Try and catch me!
In the deep south, a monster is accused of a series of violent attacks.
Aah!
A creature as deadly as a shark and as big as a gator is blamed.
Wherever we have alligator gar, there are myths of monsters.
The state authorities said it should be electrocuted.
Now i'm on a mission to get face-To-Face with this river monster... Whoo!
You better be strapped in.
To find out if this animal really is guilty of the crimes it's blamed for.
I'm jeremy wade, a fisherman and a biologist with a passion for freshwater giants.
I've traveled the globe,
Putting my life on the line to find truly monster-Sized fish.
It's become something of an obsession for me
To get into really remote parts of the world
And to find the animals that nobody else can.
But the creatures i hunt and find
Are not just monsters in size, but in attitude, too.
And now i'm on the trail of one that has a reputation for attacking humans.
I've heard some alarming stories of this creature over many years,
But i've never seen one in the flesh.
It's the alligator gar, a truly prehistoric monster.
There are five species of gar that inhabit the united states.
All gar are ancient fish.
They've existed on earth for over 100 million years.
Their survival is in part because of their unique defense system...
Scales made from a super-Hard enamel called ganoin.
This armor plating has seen them survive predatory dinosaurs.
The alligator gar, however, is in a class apart.
Named for the profile of its snout, it's the largest of all gar,
Reaching some 10 feet in length and weighing over 365 pounds.
It has a further defining characteristic... A double row of dagger-Pointed teeth
Along the length of the upper jaw.
But these attributes have not been enough
To defend it against a more modern threat... Man.
Before 1930, their range extended beyond american borders,
But the impact of people means that now they're not found
Above the bootheel of missouri and tennessee.
Alligator gar stand accused of savage attacks on humans.
I've trawled the archives, and all the attacks i've come across
Are concentrated in the deep south.
They certainly have the teeth for it,
But i've been unable to find any hard evidence that these fish are the culprits.
If i'm going to find an alligator gar guilty of these crimes,
I'm definitely looking for a very big fish.
The experts i've spoken to suggest texas is the place
Where the biggest specimens are still to be found.
I'm heading directly to the trinity river, a 710-Mile-Long waterway.
Here people have caught gator gar longer than i am tall.
Bigger when you get close, isn't it?
To help me, i'm recruiting bubba bedre.
He's a specialist in finding alligator gar that weigh over 100 pounds,
Sometimes for food, but normally for bow fishermen after trophies.
But i'm not planning to catch a fish for a trophy.
I want to find out if this creature has committed the crimes it's accused of.
Bubba is taking me straight to a section of the trinity
That he believes holds the best hope of finding large gar.
What we're doing now is we're just drifting with the current,
And we've just come to a... A bend in the river that doubles 'round.
And bubba's just said this is the hole, this is a known haunt,
And i can imagine the current has actually dug out a bit of a...
You know, a bit of a hole in the bottom here.
And apparently they are very aware... More aware than a lot of fish...
Of sort of knocking and noises in the boat.
So, we're literally just drifting with the current.
And just looking to see if we can see them come up and breach.
Gar have a swim bladder that works like a lung,
An adaptation that helps them survive in oxygen-Poor backwaters and creeks.
However, this brings them up to the surface to breathe.
It's a chink in their armor, giving away their presence.
Ooh, yes.
So, they're just... They're just coming up and gulping air and going down?
Yeah. That fish there is mad.
He knows we're here.
Yeah, exactly. Do you know... When he splashes hard like that...
I'd guess... Assume to spook us off.
Yeah, i've come across exactly the same thing in the amazon.
There's a fish there that comes up and gulps air,
And if they do it gently, they don't know you're there.
If they're like that, you think, "oh, that's a good fish,"
But it is actually getting up and going down as quickly as it can.
So it's the same behavior.
The rivers here have murky water.
With visibility limited, gar use a band of highly sensitive vibration receptors
Along their body called the lateral line.
This enables them to locate prey and predators.
To avoid detection, we decide to abandon the boat and fish from the shore.
I'm still experimenting with baits,
And i'm going to start off using a treble hook...
