Monday, September 20, 2010

Georgia Alligator Hunting

My good friend down in Georgia is one of the top fish guys in the nation. His company is called Aquatic Environmental and his website is http://www.lakework.com/ We debate and compare many fish experiments and stories pretty much on a weekly basis. Anyhow his alligator hunting story last week was pretty interesting. I will start the process of applying for tags next year, it typically takes 5 years to draw.


We started looking for gators before sundown and returned to the boat ramp about sunrise. We chased a few monster size gators around Lake Seminole most of the night.
This shallow lake on the Georgia, Florida, Alabama line is home to numerous
gators with many in the trophy category. All total we probably saw 50 adult
size gators and another 100 yearling size gators in the grass flats. The
bigger gators were the ones out form shore aways. I guess they have no
enemies and can roam where they please.

We were close to a half dozen gators that were over 10 feet and a couple
hundred lbs in size. They have been hunted hard since the season started
two weeks ago and you could tell. When approaching they would go under to
resurface 50-100 yards away. The cat and mouse game was played for hours on
this one monster gator estimated at over 13 feet in length. Finally after a
few hours we got to within casting distance. The cast was a little toward
the tail side and with forward propulsion the snag hit his tail. The giant
explosion ripped the hook free but showed us just how huge he really was as
his entire body shot out of the water. We had our chances on a bigger gator
but it was not meant to be.

We did manage to snag a smaller gator as time was running out and get him in the boat. The snag hook is cast with heavy 60 lb pro braided line. The treble hook goes into their scales. The key is keeping pressure on them. It is amazing to me how easy the hook falls out. You need to try and get the hook up near the head under the larger size scutes. After some intense fighting we got a second hook in him
and pulled him into the boat after tapping his mouth.

This 7'-6" 90 lb. gator will provide some tasty healthy treats. We plan to serve our guest gator tail during our Dawgs party for the Georgia Florida game day October 30th.

If you have never experienced this adrenaline rush give it a try. You can
also go after them with archery gear or a harpoon but for the big gators the
snatch seems like an obvious choice. The fight will be harder than any fish
you will ever have on the line. Puling an all nighter was exhausting but
rewarding experience. Just think with another 4 years of rejections I can
do it again in five years.

Greg Grimes
Aquatic Environmental Services, Inc.
2050 Howell Bridge Rd.
Ball Ground, GA 30107
http://www.lakework.com/
770-735-3523

1 comment:

  1. I love gator meat.... but I'll leave that fishing to you guys!

    ReplyDelete