Gator Season 2014

Haven't done much shrimping or fishing lately as gator season just started! The mission for this trip was to put two smaller gators in the freezer, as the area we were hunting gets pressured and the big ones get spooky later in the season. But of course if the chance at a big boy presented itself, we weren't going to pass it up.

The first hookup of the night was quick, around 9 pm. He put up a good fight, pulling drag and running into and out of weeds, but I sunk the harpoon in him and pretty much took the life out of him. Hit him with the .357 bangstick and we're on the board with a 7' 6".


We kept at it and had some close calls with a few 9-10' gators, had one hooked up but he buried in the mud and the hook pulled. Dang that was a big gator too! We stayed in the area for a good half hour but never saw him again. It was slow until about 4 am when we hooked another gator. She took us under a bunch of floating vegetation and was a real chore to get out, luckily the braided line cut through most of it until we could get a harpoon in her - ended up going 8' 4". Mission accomplished!

 

Thanks, we started gator hunting about 6 years ago and now I can't live without it!

 

Absolutely, there's many ways to do it, everybody has their preference and sometimes you gotta get creative! Unfortunately the hardest part now seems to be getting tags...not sure if it's from Swamp People or the guides making $$ on hunts but it's definitely not how it was a few years ago when I started.