Standard issue for big, predatory fish.
Although the water's muddy, i've seen several come and break the surface.
So, i know they're here.
I know there are fish of 100-Pounds-Plus, you know,
Within a 25-Yard radius of my bait, you know?
That's quite a feeling.
It's one of those moments in fishing where things can go from being very quiet,
Like they are at the moment, to... You know,
Suddenly can have an animal over 100 pounds
On the end of your line, trying to pull you in the water.
But if there is a monster gator gar in these texan waters,
It's not giving itself up easily.
If i'm to find one that fits the crimes it's accused of... Aah!
It has to be at least as big as me, a real river monster.
At lake livingston on the trinity river in texas,
I seek out legendary fisherman bobby fly
For some clues on how to find a giant specimen.
He caught one seven feet long that put him in the hall of fame,
And he believes there are still big gar around on the trinity.
You ain't got to move your boat 100 yards one way or the other
To catch good garfish right there.
Now, i have seen one 14 foot long down there... Garfish.
Oh, really? Mm-Hmm.
I was tied up on top of a willow tree with a 14-Foot flat-Bottom,
And this bad boy come right up beside me and just surfaced right there.
And i seen the front of my boat and the back of my boat,
And i seen fish all the way.
So, i immediately pulled up the slack, undone my rope, and went on to the house.
I didn't hang around.
But this sighting was in 1987, and his record catch was landed in 1991.
Other anglers have pulled out large specimens,
But no fish over 81/2 feet in length has been caught in the last decade.
The big question is... Are there still any gar left
Large enough to commit the attacks they're accused of?
And if so, how will i catch one?
That's interesting. I mean, that's a big, fierce... Bobby fly caught his giant
Using a bait of a carp-Like fish called a buffalo.
And how did you prepare the buffalo to... Okay, you take the buffalo,
And you want a nice one about, oh, 5, 10 pounds.
Then you take a mallet and beat him up.
What, like a hammer?
A mallet.
Well, a... A little baseball bat's what we used.
And you just whup on him real good.
And then you take your claws, your fingernails,
And just get its tail, and you just strip the fins off.
Yeah.
And then you cut him up in little, bitty squares, like 1/4-Inch squares.
And the blood... The reason why you beat on the fish with a mallet
Is to get that blood all into the meat...
'cause that's what they're smelling out there.
They want that blood.
You just put it on that hook and throw it up there.
That's all very interesting.
All i got to do now is go out and try and get something similar-Sized.
Something close to that would make me happy, i think.
Well, you will. You will.
There's some big ones out there.
You go down there, where i told you to go, and you'll be all right.
Bobby fly's optimism about the size of these fish is ringing in my ears.
But i'm still unsure whether this fish is as aggressive as its reputation suggests.
I've heard many stories of these fish attacking humans,
But one particular incident sticks in my mind, a really gruesome report
From the neighboring state, louisiana.
Try and catch me!
On a warm, humid, spring day, a 9-Year-Old schoolgirl, elizabeth grainger,
And her 13-Year-Old brother, george, are playing on the shoreline of the lake.
Race you!
It's not fair. You always win.
Elizabeth, only a few feet away from her brother, dangles her feet in the water.
You always win. You always do.
Aah!
Suddenly something grabs hold of her leg.
Aah!
Dr. Robert b. Payne has worked as a physician for almost 40 years.
But he has never seen wounds like this.
What have we here?
My goodness.
The press report george's claim that what attacked his sister was seven feet long...
And that he believed it to be a garfish.
In his medical report, dr. Payne describes the wounds
As being like coarse needles inserted in a board.
A wave of paranoia soon follows, and the alligator gar is held accountable
For many similar attacks.
Although this was a well-Documented event,
The identity of the attacker rested entirely on the testimony of a 13-Year-Old boy.
But was an alligator gar really the culprit?
Or, with its threatening, prehistoric appearance, was it just an obvious scapegoat?
I turn to mark spitzer, an expert on the gar.
You've got a... Sort of an inch-Thick or so...
Is that what you... Is that the sort...
The official gar history, as far as you've... Well, this is my gar history.
