You mean like these?

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 I took this one on HoHo's dock on East Twin Lake, but these are quite prevalent in canoe country.  These are the ones you might see on land.

Actually the one in the POD is a water spider, and I don't think it would be around to threaten you unless you were in the water.

I used to be terrified of all bugs.  It was a family joke, "Lynda's bug scream".  That is one thing that the combination of canoe-tripping and macro-photography has effected a huge change in my makeup.  I now can see the beauty in the small creatures, and I find them actually to be the most fascinating of photographic subjects.  In my last trip report I had a photo of a pine bark beetle that I think is a classic.  
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Nice photos Lynda; they make the hair stand up on my neck!

I believe the correct name for them is fisher (ing) or dock spiders.

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I understand that they dive under water and catch minnows and tadpoles for food.

starwatcher.

Yes, Karl (Starwatcher) the dock spiders are often out on the rocks and I love to see them/photograph them.  I am currently looking for a photo I took of one that seemed to live on the latrine at one of our campsites.  It was the biggest one I had ever seen, and I will admit it would give me pause when I had to visit the biffy.  I did, however, make its acquaintance and learn to adjust to its presence. . . .  

As I recall, we stayed at that site for two nights and it was still there when we left.  I have a rule that I don't kill any insect in the canoe country unless it is on my body, in my tent, or is a mosquito/tick/blackfly.   

I don't believe that the webs like in today's POD's are made by the dock spiders, but I could be wrong.  Spartan1 was a dear to work with me to get the web photos--they were taken from the canoe and involved a bunch of "hold it more still!", "a little closer", "a little more to the right", etc.  It's really hard to photograph a web without having the camera on a tripod.  And that was before I had an IS lens.

The preceding posts are another exciting episode from: "Tales from the Dock Side". BWAAHHAAHHAA 

Trust me Lynda, I am never in the vicinity of spiders long enough to kill them. I can deal with any other creatures/critters and certainly subscribe to the live and let live philosophy. My fear started on a Canadian fishing trip as a kid trying to line a boat (not a canoe) up some rapids. I put my hand on a log to maintain balance and had a spider, much like the dock spider, crawl across and completely cover it. I let go of the rope and after regaining composure had to swim after the boat. I did walk on water that day and have been terrfied of the beasts ever since.