August 29, 2013 – Alligator Hunting on Aqua Hunter
During the 2013 SpearWars Spearfishing Tournament, I was the
lucky winner of the $1,200 Alligator Hunt with Capt Todd Baily of Aqua Hunter.
The trip included Capt Billy Black (the Emcee of the tournament, Force-E Divers, and resident
celebrity) and Tony Grogan and crew were filming the event as well.
We met just before 5pm on Thursday, August 29 at Slim's FishCamp in Belle Glade, FL. Capt Billy, Capt Todd, Tony, and I were on one boat
and Todd's first mate and the camera guys were on the other boat. We made a
slow meandering down the Rim Ditch Canal to shoot some B-roll and get
acquainted with the process and the gear involved.
I do all my fishing by speargun, so I hadn't had a fishing
rod in my hands in quite some time. But, just like riding a bike, there are
certain things you never forget. We made quite a few practice casts to get
familiar with the weight of the gig (weighted treble hooks) with wire leader
and 80lb braided line. One of the most important aspects of this type of gator
hunting is your throwing range. Knowing how far you can throw comes in pretty
handy once you're doing this at night by the lights of their eyes.
Once we were sufficiently warmed up, Capt Todd headed us
North in the canal and within a few minutes spotted a monster out in the
distance. We tried to get close, but the gator was fairly spooked. Given its
size, chances are this was not the first time it had been stalked. Capt Todd
estimated the size at 9ft or so by the head - it didn't breach its body out of
the water.
Finally in range, I prepared to cast, but the alligator sunk
into the murk. I made the cast anyway, but no joy. We opted to head into one of
the feeder canals in the hopes of finding more options. The water was shallow,
the hyacinths were thick, and the muck was chunky. Both boats kept getting
their intakes plugged up causing them to begin to overheat. Needless to say, it
was fairly slow going. It would occasionally open up or clear out and we would
run a bit. We went through the Burned Bridges area and gingerly made it up to
the Treehouse stopping at an old chickee hut along the way to stretch our legs.
Once past at the Treehouse, we opened it up skirting the
edges of the grass to a quicker path back to the Rim Ditch Canal. While it was
a quicker path, it certainly was a narrow one. Capt Todd masterfully piloted
the 22-foot skiff we were on as if he had done it one hundred times before. We
eventually reached the Rim Ditch Canal and headed back to our Tag-Designated
Hunting Area. At this point, it was completely dark and we were spotlighting for
the telltale glowing red eyes of the alligators. We approached three or four
gators, but they submerged themselves before we could get close enough for a
decent throw.
Capt Todd’s home-made headlamp made quite an impression and
certainly made spotting an easy task. I wish I had taken a photo; it was
exceptional comic relief (in a good way). Capt Todd switched to the trolling
motor so we could try to make quieter approaches. As we meandered North toward
where we had seen the big gator earlier, we pitched at a number gators to no
avail. We finally decided to drift in the cove where I had casted on the big
gator previously. Within ten to fifteen minutes, we started spotting eyes
fairly regularly. Still, most were spooky and wouldn’t let us get close enough.
We did have a small (5-6ft) gator swim straight toward the boat, but seeing it
was fairly small, I didn’t make the cast.
We came across a spot where there were several gators on
either side of the Rim Ditch. We tried casting at one and would slide across to
the other when one would submerge. The excitement was building with each sighting
and further with each cast. At one point, I thought I had hooked into a nice
gator, but it turned out to be a submerged log or something equally innocuous.
However, the film crew certainly came out of their lull and rifled into place. A
few minutes of excitement subsided when we realized I was simply hung up and
not hooked up.