I've been intensely researching gar for the last few years,
And, you know, all over the country,
Wherever we have alligator gar, there are myths of monsters.
These fish were the fishes of nightmares, and so...
I mean, one rumor that was created
Was that these fish eat twice their weight in a day and stuff like that, you know,
And that they attack human beings.
So, i mean, were there lots of stories of that kind of nature?
There was an article that appeared in the new orleans newspaper called
"alligator gar more dangerous than so-Called 'man-Eater' shark."
And here's... This is a copy of the article.
It was written by an anonymous journalist who basically said if you should emerge
From swimming or taking a bath and you find out that you have a limb missing,
Do not blame the shark.
It is probably the alligator gar that did it.
It's where does the fact end and the imagination and... And sort of fantasy start?
The gar can certainly grow to a large size.
And it has a ferocious armory of teeth.
But does this prove an inclination to attack humans?
Is it a natural
I need to find hard evidence.
Using the advice of fishing legend bobby fly, i'm going for a bait of buffalo fish.
This, i hope, will let me get my hands on the alleged culprit.
But i'm learning on the job.
My best hope is to try and get into the mind of the gar.
I've only been here a very short time.
And because so few people fish for these fish...
It's a big, ugly, stupid-Looking fish.
So, let's use fairly basic tackle.
And, you know, normally it's a thick bit of wire,
Some heavy line, and a big treble hook.
I think they're actually quite sensitive.
You know, you can still... You can still be sensitive
Even if you've got sort of a bogey mouth.
And i think thick wire... They actually...
They can feel that when they're chomping on it.
And i think a treble hook, as well...
You know, there's a nice, soft, succulent bit of fish,
And there's... There's something in there.
"now, what's that?"
And i think they can spit it out.
So, i'm using a single hook.
And the thing about that... It can just fold down nicely.
It's not sticking out like... You know, three points on it.
Both mark and i cast lines into the river, but it's the bait on the single hook
That gets picked up.
Something's got it.
It's moving. It's moving around to the left.
Is it?
Yeah, it is.
I need to let the line run very freely to avoid the fish realizing
The bait's attached to anything.
Something's taken off. It's on the end.
It's stopped.
It's off again. He's off again.
Really? Yeah, really.
It's good. It's the line.
All right, it's gonna be very soon.
Yeah.
Oh, i think it's off.
Aw.
Oh, no. No, no. No, no.
It's coming toward us.
That's a small... I think it's a turtle or a small fish.
It's coming in very easily.
Or it's a little gar. Is that a needle nose?
Look at that greedy thing, that greedy thing.
Ah!
This gator gar has eyes bigger than its stomach.
But at three feet long, it's a chance for me to test
Whether these fish have an aggressive character.
Right.
They grow 18 inches their first year.
So it's probably, you know, between a year and two.
That tongue's interesting, isn't it?
Yeah.
There's those two rows of... Of teeth on the top.
These teeth are 3/8 of an inch long,
1/4 of the length of those of a fully grown gator gar.
Unh!
That's it.
Oh, my god, you got bit, huh?
I was just in there trying to get the hook out.
Score one for the fish. Yeah.
That's a very young alligator gar with a big appetite.
I'm just gonna lob him back in the water... Whoops!
Back in the water.
My idea that the gar is just a misunderstood,
Big, ugly, stupid fish has caught me out.
Maybe it does deserve its reputation, after all.
This fish has actually still got a lot of energy left.
I brought it in on very heavy gear.
So it's actually got a lot of energy left.
Normally they'd be pretty tired out.
I think i'm just gonna slide him over the side,
Well ahead of our next fishing spot.
So, here we go. Back you go.
Even a fish this small has managed to draw blood.
Good battle scars.
But you can see the sort of... The cut on it.
This is a setback to my theory that the gator gar may have been unfairly blamed
For these violent attacks.
The consequences, if this fish were scaled up to a monstrous 8 to 10 feet,
Are beginning to hit home.
When you think about a gar that size with teeth to match and a body like a torpedo,
It really is a terrifying prospect.
You've just got a living weapon of destruction.
That was just a gentle brush with its teeth.
