maybe an armed spotter on shore.
In the 1940s, growing up as a boy in the then undeveloped Naples area, a friend of mine did just that, acting as an armed guard on shore while his younger brother and several friends swam in the backwaters of Naples bay. My friend bagged several gators that way, netting cash for the benefit of his family. Only years later did his brother realize that in large part he was being used as bait.