Sunday, June 9, 2013

Largest Alligator Gar Ever Caught - World Record Alligator Gar Fish

In the early 1900's and back there were tales of huge alligator gar fish patrolling the water of the USA, some reports of 10+ footers! Whether these stories were true or not we may never know, especially when you consider that the environment is just not the same anymore, the alligator gar population has been slowly killed off. These alligator fish that used to get the chance to live for decades and grow accordingly just don't get that opportunity anymore, so it is a real treat when I giant is found or spotted.

After doing some extensive research I have located the confirmed largest alligator gar ever caught and confirmed, but the thing is there are different alligator gar records depending on how the person when about catching the fish, so I list all of them.

First there is the record for catching a alligator gar fish with rod & reel which was actually set way back in 1951 and has yet to be beat, this alligator gar weighed 279 lbs. There were no pictures of this catch for years, until a relative found a photo and eventually made it public many years later(the picture below).
world record alligator gar fish

The current record alligator gar caught with a net was set recently in 2011 by Kenny Williams in Mississippi. He snagged this large 327 lb specimen.
biggest alligator gar ever caught

If you are familiar with alligator gar fishing then you would know it's very hard to catch this gar with the usual rod & reel tactic, this is because of their bony jaws. So it comes to no surprise that the world record alligator gar was caught by bow-fishing, this is the way most anglers fish for this species.

The biggest alligator gar ever was caught in 1991 with bow-fishing, it weighed in at 365 lbs and measured 9'6" in length. This is still the largest confirmed alligator gar ever recorded to day! (picture of catch below)

largest alligator gar

3 comments:

  1. This fish was caught by me captain Kirk Kirkland in 1991 by rod and line NOT bow fishing I am tired of reading that this was caught with bow and arrow I am a rod and reel angler my website is www.texasfishingguides.org/kirkland

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    1. but it says this on your site "IGFA All-tackle World Record: 126.55 kg / 279 lb 0 oz" why is your 365lb fish not the record ?

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  2. You can see pictures of this fish and many more monster alligator gar on my website

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