Okay, it wasn't particularly deep, but they certainly drew blood.
Whoops! Back in the water.
Yet this alligator gar is only three feet long.
Aah!
George grainger reported that what bit his sister was seven feet long.
And other reports state that these fish can reach double that length.
Now, i have seen one 14 foot long down there.
Its reputation for vicious attacks on humans is beginning to appear justified.
It's no wonder that people took fright
When you consider a beast of those dimensions
With a couple of hundred razor-Sharp teeth.
But i still don't have hard proof.
I believe the jury is still out.
In past times, for many of those living in the deep south,
This was a fish guilty as charged,
One that should be eradicated from all rivers and lakes.
So, they took it really seriously, then,
The whole business of "let's clear these things out of the water."
"they're... You know, they're an abomination.
They're not fit to sort of share the planet with us."
They obviously look guilty.
Therefore, they must be responsible for these occasional instance
Where someone gets their leg bitten or whatever.
But... But... But where's the evidence?
Basically, they look scary, and so that added to people
Just wanting to run them out of town.
And so they were run out of town.
I mean, i heard of, you know, just sort of heaps of them up in the... You know.
Yeah, bulldozered piles, lots of people shooting them,
Just a very despised, hated fish.
In 1933, the texas game fish commission began a campaign of extermination.
They built an electric gar destroyer,
Rigged with a 200-Volt electric net to kill the fish.
Over the next three decades, millions of gar were destroyed,
In an effort to be rid of them forever.
Perhaps the prejudice that the alligator gar has always suffered
Explains the extreme fishing methods used to catch them today.
Unless they get the protection they need to reach full size,
Giant alligator gar may well be wiped out.
Now in texas, for the first time, the parks and wildlife authorities
Are trying to work out what the cost has been to the gar population.
On the lower trinity, we're en route to set what are called juglines,
Baited hooks attached to floats.
Our plan is to catch as many gator gar as possible
And then monitor them with electronic tags.
Dr. Dave buckmeier leads this project.
Dave, what's the state of knowledge on the gar at the moment?
Alligator gar, along with other gars and buffalo and things,
Have always been considered kind of rough fish,
Which no one really cared much about.
Is that the same as trash fish?
"trash fish" would be another common name for it.
And so there was actually even efforts to try and eradicate alligator gar
And other gars from populations
'cause they were believed to have eaten desirable fish, if you will,
Largemouth bass and things that we have, catfish.
They have recently been listed as vulnerable by the american fisheries society,
And that's because in most states they're definitely on the decline.
Yeah.
So, we have some real reasons for concerns about this species.
Shall i chuck this out?
Yeah, go ahead. Throw that one out there.
And it unwinds itself, does it?
Yeah, they just... As the bait sinks, it'll unwind.
And then that lies on the bottom and just... Right, and that lies on the bottom,
And when the gar come up to feed they'll kind of comb the bottom, pick up the bait,
And usually run with it for 15, 20 minutes.
And after we're confident they've swallowed it, we'll go pick up the bait.
It's spinning nicely there. It looks like it's gone to rest.
Not much research has yet been done, but it's thought few gator gar
Reach their maximum life-Span of 60 years.
As we move on to set more lines,
There's a call from the opposite bank of the river.
We've actually just put out some juglines and nets,
But some local guys here... They've got a trotline out,
A line going across the river with hooks at intervals.
And they've just pulled a small gar out on that.
So, the first fish actually now is gonna be tagged,
And then all the measurements taken.
930, and 78 is the tag number.
The tag will provide the biologists with data
About which areas of the trinity river the gar are using
So they can formulate a plan to protect the species.
Sounds like a visit to the dentist but actually quite appropriate
Because the scales of these things are very... Made of something called ganoin,
Which is actually very similar to tooth enamel.
So, hence the need for a drill, just to penetrate that body armor.
Engineered like medieval chain mail, the gar's suit of armor is built
From thick, diamond-Shaped scales, providing a formidable defense against attack.
They're so hard that native americans used them for arrowheads.
And the fish... I can't even feel it tensing.
