A man has caught an enormous 300-pound alligator gar in a Texas river, comparing it to "walking a T-rex."
The fish was caught by angler Payton Moore in a river not far from Houston. Moore posted footage of the catch to his YouTube channel, WILD LIFE.
A couple of minutes into the video, which can be seen here, Moore's rod catches on something large. At first, Moore thought the line must have snagged a tree branch.
However, the monster then began tugging on the line, dragging it further into the depths.
"I can barely hold on to him," Moore says in the video. "It's like walking a T-rex...this is a massive fish."
As Moore continues to grapple with the creature, he says it may be the biggest fish he's ever hooked.
Moore's rod can be seen bending down towards the river as the animals swims once again, back into the depths.
"Every time I think I'm going to muscle him up, he muscles me back down," he says.
Payton finally manages to pull the "absolute dinosaur" out of the water, revealing its enormous size.
The fish measured 8 feet and 2 inches long. After measuring it, Moore released the gar back into the river.
Alligator gars are the biggest of the gar species. The fish only live in North and Central America and are known for their large size
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, a gar caught in Mississippi weighing 327 pounds broke the world record. The state record for the heaviest caught is 302 pounds.
Moore told Newsweek that "it didn't feel like anything [he's] ever hooked before."
"Normally, you can feel a fish's movement through the line, like the shaking of its head or the beat of its tail, but not with this fish. It felt almost like I had hooked into slow-moving vehicle," he said. "No small or quick movements, just an immense weight moving from one side to the other whenever it wanted...It wasn't until I noticed it was longer than my 8ft fishing rod that I began to realize exactly how large the fish actually was."
Alligator gar population numbers are decreasing because of habitat destruction and overfishing. Their preferred habitat consists of large, slow rivers, which often become restructured or dredged.
The fish are protected in many areas. In Texas, authorities have imposed a "one-per-day bag limit" on the species.
"These incredible fish are native and beneficial to the ecosystems they inhabit. Hopefully, anyone watching this video will come away with a greater appreciation for these very special animals," Moore told Newsweek.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
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