Texas Fisherman Shocked After Capturing Monstrous 7-Foot-Long Alligator

Using a bow and arrow, a Texan fisherman captured a massive, prehistoric-looking alligator gar in Falcon Lake, Texas.

Catching the Giant

Gerardo Benitez, the fisherman's brother, shared photos and a video of the massive 7-foot-8-inch gar on Facebook in a post that went viral from the Falcon Lake Fishing & Outdoors group on Wednesday.

Edgar, the fisherman who caught the gigantic fish, stands next to his catch on the banks of Falcon Lake, a reservoir on the Rio Grande close to the Mexican border.

Alligator gar are the biggest gar species, reaching lengths of up to 10 feet. When they're young, they grow quickly, but as they age, they slow down: every time their age doubles, they grow another foot in length. They may also survive for an extremely long period, as seen by the world record, nearly nine feet long and believed to be over 90 years old.

Benitez said in the Facebook comments that Edgar caught and killed the gar with a bow and arrow, a fishing method commonly used to target freshwater fish such as carp and gar, as well as sharks and rays in the ocean. They said there was no way to weigh it; thus, it wasn't recorded.

"The trouble is, when you go bow hunting for gar, it's not as straightforward," Benitez stated in his post. "The gar only allows you 1 or 2 seconds at most to get a shot, and it's impossible to judge how large it is."

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Alligator Gar Being Game Fished

(Photo : Zeb Hogan)

Because alligator gar attains sexual maturity around the age of ten and does not spawn yearly, their population is slow to develop.

The popularity of alligator gar as a sport fish has decreased alligator gar populations in their native areas. Bowfishers love them because their size makes them an easy target.

Alligator gar populations have been protected by legislation in portions of their habitat due to conservation concerns, including a statewide one-per-day bag restriction in Texas.

However, in Falcon Lake, where Benitez's massive gar was captured and killed, there is a daily limit of five alligator gar, with no restrictions on any other gar species.

Condemned in Social Media

Many people condemned the killing in comments on Facebook posts that included photos and videos.

"I'm just not persuaded that was an ethical harvest. You should let those gigantic breeders go. Also shot with a bow..." commented one user, while another agreed, stating, "They should have left this gar live. Like what were they going to do with it? Just snap pictures and get likes?" "What a clown move to kill it," one commenter said, while another said, "Breeding gar right there, it should've been released."

Benitez replied to the unfavorable comments about his brother's arrest, "We don't waste the meat; we share it with friends and family; nothing goes to waste."