It's just lying here very, very calmly, wet towel over it... Over the eyes, as well.
That has just come out of a very muddy river,
Where it can't see much into the bright light.
Unlike my last experience, this young gar displays no aggressive behavior.
If you'll read that number, the top number.
Okay, this is 44433?
We're gonna just let that one go.
Okay.
The gar is released unharmed.
Ohh!
I guess he wanted to go. He wanted to go.
The electronic tag will now send a signal to a series of receivers
To monitor the fish's movements.
After several hours, the scientists' own search is finally successful.
Nothing on the juglines, but one caught in a net... A two-Foot gar.
There are no signs of any monster-Sized fish.
It looks like the population of these fish is in a worse state than i thought.
Maybe in the old days, when these fish were literally everywhere,
Crude techniques would work.
But now i think i'm going to have to develop an approach
That is more precise and targeted.
I'm determined to get face-To-Face with a giant gar
And find out the truth behind its monstrous reputation.
I'm heading for the aquarium in athens, texas,
Where curator wayne heaton keeps some gator gar.
I need to know more about the business end of these fish,
Just what exactly their teeth are capable of.
I think, as far as a lot of people are concerned, this is very close to a shark.
And it's in freshwater. It's in a river near you.
You know? Sort of, "don't go in the water."
Unfortunately, with us, especially if it's something we don't know much about,
We always assume the worst.
And so you see a big 6-, 7-, 8-Foot gar hit the surface with these monstrous teeth,
The first thing that comes to your mind is, "well, i'm not getting in the water."
Well, you know, and these teeth...
They're not like our teeth. They're not kind of blunt.
You know, we kind of have a few sharp ones for tearing or whatnot.
These things are made to... Whenever they grab something, it's theirs.
And so these teeth are very, very sharp.
I wonder if perhaps they're a bit simple-Minded
And they're just sort of programmed... Even if it was dead,
They're still programmed to sort of like keep it clamped
For a little while before properly swallowing it.
When they grab it, they kind of want to make sure
It's something that they're gonna be able to swallow.
So, you might see them hold it for a minute
To make sure that that's what they want.
And once they decide to eat it, you'll start see them moving it in their mouth,
And then to the point where they'll actually swallow it.
But then, once it's there... Even though it's a big mouth, it's...
You know, that process seems to be quite a slow process.
Right. They will do it at their leisure.
They're in no hurry because once they have that in their mouth,
They know it's not going nowhere.
So, if it's something that's got quite a bit of fight,
They'll just keep that mouth closed
Until it wears itself out to where they can swallow it.
You're not gonna have something in the water to try to find the gar.
You're basically gonna let that gar come to you.
And he's gonna grab it.
And so when he grabs it, you might not want to try to set the hook
Right when he grabs it because he might be still deciding
Whether he wants it or not.
But once he gets to where he wants to swallow it
And then you set the hook, you better be strapped in.
With the knowledge that i need a cautious, patient approach,
I hire another fishing guide, mark malfa,
To take me to a fresh section of the trinity river.
My plan... To hold off setting the hook
Until i'm sure the gator gar has properly taken the bait.
That was definitely a fish moving off.
Mm-Hmm, for sure.
Not a damn thing.
This is actually very, very frustrating fishing.
I mean, something definitely had that in its mouth
'cause it moved it several yards.
But when i tighten down, there's nothing there.
And really, you know, just talking to people who fish here,
There's not much that anybody's told me that's any use.
I mean, very few people fish for these.
Bobby fly caught his by accident.
And the fishing that is done on rod and line is pretty basic.
You know, it does work.
It's a fairly low-Percentage success rate.
You chuck out a lump of dead fish like this and you wait
And you let it take it for a long time.
And most times you tighten down, there's nothing on the end,
But, you know, sometimes there is,
And it hasn't really got any more sophisticated than that.
But that was another half-Hour with nothing to show at the end of it.
But focused on my target, i fish on, towards dusk.
What do you reckon... Tighten down?
Yeah.
All right.
Normally, gar are caught before the water begins to cool down,
Well before the sun sets.
That's gone off. It's gone off again.
