Not only will they have a bite of you, they seem to signal their buddies to join the feast. And, when you're trying to identify the animal with the eye-shines picked up in the beam of your headlamp, there's no time to swat. We dress in field clothing. The ladder is really a section of an old narrow radio tower stuck into the mud at the side of the dock. When the lake is at its normal water level, no ladder is needed.
People can just step down into the boat.
Right now the lake level has dropped about 6 feet below the usual level. In the boat, there is just enough room for the three of us, Jackie, Greg, and me, plus the driver, to sit. He backs the boat out of the inlet, turns it around, and heads for the channel leading to the Canal. His only light source is a portable spot light he turns on and off at will to spot the channel markers. We wear life jackets and joke about how we're weighed down with our own gear and will sink to the bottom if the boat tips in the wake of a freighter.