There was a bigger gator on the East side of the ditch that surfaced
and submerged in fairly quick succession. I made a throw, but was a little off –
no luck. I suggested Capt Billy Black take a cast – maybe his aim would be
better given his experience. His cast was also a bit off the mark, but fairly
close. Not bad for his first cast of the night. For the record, trying to cast
long distances in the dark is harder than you might think. Your reference point
becomes two beady eyes in the beam of a flashlight. There are none of the
tell-tale distance markers you normally use like trees, reeds, floating
hyacinths, and so forth. All you can do is make your best guesstimate and make
the toss. On top of that, you hear the splash, but you don’t usually see it,
which makes it hard to judge where your hooks might be in relation to the prey.
By the time Capt Billy made his cast and started retrieving
it, I had reeled in my line and was ready for another cast. The gator looked
like he was getting ready to submerge (eyes getting smaller as it starts to go
under), so I decided to put a little extra shoulder into it. The gator was
moving West across the canal and my throw was just to the right of him. As the
weighted treble hook splashed the water, the gator went down. Just as Capt Todd
had taught me, I let it sink and pulled it steadily. As luck would have it, the
gator’s trajectory and my line crossed paths. I felt the line rubbing along its
back and when the resistance kicked in, I set the hook. Fish on! Well, Gator
On!!
The drag of the rod started screaming, the tip of the rod
bent like I had hooked bottom, but the line was steadily moving into the depth
of the canal. Capt Todd maneuvered us closer to the gator while the camera boat
slid into position to catch the action. Keeping steady pressure on the line is
imperative to keep the hooks in place. The gator’s skin is so thick that you’re
not likely to penetrate and really set the hook. Chances are that you’ve just
got the tip of the hook in a piece of loose skin or on one of the ‘horns’ on
the back. Any slack is likely to result in the weight pulling the point out and
losing its grip.
I kept steady pressure on the line cranking us in ever
closer to the gator. He made a couple of quick runs, but clearly had sounded to
the deepest spot he could find at about 15 feet deep. My efforts to try to move
him off the bottom with the rod were pointless. At this point, Capt Todd said
it was time for the grappling hooks. Basically, these are larger versions of
the same treble hooks I’m already using, but with much larger hooks and secured
with thin rope to the gunwales of the boat. This gator clearly had played this
game before.
He kept himself under the boat and each throw came up empty.
It was like he knew where the grapple hook was and simply stepped out of the
way each time Capt Todd tried to secure him. Capt Todd threw more than a dozen
times and each time, the gator slyly stepped aside. Capt Billy joined the fray
and made a few tosses as well. Each of us was strategizing where he must be
based on the bubbles, the movement of the fishing line, and the lack of result
from the previous toss. Finally, Capt Billy found the mark and set the hook. We
would learn later that he caught the left fear foot – just enough to get the
leverage we needed to bring the gator up from the murk.
Still keeping tension on the fishing line, Capt Billy
started pulling the gator up. Not enjoying the disturbance, the gator would take
back the gains that Capt Billy had just finished ratcheting in by hand. Being
sure not to tangle himself in the line, Capt Billy was undeterred and kept
pressure on bringing the gator up. Finally, the tail breached the surface and
nearly our entire boat got wet as what we now realized was a sizeable gator
thrashed about. I think we were all pretty surprised at the size of the gator,
and of course, having him head down is not the optimum position anyway. He
rolled and broke the 80lbs braided line. I traded the fishing pole for another
grapple and made the toss. I hooked up, which gave us a bit more leverage – two
lines meant we had a better than average chance of bringing the gator into the
boat.
Several thrashes and nasty growls later, Capt Todd was
standing by with the Bang Stick. Loaded with a .44 Magnum shell, the stick
basically has to make direct powerful contact to fire the bullet. Capt Todd
expertly placed a shot just behind the eyes. The noise was deafening and the
blowback again sprayed us down. Tony’s camera took a direct splash, so he was
frantically trying to clean the lens to catch more of the action. The gator was
still thrashing about so Capt Billy and I maneuvered the gator around for
another shot. Capt Todd put another well-placed shot into the gator with a
thundering boom. The gator fell limp, and we started to move around to pull it
into the boat. You have to get the head up to tape the mouth shut as a safety
precaution. Their nervous system will sometimes send a reflex action and they’ll
thrash their head around. An unsecure mouth could mean a nasty injury – always better
safe than sorry.
