was golden/yellowish color with distinguished black markings, the viper shaped spaded head and the last 5-6 inches of the tail being black and of course the rattles. It was totally at ease as I was not....3 of the pics were blurry from me being so close and shaking but one is a sweet shot of it slithering up along a tree root. Pics should be posted tonite. 

Hey Kype, you see your's more in the NW or NC part of the state?

Yeah they are. What a sight to see though. Really gives you a heads up on what type of wading gear to use when fishing the mountainous areas this state has to offer. Especially me trouncing around through the stream and ferns wearing only flip flops 

Kype, very cool. Sounds like you got yourself a little hotspot there.

Hey JB, I seen mine in a small stream valley in the more mountainous desolate areas of Tionesta.

Not sure if I'm missing something. But there is some good spots on Tionesta Creek off that road you mentioned. Sure there is many small creeks but any mention I hear of that road is what I stated. I've done ok for smallies then went to Couger Bob's. It's been a while.

AndyS509

I have fished that stream. There is no name to it. Very nice late spring (May) stream. Extremely hard to fish in the summer with the very low, gin clear water in the summer. I have heard of some rattlers in that general area though.

It is a clean feeder stream that flows into any larger, warmer body of water it will sporadically hold very nice size fish. I just landed a really nice 17 inch rainbow up out of Tionesta from a stream feeding into the river. That stream being even less than that was more like a ditch surrouded by extremely high weeds whcih also provided a great food source. Again, if it is clean and has cold water it will hold some nice fish at the mouths and on up into the first few nice size deeper holes. These are some of the easiest fish to find but can be extremely hard to fish for in low water conditions. Make sure you wear your camo!!!

I think a rattle snake will swim i hate those things.. Bad thing is there where the good fishing is...