My son and I were trying out a spot a couple of miles from the lake house in the kayak. From the satelite photos it looked promising. Ended up being a shallow cut. We saw a few gar and was keeping a close eye on a small alligator. We paddled over to one side so I could cast and we ended up brushing into some water lillies or hyacinth (sp?) when there was a big splash and something flew out of the water. Hit me square in the chest! Of course after watching that alligator we were both a little spooked and got quite loud, my son (was in the front of the kayak) couldn't see what was going on behind him was having a fit (so was I and I could see). It was a 12" garfish that we spooked in the lillies that decided to join us. After wards it was funny, but definitely not until we figured it wasn't the gator!