VIDEO:Chomping At The Gators

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Three local men caught a big surprise Saturday night while they were out on the Tombigbee River.

Instead of catching a few catfish, these men caught another type of river creature that weighed almost 500 pounds.

Alligator season is here, and only lasts for a short time. That’s why Drake Blanton, his dad, and a friend bought alligator tags, piled into a 16 foot fishing boat, and went on their first alligator hunt.

“We were trying to get close enough to him, for probably two hours before we even got to throw a hook at him, and then once we hooked up to him, I mean it was just a huge adrenaline rush. The pole felt like it was going to break the whole time,” says Blanton.

The pole felt like it was going to break because there was an 11’4 foot, 474 pound alligator dragging it down.

“At one point, whenever I threw a handline that wouldn’t, a rod and reel just basically like a rope with a hook on it, and I hooked him and he about like pulled me in, so I just had to let go of that, and we went back to just using rod and reels until we wore him out some more,” says Blanton.

An hour and a half later, the fight was done.

“After we got him up close to the boat, we had to put a snare on him to make sure that once we shot him, he wouldn’t sink to the bottom. Then, we tied him up to the side of the boat because he was so big we couldn’t pull him in,” says Blanton.

It took over 24 hours for the hunt and catch, and took 5 guys to lift the nearly 500 pound gator into the boat.

“It was a struggle trying to get him in. Really sore the next day, and even the day after, you know trying to fight with him for an hour long, so my dad, he even had some bruises on his stomach from trying to hold the rod like you know, so tight, and you know the whole time, you couldn’t direct, you just had to let him carry you up and down the river until he tired out,” says Blanton.

The men didn’t win a prize for their big catch they named Tebow, but they did earn bragging rights, and over 100 pounds of alligator meat.

The alligator took four hours to process, and was taken to State Line Processing.

Categories: Local News

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