Posted on 04/20/2025 1:55:21 PM PDT by Red Badger
The 7-foot-3-inch behemoth weighed in at 153 pounds and Weston said it took him nearly four hours to reel in on just 2-pound test fishing line.
Credit: Captain Kirk Kirkland (Alligator Gar Fishing) and Art Weston
Art Weston reeled in this 153-pound alligator gar on Lake Livingston with the help of Captain Kirk Kirkland of Alligator Gar Fishing.
LIVINGSTON, Texas — "Sharing what was my most challenging catch of my life," Art Weston wrote on Facebook after landing a massive alligator gar in Lake Livingston.
The 7-foot-3-inch behemoth weighed in at 153 pounds and Weston said it took him nearly four hours to reel in on just 2-pound test fishing line. He said they chased the fish 2 miles before hauling it in.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
Perhaps. Gar prefer moving water. When in a lake you can see them roll.
Friends and I would get needle-nose gar(cousin to alligator-gar) in the upper Brazos and cut out the backstrap and fry it in real butter. Tasted like lobster. Never eaten alligator-gar though.
Captain Kirk?
Long time ago I heard similar from a guy who worked at a TVA dam.
“2lb test line my ass.”
They didn’t say anything about the 1.5 inch .44 hole in the other side.
wy69
”They won’t hurt you. They don’t want anything to do with you. And have swam in that very place.”
No but the alligator snapping turtle, and regular alligators will
He and the outfitter were go’n for several records.
Ran across a travelling snapper once in the middle of the night (open dry land) he ducked in.
I have alligators 300 ft from my house in LA. Never hardly see them unless I go out with a flashlight. Got them in the lake here in TX as well. Very shy and we don’t feed them. Never feed them.
They will migrate.
“””The 7-foot-3-inch behemoth weighed in at 153 pounds”””
In Florida we toss them back and let them grow up.
He and the outfitter were go’n for several records.
Growing up, we'd find them in our private pond we swam in.
So we'd capture them, bring them to the house, and shoot them in the head with a .22
Things were so stupid they didn't know they were dead, and they walked away from us for about 50 feet before they stopped.
Lol.
Up north we had a lake that had tiger muskie in.
So..we would go out fishing for them.
Always with a pistol on board.
One timd we had company, they had their own boat. Ok, lets go. Out on the lake if one in the other boat didnt get lucky and caught one. A big one. We was watching from a ways off. They got it into the boat and his partner was yelling to not shoot. BANG! killed that fish sure as hell and put a nice hole in the boat.
You could dam near stick your foot in the mouth of that dam fish it was so big. Nasty.
SE Texas has gar, gators and loggerhead turtles hiding in and around the stumps.
Safer to stay in the boat.
You got me!! Well played!!
My SIL/BIL have recently (<1 year ago) moved to FL.
I clued them in on how to tell if there is an alligator in a given body of fresh water.
Walk up to the water’s edge, bend down, and splash a little with your hand.
If the water is wet, there’s a gator in there.
I know Capt Kirk and he’s the real deal. Grew up catching Ali-gar - he’s the best in the world.
I retract my statement. Using the term embarrassing was not cool. I totally missed the point of the article. Sports fisherman lands T Rex like fish on sewing thread.
George Zimmern, Steve Rinela, and a host of hunter/fishing chefs would call that a waste.
When these people eat something that doesn’t taste good they tell you. All the ones I’ve seen that have caught & prepared alligator gar liked them.
A lot of game will taste different depending where it has lived though.
They didn’t know to leave it in the water to shoot it? We went to Canada years ago & one of the guy caught a 2-3 lb one & made the mistake of boating it while his tackle box was open. Took him an hour to put it back together.
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