A 327-pound alligator gar caught by rod-and-reel angler Kenny Williams from Chotard Lake in Issaquena County, MS on Monday may surpass the standing IGFA record for the species–by nearly 50 pounds!
Williams’ fish measured 8-feet, 5.25 inches, with a 47.95-inch girth.
According to the International Game Fish Association web site, the current all-tackle world record alligator gar weighed 279 pounds and was caught from the Rio Grande River in Texas in 1951.
“At first I didn’t think he was that big. But as I was getting him into the boat, it was like, ‘How big is this thing?’ It was a lot of effort just to get him into the boat,” Williams told WAPT-TV in Jackson, Miss. “I don’t even know how to describe it. It was just huge and hard to get into the boat.”
The weight of the toothy, prehistoric-looking gar was verified by biologists with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, according to the news report.
Williams, who resides in Vicksburg, Miss., donated his catch to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, where it will be mounted and displayed.