Posted on 02/18/2011 10:41:10 AM PST by JoeProBono
VICKSBURG, Miss. -- A Vicksburg man pulled a 327-pound alligator gar from Chotard Lake in Issaquena County, Mississippi wildlife officials said.
Kenny Williams caught the fish on Valentine's Day. Biologists with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks weighed the fish at 327 pounds. It was 8 feet 5 ¼ inches long and 47.95 inches around the body.
Williams said he used nets to catch the fish and then grabbed it by the gills and pulled it into the boat.
"At first I didn't think he was that big. But as I was getting him into the boat, it was like, 'How big is this thing?' It was a lot of effort just to get him into the boat," Williams said. "I don't even know how to describe it. It was just huge and hard to get into the boat."
MDWFP officials said it could be the largest alligator gar caught. In scientific literature, there was a report from 1963 of a 302-pound alligator gar, Dennis Riecke, of MDWFP said. Williams' fish is definitely the largest since that time, and is certainly the largest recorded in Mississippi, Riecke said.
The fish is believed to have been between 50 and 70 years old, wildlife officials said.
Williams donated the huge fish to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, where it will be prepared for permanent display in the future, wildlife officials said.
I’d say he’s going to need a lot of cornmeal and hot oil.
Laz would eat it.
Wow what a monster!! One of the ways they catch them is shallow water is using a bow & arrow.
The big ones are nearly all gone, I saw a show on it recently where they hunted and deliberately killed them off like you would varmits, kind of a shame cause they’re a great American fish.
Cajun Barracuda! Get the axe.
they’re a great American fish.
Aren’t they just as boney as eel?
They were considered trash fish where we use to fish in Kansas.
Has anyone eaten one?
I would like to have a large aquarium full of these things and throw live commies in with them when they are hungry. Getting thrown to the alligators, Cajun Style.
Peanut oil and cornmeal!
One part of me says he is a dink for killing such a fabulous thing.
Another part of me says that thing could eat a child.
Donating it to a museum kind of reconciles the wrong right.
What, no libs out there trying to get the bayou made into a preservation buffer, or U.N. Biosphere Reserve?
I’ve tasted gar, but didn’t care for it in the least. It is a very popular fish in the black community ... they will actually buy the stuff at stores that offer it. And, yes, it is very bony.
I’d be afraid to go out on a boat in MS if I knew a monster like that might be swimming underneath. I’m a rank beginner on fishing. This hobby may require more courage than I thought.
Thinking outside of the box is good..
gosh! That’s tough to look at.
They don’t have to be good eating to be a great American fish in my book ...
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