Texas Man Snags a Massive Alligator Gar the Size of a Refrigerator

Breaking News: A fisherman in Texas catches an enormous alligator gar in Texas’s Sam Rayburn Lake on September 2, 2023. 

It’s every fisherman’s dream to be listed amongst those who catch some of the biggest fish in the world. Or even to catch a fish that has never before been caught. To be able to stand up and hold the fish and smile for a picture and have your face blasted all over the news as the one who did it is an awesome feeling. However, for this fisherman in Texas, he wasn’t exactly able to hold this catch up.

Award Winning Alligator Gar Caught

On September 2, 2023, Art Weston went out fishing just like he did numerous times before. Only this time, he would be bringing the bacon home. Okay, not really bacon, but you know what we mean. 
On Texas’s Sam Rayburn Lake, Weston reeled in a massive alligator gar that weighed a whopping 128 kilograms (283 pounds)! In addition to this enormous weight, it was also about 2.5 meters (8.3 feet) in length.

The Great Catch

Check out the amazing photos and video shared above from Art Weston and Kirk Kirkland on their catch! We can imagine, a catch like this is no small thing. Can you imagine the amount of time that it took to catch something of this size? We often see the glory of a catch but never the amount of work that it took behind the catch. 

The above-mentioned Twitter post from the news shared that it took Weston two hours and 45 minutes to reel this sucker in. Art Weston was fishing and had help from a local boat captain, Kirk Kirkland, on board the “Garship Enterprise,” according to Live Science.

Largest Alligator Gar Ever Caught

While this was a whopper of a fish, it was not the largest gar ever caught. We know that it’s crazy to believe that an alligator gar could succeed 283 pounds, but this one did. According to Texas Parks & Wildlife, “Alligator gar is the largest of the gar species. It can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds….Gars are easily distinguished from other freshwater species by their long, slender, cylindrical bodies, long snouts, and diamond-shaped interlocking (ganoid) scales.”

The largest alligator gar caught was 148 kilograms (327 pounds) and 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) in length. So, as we can see, these massive alligator gar’s never cease to amaze us all.