Thread: Gator hunt 9-10-11 pics

I was lucky enough to get drawn for a tag this year. I got the southern coastal area. So off to the Combahee river we went. We left Gilbert around 11am and got down there around 2 after making some stops. Since it was our first time in the southern coastal area we went ahead and put the boat in and scouted up and down the river. I was amazed at the current flowing. After about 2 hours of running up and down the river and not seeing a gator we decided to trailer the boat up and hang out under a shade tree until the sun set. We ended up watching the Gamecocks beat them dawgs on my phone with a couple of super nice dnr guys. After the game we headed off for the hunt. Fifteen minutes into it we spot a decent set of eyes so we dropped the trolling motor in a eased up to him. Looked to be a good 10footer. My buddy Tim said lets pass on it since it was so early into the hunt and we both wanted a monster 12-13 footer like he has killed in Santee. About a hour later we spotted a 8-9 footer and decided to have some fun with him. We put a couple of hooks in him and brought him to the boat for a photo shoot. After some cool pics we let him free. By this time the tide was moving in pretty fast. Seemed like once the mud banks were covered the gators were gone. So back to the dock we went to wait for the tide finish coming in and then move out. At about 3:30am the muddy banks were starting to show again so off we headed. By this time we were kicking ourselves in the ass for not taking the 10 footer we saw 6 hours ago. We decided the first set of good eyes we saw were going in the boat. The tide was still going out at a fast pace. We went back to were we saw the 10 footer and sure enough there was a set of eyes. So Tim put down the trolling motor and we eased over to him. He made a perfect cast and set the treble hook in deep and the fight was on. The big boy quickly pulled ripped drag as he went straight to the bottom. After about 15 minutes of playing with him we hammered down on the drag. Boy he didnt like that. The damn gator was pulling us up river against the current from the tide going out. We are talking about pulling a 22ft bullet bass boat. Crazy how strong the gators are. After about 10 minute of flipping the second treble around him it finally catches him. Now we have two deep sea rods with big trebles in him. His ass is coming to the top. When the comes up we were ready to stick a buoy arrow in him but he was very calm so i got the revolver ready. Just as i was about to shoot the current pulls us right over a damn crab pot marker buoy. That set him off big time. After he got done rolling we put the buoy arrow in him incase he broke loose. Back to the surface my dad and Tim brought him. Three shots later his ass was grass at 4:35am. Now the hard part was getting the ole boy in the boat. Seemed like the more we pulled in the longer he got. Once we loaded the boat we put a tape on him and the ole boy went 11ft on the dot. I was pumped up after that! We pulled back into Gilbert around 8:30am and cut the tail and jaw meat off and put in the cooler. Damn what a hunt. It was my first gator and I cant wait to go back! Sorry for the long report but damn this was on cool experience. Here are some pics.

Very Cool