Forget a boat -- Bob Howard was going to need a bigger rod and reel after a 6-foot-long snake latched onto his line.
Howard, 54, was out fishing on Rathbun Lake last Monday morning when he was startled by the amphibious predator.
"He was just real aggressive," Howard told the Des Moines Register about the snake. "He knows that bobber is going to bring in food."
The slithering fish thief was a northern water snake, which is not venomous, Karen Kinkead, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told the Register.
“They may be a little more likely to bite if you try to handle one,” she said. “They will eat about any animal small enough to swallow that they can catch.”
Which turned out to be Howard’s latest fish.
There was a brief tug of war that the snake ultimately won. Howard did have a camera handy and captured some images to verify his fish tale.
“It came up and I hit it on the top of the head with my pole to get it go away," Howard said. "He went under the water, then he came up close to me. He just kept annoying me."
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