Cam, Carter's, brother pulled this out water, and everyone shouted, Abort, Abort, Abort! Carter, our Great Grand, really concentrating on what he's doing. I think that's way better for kids than texting and games about killing.
I can't believe Jake didn't mention our 1964 Larson cuddy cabin, had some great times on that boat, even almost got lost at sea once, wouldn't start and the tide was taking us further, and land was further away. Pulled lots of skis and jet skis for the grown kids and grandkids.
Swimming in the river slipped off many turtle backs. got into a wrestling match with a gator in Jax, St. Johns River docking the Larson, our dog used to dive under water and retrieve rocks.
Our favorite boat was a 24' pontoon boat. It had plenty of room for everybody and while you didn't get anywhere FAST, you got there in great style and comfort. We had a large waterproof deck box bolted to the front deck, so no matter how bad the weather was, there were always dry towels, clothes and food. It really wasn't fast enough to ski behind (though someone did on a couple of occasions) but it pulled inflatable water toys quite well. There was a sturdy ladder to get aboard and since there were metal pontoons, we didn't worry about scraping a hull when pulling up on sandbars or gravel bars. If worse came to worse and we punctured a pontoon, the water would only rise as far as the puncture, so we could always limp back to dock. Punctures were fairly easy to repair. Our storage yard was vandalized once and someone punched a hole in a pontoon. It cost only about $100 to repair, compared to what a hole in a fiberglass or wood boat would cost to fix. The funniest thing was that we were required to always carry a "bailing device" on board. What would we bail? We asked a marine patrol guy once why, and he laughed and said, "Who knows? It's just one of those laws."
We see gators on the river all the time and they don't approach us but people feeding them make them more dangerous, plus they are running out of native wildlife they feed on. The woman should have just left. Sturgeon have killed more boaters than gators,by jumping into the boat. Its been several months since we took the boat out.
It looks to me like the gator was just trying to get to the shore and the boat was in the way and the gator was trying to get past it. As for OP, I haven't done any fishing since I was a kid, and that was restricted to ice fishing, smelt fishing (net), and sucker fishing (spear). I used to make fishing boats for a living but have never owned one. Although we were allowed to use the company (Yar-Craft) boats, and I have, most of my boat experiences have been with row boats (which we knew as punts), canoes, and kayaks.
II've had a good number of canoes like the one below over the decades. both single and multiple person, all motor driven with either gas (with the flatbacks) or electric trolling.on side mounts. Being mostly a catch and release fisherman with no felt need to prove what I caught, I never took pictures..
One time our motor conked out. We were near to shore, so I got the idea I'd tie a long line to my wrist, jump off, swim to shore and pull the boat in. I jumped off and came eye-to-eye with a gator. I'm not sure who was more scared, me or him. He turned tail and I had what I'd call a religious experience and literally walked on the water back to the boat. We waited patiently until a passing boat towed us back to the ramp.
I wish I had a copy of a black & white picture of my dad standing at Lake Michigan (Muskegon State Park was our annual vacation spot) with this musky he caught. He was from Pennsylvania and we lived in Indiana at the time, so a fish that size must have been a rarity in his life. He must have been real proud of that fish, because when our mother died and we were going through boxes of stuff, we came across 20 reprints of that pic.
When I owned a boat, it was only for the large river we lived on. Like I said, I charter when I go on salt water. It is too dangerous for me to go out on the slat water here. A friend went halibut fishing in his small boat, and when he hooked a fish, it towed him several miles out to sea before he decided to give up the fish and cut the line. His motor couldn't overpower the fish, so it must have been quite large. He was cured. It could have been a shark or even a small whale as he never saw what he had on the line.