"Opus--Mark H. Bowen" wrote

just a banded water snake, but I thought it was a copperhead at first
because of its camo markings. No threat, he simply dove into the stream
with a twitch of my rod tip.

although it's very surprising to me, i have only seen one poisonous
snake in the north carolina mountains, in more than thirty years of knocking
around the blue ridge and the smokies.
that was about twenty years ago, on wilson creek, near the private
water. pamlico jim and i were walking the streamside trail back to camp,
with him in front, trudging along, head down. as we approached a stream
crossing, there was a small tree right at the water line. at its base,
looking for all the world like a prototypical museum piece, curled and ready
to strike, was a copperhead about two feet long. jim was about ten feet
from him, headed straight for the tree. this dialogue followed:
me--"snake!!!!" jim--"where???" me--"right there!!!" jim, again--"where,
goddammit???" me--"right in front of you!!!"... he finally saw the snake,
stepped back, found some big rocks, and stoned the ******* to death.
i hate them, without exception.

yfitp
wayno