A kayak fisherman in south Texas came close to being tipped over by the 200-pound alligator gar he battled for 40 minutes before paddling one-handed to shore and landing the prehistoric fish.
The 7-foot alligator gar was the biggest Chris Hernandez had ever caught and it was almost too much to handle.
Hernandez told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors he was fishing a river on the outskirts of his hometown of Benito when he landed the alligator gar last week.
At one point, it became a bit scary when the fish slammed his kayak with its tail.
“It was just a quick flip from the tail that hit my yak causing my yak to shake back and forth,” Hernandez told For The Win Outdoors. “If my yak would’ve tilted a couple more inches, it would’ve took in water.
“At one point my rod was halfway in the water while the gar was taking line. My upper body was [so] tired that I thought I was going to lose my rod to this dinosaur of a gar.”
Hernandez told MySanAntonio the fish “was dragging me all over the river.”
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Since there was no way he was going to pull the fish onto his kayak, Hernandez used one hand to paddle to shore as he held on to his fishing rod. A friend helped him through branches on the bank so he could to land the gar.
“This was an awesome experience and an awesome joy ride on the yak,” Hernandez wrote on his Facebook page. “Man, the heart was really pumping.”
Alligator gar are often referred to as “living fossils” because scientists can trace them back 100 million years in the fossil record, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They can grow up to 10 feet and 350 pounds.
Hernandez is probably lucky not to have hooked one that big.
Photos courtesy of Chris Hernandez.