Most guides give up fishing by midafternoon.
Set it. Set it. Set it. Set it. Set it.
There we go.
That's it.
Please be on it. You feel something?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a fish.
Oh, yes!
Yes!
Whoo-Hoo!
Oh, it's gone under the boat, under the boat, under the boat, under the boat.
Just keep the tip away.
That soaked me.
I'm here, 4 feet above the water, and i got a splashing.
Yes!
Finally it seems i am going to get face-To-Face with my river monster. Whoo!
I'm hooked into my target, a river monster with a fearsome reputation...
The alligator gar.
It's pulling down. It's pulling down.
Look at that rod tip.
Let's get him up. Let's get him up.
After fishing for 12 hours straight, just as dusk turns to night,
I set my eyes on the giant fish.
Do you want me to do it?
The most dangerous part of gar fishing is bringing the fish aboard the boat.
Coming over.
Oh, there we go!
That's what we wanted.
That's exactly what we wanted.
That is exactly what we wanted. That's a proper-Sized fish.
As the gar comes aboard, it thrashes its snout from side to side like a scythe.
I haven't forgotten that 3-Footer that got me.
This fish is almost 7 feet long.
Single hook.
Single hook, single hook.
Yeah!
We've done it. We've done it.
Fantastic, mark. That was really... Ooh.
Unh! Unh! Unh! Whoo-Hoo-Hoo!
Okay. You got the gaff handle?
Yes.
All right. So, this will go in here.
Okay.
The teeth of this gar are another half-Inch longer
Than those that scarred me earlier.
It's 123, 123 pounds.
Good, good. Good, good.
Yes.
Finally getting my hands on the fish and seeing it face-To-Face,
I can begin to weigh up the evidence.
Actually laying hands on this prehistoric beast.
This is fantastic.
I mean, this is the creature that i came here to see.
I mean, you hear people say... Like mark...
That these things... They won't just devour a bait.
They will just... They're so fiddly, though.
They will just sit and chew it and... Maybe spit it out.
You know, i've had fish take 100 yards of line, even.
In 15, 20 minutes, you tighten down, and there's just nothing on the end.
Gar don't bite pieces off their prey.
They only eat what they can swallow whole.
This puts humans off the menu.
For all this fierce reputation, you know, they do seem to be...
You know, they certainly look the part,
Though i'm not sure that they actually act up to the part.
Ooh, what a thing, what an animal.
This gator gar seems too gentle-Natured to cause deliberate harm.
Interesting that here's the bait.
You know, it hasn't taken it down.
The bait is... Oh, there we go. There we go. There we go.
Yeah, girl, don't worry.
You're going back in the water in a moment.
Maybe we'll throw that afterwards as a little consolation.
But that was interesting... When it just did that,
The whole upper jaw sort of expanded, didn't it?
You know, when it actually came up and gulped.
You can actually see the gaps where there's actually flesh in between,
And the head's allowed to expand.
Right through these two little veins right through here and up through here...
You see that separation of the jaw?
That actually gives.
There's flesh in between these areas, as well as up in through here.
See that? This is solid, solid.
Right here's flesh that attaches the joints.
So it allows the head to flex and move.
The skin that joins these armored plates allows the gar's jaw to expand...
But not so much that it could consume a person or even a human limb.
It's very tempting just to keep it out and admire it, you know?
But i think what is important... Although this animal is an air breather,
I think it is very much time to get it back in.
So, i think one last look, and back in the water.
Up. Ohh!
Let's see how it's doing. Okay, you got it?
Okay. It's very hard to hold.
And you got the heavier end.
I've got the heavy end. I've got the bony end.
This female gator gar measures 6'8".
She's longer than i am tall.
Then, once again, the gar draws blood.
She has a 14-Inch-Long mouth, full of some 500 teeth.
That's not actually the teeth of the animal, though, is it?
That is the back of a scale or some scales.
Slicing across your... Yeah, as the fish... My hand...
With the weight of the fish on my forearm there, the fish just slid back.
Sliding that way is fine.
Sliding this way, the points...
The rear points of these triangular scales stuck in.
The native americans used to use them as arrowheads, and i can sort of see why now.
I've got a big, old scrape down my arm there from the scales.
Anyway, should we get, uh... I believe i've seen enough to clear the gar's name.
You've got that, yeah?
It's time to return the specimen to the wild
And reflect on other possible suspects.
Okay.
Lift that. Okay.
Bye-Bye, baby.
There it goes. There it goes.
Excellent.
Wow.
Has the clue been there all along, in the very name the alligator gar shares
With another predator?
If you put legs on that, it would just be like an alligator.
It would get up and walk.
Is the real culprit the animal it could so easily be mistaken for... Aah!
The american alligator?
After years of one-Sided testimony, it's time for the jury to review the verdict
On the guilt of the gator gar.
There must be a more logical culprit for the many incidents
That have been blamed on the gar.
In the same rivers and lakes that they inhabit,
There are also many american alligators.
Not only do they share the same habitats... They have similar teeth.
Their size and the profile of their snouts
Could easily be confused, one for the other.
I've come to this alligator park in southern texas
To get a look at some of the other characters
That share the water with the alligator gar
'cause i've got a sneaking feeling that, actually,
The alligator gar has taken the rap for somebody else.
And it could be these characters here.
What i really want to do is get a fairly close look
At the equipment of the alligator.
And what would be really good would be to actually see them in action, as well.
But i think that part of it is probably best left to gary.
Gary saurage is a key witness for the gar's defense.
He understands the crucial difference
Between the behavior of a fish and an alligator.
You can imagine an animal like this would have no problem taking a full-Grown man.
They're sneaky. They're tremendously patient.
And these animals right here... There's no telling how many deaths
They're really responsible for every year.
This is the apex hunter in the united states of america right here.
Let's say it's a hot summer day.
You decide you're gonna dip your feet in the water a little bit.
They're dangling down, and... Wow! They come on up and hit.
When the alligator's hunting his prey, he'll shoot up out of the water,
And they'll grab whatever limb he can get.
And on the way down, he'll do a death roll.
And if you were to resist that, it's whatever limb he gets,
Whether it be hand, finger, or toes, it's coming off.
The alligator gar doesn't have near the pressure.
The american alligator can bite down with 3,000 pounds per square inch.
And i'm sure many, many times folks may think
That it's an alligator gar on a bad bite, but you can rest assured it's not.
It's normally the american alligator.
Gar have neither the power nor the attitude
For premeditated violent attacks on humans.
Alligator gar don't chew.
So they only eat stuff big enough that they can swallow whole.
Depending on the size of the gar,
It depends on what size the food item that they'll eat.
But a good 6- To 8-Foot gar could very easily take out a 12- To 14-Inch fish.
I'm left in little doubt that many of the attacks attributed to gator gar
Are far more likely to be the work of the american alligator.
I've heard all these myths about the alligator gar,
You know, ripping people's legs off, chopping alligators in half,
Generally terrorizing the neighborhood.
But what's interesting is, since having come here and spoken to people
Who actually know about this fish and having spent some time myself on the river,
I've got this idea that it's actually just got a bad p.R. Agent.
I think it's a bit of a pussycat.
It just so happens that here is a tank with some very big alligator gar in,
And this is actually my chance to test my theory for myself.
I've been at the sharp end of a 3-Foot gator gar's teeth.
Whoops!
Back in the water.
I've felt the muscle power held in the serpentine body "of a 6'8" monster.
It's 123, 123 pounds.
But now i've got to walk the talk.
I've got to venture into the gar's own underwater world.
None of the gar show any intent to harm me.
In my view, it's the alligator gar itself that has been the victim.
It's amazing to get this close.
This fish really is a miracle of evolution, a true survivor.
But if anyone is gonna see the real giants,
This fish needs to be allowed to grow without persecution.
Maybe then we'll get to see those 14-Footers again.
That was... That... That was... That was an experience.
Ohh. I have to say, the size... The size and the aspect of those fish, though,
When i first saw them, was really quite intimidating.
But i think this is a very, very misunderstood animal, and i think it really is time
That we just try to understand this fish a little bit better.