In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

Huge Alligator Gar caught in Mississippi waters

RugerNinerRugerNiner Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
edited February 2011 in General Discussion
article-1358616-0D440B4E000005DC-463_634x438.jpg

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - It was a monster of a fish that took four grown men to move. The Alligator Gar was about 8 feet, 5 inches long and weighed more than 327 pounds.

"I'm getting overwhelmed just being with this big fella now," said Kenny Williams.

It was days since Williams caught the giant when he saw the fish again. He still couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"Me and my own little bitty self. I might have lost, but I wasn't going to give up too easy," said Williams.

Williams is a commercial netter. Monday he was looking to catch buffalo fish in the Chotard Lake in Issaquena County.

He got more than he bargained for when the Alligator Gar got tangled in one of his nets.

"I could get this much out of the water. It is as much as I could get out of the water at one time and he wasn't even over the rail of the boat. I was like how big is this thing?" said Williams.

All by himself, inch by inch, Williams managed to hoist the fish into his 16 foot long boat.

"I knew I couldn't let go. I wasn't going to let go," said Williams.

Pictures were snapped in celebration. The fish was taken to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science for examination.

"It's very rare. There's people out fishing all the time and very seldom do you find a fish like this," said Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Director Libby Hartfield.

Some biologists believed Alligator Gars have been swimming the waters of Mississippi for 90 million years. Museum officials said this one is likely a female and between 50 to 70 years old. Plans are to stuff and display the fish for Williams and others to admire.

Although the Alligator Gar is one of the largest found, museum officials said there is no word yet if it has set a record.

video here;
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=14061487
Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.

Comments

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Makes me embarassed to be a human being.

    "Gee, here is a large unusual creature. Let's kill it for the heck of it."

    Schweinhund!
  • gesshotsgesshots Member Posts: 15,678 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by allen griggs
    Makes me embarassed to be a human being.

    "Gee, here is a large unusual creature. Let's kill it for the heck of it."

    Schweinhund!


    Pitiful what some people will do for a "trophy". [V]
    It's being willing. I found out early that most men, regardless of cause or need, aren't willing. They blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull the trigger. I won't. ~ J.B. Books
  • skicatskicat Member Posts: 14,431
    edited November -1
    Are alligator gar endangered? I was under the impression people still fish for them with a tactic using unravelled rope which somehow gets tangled in their teeth?
  • WulfmannWulfmann Member Posts: 4,906 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    There are situations where trophy hunting conserves wildlife.

    In Namibia they were close to losing their Jaguars to poaching but with expensive hunts for trophy the locals make more money fighting the poachers than working for them and that means less jaguars killed more preserved.

    Sad that it has to be that way but rampant idealism in what we "should" do would end up with such animals extinct.

    Wulfmann
    3YUCmbB.jpg
    "Fools learn from their own mistakes. I learn from the mistakes of others"
    Otto von Bismarck
  • godalejrgodalejr Member Posts: 2,038 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
  • fishkiller41fishkiller41 Member Posts: 50,608
    edited November -1
    Actually,,,That one is a JUVENILE..[V]
    Their's ones in the Reo Grande 4 TIMES that big...
    What a buncha MSAholez!!
Sign In or Register to comment.