Capt Billy used the push pole to lift the gator’s head while
I reached for the duct tape. I know that the “Gator Boys” prefer electrical
tape, but wider, stickier duct tape was just fine by me. As Capt Billy lifted
the gator’s head up, it turned back and chomped down on the push pole. Capt
Todd was already poised with another shot in the bang stick and made one last
contact to end the struggle. We grabbed a small hand-gaff and Capt Todd
connected under the bottom jaw. I reached down and grabbed the loose skin under
the mouth and pulled him toward the boat.
We brought the head up over the gunwale and I secured the
mouth closed with the duct tape. It took all three of us to lift the gator into
the boat. He was quite the monster. Of course, all the cameras start coming out
with photos all around. There were congratulatory handshakes and Tony doing
play by play. We made our way back to the dock to untangle the mass of
grappling lines and ice down the gator for transport. Measuring it out, it was
exactly 10 feet 6 inches. Apparently, it’s fairly uncommon for a first-timer to
come away with such an amazing trophy, but I credit Capt Todd and crew for
knowing where to go and being excellent teachers.
For the record, I was taught from an early age that you
never point your gun at something you don’t plan to shoot… you don’t shoot
anything you don’t plan to kill… and you don’t kill anything you don’t plan to
eat (except in self-defense, of course). This alligator is no exception. Capt
Todd dropped the gator off at “Skinning and Grinning”, a local wild game
processor. The meat will be sent to a local butcher who specializes in wild
game and is apparently famous for amazing Alligator Sausage. The belly skin
will be tanned over the course of the next year to produce Alligator Leather,
which I will use to make some trophy fashion items. I’ve got designs on a few new
alligator belts, but also lots of wonderful meals with friends and family.
Nothing will go to waste.
I want to take a moment to thank Tony Grogan and his film
crew for taking the time to come out and film the event. I’m sincerely looking
forward to seeing the video after it has been edited. Thanks to Capt Billy
Black for his experience and insight as well as immense help in wrestling the
monster into submission. And of course, sincere thanks to Capt Todd Baily, his
first mate, and Aqua Hunter Charters for not only donating the alligator
adventure to the SpearWars Prize table, but also for giving me an experience
that I will remember for the rest of my life. I had an absolutely amazing time
and clearly, it made quite the impression.
If you ever find yourself interested in going on an Alligator
Hunting Adventure, I would whole-heartedly recommend Captain Todd and Aqua
Hunter. He offers other charters as well including spearfishing, scuba diving,
lobstering, and fishing. Apparently, he’s quite the accomplished bowfisherman
as well. Having been on several of his spearfishing charters (thanks to a previous
donation to the SpearWars tournament prize table), I can tell you that he knows
his way around the ocean just as well as he knows the swamp.
For more information, visit his website: http://www.Aqua-Hunter.com
Contact information:
Aqua Hunter Charters
105 Lake Shore Drive
Lake Park, FL 33403
561-723-4412
About the Author: Dr. Branon A. Edwards is a PADI Certified
Divemaster who has been freediving, scuba diving, and spearfishing since he was
9 years old. He is an accomplished spearfisherman, diver, and hunter and has decades of experience in each.
Disclaimer: Like all hunting activities, Alligator Hunting
is a dangerous sport that requires proper planning, training, experience,
licenses, permits, and ability. As with any wild game, alligators are
unpredictable and nothing replaces experience, professional guidance, and a
multitude of safety precautions. While this story was experienced safely, the
results of this narrative are not common and should not be relied upon as an
expectation of your own experience. Neither the author nor the charter take any
responsibility for the actions of anyone who may read this content. This is a
hazardous activity and is not for everyone. In other words, don’t be a moron –
be safe, pay attention, and avoid danger wherever possible.
