If I had a camera with me at the time i would have shown you the alligator that decided to snaffle my surface popper!!!
No, I was not fishing for alligators it just pounced out of the lily bed ,in a huge spray of water and was away with it.
After landing it and wondering how the hell I was going to get the popper out of a 3ft alligator, I remembered the " Crocodile Hunter " trick of sitting on it's back and maybe unhooking it some how.
I took one step toward it, it hissed loud with it jaws wide open and crawled toward me!
I cut the line and put a new popper on.
Keith