Bump I only swim in a fresh water lake which is free from predators.
Not all fresh water lakes are free of predators. I have seen alligators in Texas lakes. They also have water moccasins in them and they are aggressive and highly poisenous snakes. A friend in Oklahoma would often find snapping turtles in her pool, so even pools are not completely safe. On the bright side, I have been swimming in lakes as well as the Gulf of Mexico all my life and have never had a problem.
very true, not all freshwater bodies of water are free from predators, even up here in ohio thousands of miles from normal gator abodes.
a couples of weeks ago a guy fishing in a local lake caught a young gator and said he saw the mama gator in the near vicinity.
and this past week end a young girl caught a pacu(breed of piranah) while fishing off a boatdock at local chain of lakes.
Fortunately the lake at our club is predator free. We don't have venomous snakes in this area oralligators. Our apex predator is the hawk and our only snakes are small garter snakes, black rat snakes, and water snakes, all of which are extremely shy and seldom seen. Except for one large black rat snake which crosses the road each morning and returns each evening (creature of habit) I have seen only one water snake and that was in May when the club was fairly quiet. With a larger number of people using thebeach and swimmingareathewater snakes seem to have moved out to quieter parts of the lake.