If the pictures post then what you are seeing is a 13' 4" gator me and the wife, Louann, caught. He was not overly fat, maybe 650# to 700#. Still be was heavy enough to where with 2 rods, a 50# and a 80#, we could not get him up. After messing with him for about 45 minutes we finally had the bright idea to attach one of our snag hooks to a piece of harpoon line. Figured that with the heavier rope to hold on to we could put more pressure on him.
Problem was keeping both rods hooked up and working the rope with the hook too. First time I drug it up to him and tried to set it he went crazy, knocking out not only the hook on the rope but also one of the hooks on a rod. Got lucky in that the one the wife had, the 50# one, stayed in.
And did I mention that a gator will give a rope burn?
Takes a couple of efforts but we finally get the second big rod back hooked up. Then we try the rope trick again. This time we pulled him up VERY slow hoping that he would no bolt. So you've got to picture this. Wife has both rods and I've got the rope in one hand and the harpoon in the other. He comes up nice and easy.......and I blow it. He bolts at just the instant I try and set the harpoon. Rope hook falls out but wife manages to hold on to both rods.
Get up over him again and set the rope hook again. This time the harpoon hits good. Takes a few minutes but we put 2 more into him and then haul him up to bangstick.
Now he's dead but he is so darn heavy that after we get him taped there is no way, even with the block & tackle we carry in the boat, 3/4 inch rope and a REAL set of blocks, we can get him over the stern. So we set about lashing him to the side. Have to do that because, as you'd know, there is not another boat in sight.
And it's well over 15 miles back to the ramp!
So we start idling along with him lashed to the side. Go about a mile or so when the wife gets this idea that we can pull up under this dock, the only one for miles!, and then use the block & tackle to hoist the gator up a bit and then use the boat motor to shove the boat under the gator. Hard to explain it but it sounds like a good idea.
We push up next to the dock and as we're trying to figure out how to attach things here comes a OLD commercial bait fisherman. He agrees to help. After about 10 minutes of him and I pulling on the gator and the wife hauling on the B&T we have gotten nowhere.
Next thing he and I know the wife hops out of the boat, into neck deep water, pushes the boat hard against the dock so it can't move and starts yelling at us to pull on the gator while she lifts and shoves the back end!
It's amazing how seeing a woman do something so crazy will get you going. Took about 5 minutes and he was on the stern. I don't think the old fisherman will ever be the same.
If you look at the pictures you can see that she is soaked. Woman is not right.........
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw