I got a phone call from Capital Punishment yesterday asking me what I was doing last night. I told him just working on the boat, not much. He then asked if I wanted to go on the first day of Gator season with him. After me humming and swaying back and forth Jeff says, listen to you, you little wimp (he really said something different) :scold: . Mister offshore hunter can’t handle a little Gator hunting. Well those were fighting words plus I’ve always wanted to do this anyways so off we go to his lease in the Stick Marsh in Fellsmere at 5:30 last night.

We get on the water before dark and park ourselves in the middle of the lake to hear the sounds of billions of bugs, :eek: this must have been some type of hatching as once it got dark and started our search of the two Gator’s we could hardly even see 20 feet from the boat the bugs were so bad. We ran by probably 50 or so Gator’s but they weren’t big enough. Like 10 footers are small!

We ended up in the back canal and away from the herds of bugs to find hundreds and hundreds of Gator’s near a spillway. We still didn’t see the one so we ran the canal for sometime to final get a shot at the first Gator, harpoon is off and I jump down and start pulling in the buoy line to find out that the water is only 2’ deep. Up comes the Gator and off goes the power head subduing our first of two. Now the fun part, getting it in the boat! After about 30 minutes of push, pull, drag and cuss he’s finally in. Drink a beer and off for our last companion.

After about an hour of running past several hundred Gator’s it was getting late and the fuel level was diminishing we saw another victim and off the drill goes again, harpoon, pull buoy, power head and push, pull, drag and cuss only this time this boy just didn’t want to give up. After 6 shots to the head and 30 minutes to get him in the boat he still had some strength to move around on the boat floor.

Off to the processing plant in Fort Pierce we go, drop off the Tails a few pictures and I made it back home last night/am at 4:30…

Defiantly a fun and wild experience I might say! Here are a couple of pictures not the best but we were tired. :toast:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/lookoutbelow/JeffandIGatorHunting003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/lookoutbelow/JeffandIGatorHunting004.jpg

Well done.

As a duck hunter who likes to use a small retriever, those are my favorite type of gator pics.

Just out of curiosity, what are gators worth "in the round" these days.

oh wow, how long and how heavy ?!

Harpoon? What kind?
I went last year at Lake Istapoga and they were real skittish. We had a hard time getting our 2. Getting up close enough to them to stick 'em with a harpoon would've been almost impossible.

Stick Marsh! Oh Yeeaaaah.

I love swamp-grouper, good job guys.

Pics look great them look like good eating plus story to tell for awhile great
thanks

Harpoon? What kind?
I went last year at Lake Istapoga and they were real skittish. We had a hard time getting our 2. Getting up close enough to them to stick 'em with a harpoon would've been almost impossible.


Ratworks are the most popular from what I've been told.http://www.gatorguides.com/ratworks.htm

They are throw-able but you still have to be close. I'm making my own copy cat, Hopefully posting a report soon.

that is some big gators lol

Ratworks are the most popular from what I've been told.http://www.gatorguides.com/ratworks.htm

They are throw-able but you still have to be close. I'm making my own copy cat, Hopefully posting a report soon.

Cool link.

Ratworks are the most popular from what I've been told.http://www.gatorguides.com/ratworks.htm

They are throw-able but you still have to be close. I'm making my own copy cat, Hopefully posting a report soon.

Ratworks harpoons look awful heavy & bulky to me. Plus you could build the same thing from parts at Ace hardware for less than half the price.
We bought a harpoon head and bang stick from this guy this year http://www.huntfishsupply.com/
This stuff is super high quality and will last a lifetime. The harpoon is going to be backup this year though. I bought a crossbow and were gonna try to stick em with that this year.
Man, I cant wait till next week

Ratworks harpoons look awful heavy & bulky to me. Plus you could build the same thing from parts at Ace hardware for less than half the price.


Thats why I'm makeing my own harpoon heads with speargun standard 6mm threaded ends so I can use any slip tip or screw on beco type powerhead. $15 at ace plus a $30 ray odor tip sounds alot better.

Very nice LOB, That is a tough area to get and looks like you had a great time. It's awesome you can call Carl any time of night and drop them off and not have to deal with them again. What were the lenghts on those two. I am ready for Lake O and blue cypress in the next following weeks

I'll be in the St Johns next wednesday night. We'll be using a crossbow with a modified fish arrow. I'll post a full report.