GATOR Catch, while fishing for Sunnies !

Myself and Clayton (The wildman of the navidad) fished lake Texana the other day and the fishing was extremely slow! We fished form 10am till 3pm and only caught five fish. The biggest was a Fresh Water Drum. A nice Redear was also caught. The highlight of the trip was a small Alligator that Clayton caught on live worms using a float. The hook was on it's upper mouth and was easily taken out with a pair of needle nose pliers. The gator was released unharmed. We saw several gators that were bigger. Spending a day catching fish and gators. It just don't get any better!

Nice report Chuck!

Gonna have to start calling that boy Amos Moses!

Yes Sir that name will fit Clayton for sure! I am beginning to understand why they called him the "Wildman of the navidad"!

it was priceless

I've never held one until that day they are weird creatures

Totally AWESOME!



Side Note: FANTASTIC also!

ya'll gonna try to eat that drum? I think I'll try a small one on the grill next time.

Bahahajah aww man haven't heard that song in years

I heard Drum was pretty good eating. I have never tried them! May have to give it a try. As for the one I caught It was a hook sallower and was weighted for a water body record for Fresh Water Drum, Texana. The weight of the fish was 3.48 Lbs. The fish will be used for cut bait.

Nice! That lake is full of gators! I caught one a few years ago that size and placed him gently in an empty ice chest till a friend returned to fish. I asked him to fetch me a brew from the box. The hiss of that enormous dinosaur upon opening the box left my friend scrambling for high ground! Then the tiny lizard slid gently back into the Navidad river basin! I still wear the grin! Thanks for the pics!

Poor man's lobster right there. Just get the bones out and you can't tell me it doesn't taste good.

I hardly ever catch them anymore next time i do i'll cook me up some drum

Drum is fine eating,fresh hot etc
Not real bad cold but . . . . not as good
Always crack their skulls and fetch up the pearls
They call'em drum for a reason

I fried one one time. The texture was a little weird.

pearls like balls in there head i must aquire

Thanks guys for the replies. You never know what you are going to catch!

That is one thing NOT on my bucket list! Have only seen gators at Choke Canyon and a couple of them were huge.



Side Note: Congrats on yet another record! What is the catch&release size minimum on a gator?



Good job guys!

Seems like gators being protected have made an impact on their population, hearing about and seeing more lately.

Thanks Curtis and Andrew for the replies. Curtis I think the size minimum for gators is 8 feet. Crocks is 10 feet. Andrew. I think we saw about six gators that day. A couple of them has some descent size.

lol Curtis that's the first thing I asked CD was "is this a record bro" I'm ate up with the recorditis

If only that gator had gills!

Be aware of where you put your fingers when fishing around brush piles and log jams.
I almost touched one that was laying next to a couple of logs blending in with among several logs one time while fishing the Nueces.
That four footer must have been asleep as it never moved, and I jumped back screamed like a little girl.

Yes Sir Jim those gators came come up from just about anywhere!





Side Note: They have spotted that big 12 footer in Calaveras Lake these past couple of weeks. Saw it on the news. That gator has been in that lake for about two years now!

Nice drum Chuck. Also Congtatulations on yet another record fish. Lord knows how many.



Side note. Great gator catch. See a lot of them on the Nueces by Three Rivers. I also heard that CPS is just going to leave the gator in Cally alone.

Down in the Beaumont area those drum are called gaspergoo. They have a run in the spring like white bass and it is a big event in the bayous. They are good eating and good fighters for their size. I've caught them and eaten them that were in the 5 lb area and they are stronger than bass. When they get much bigger than 5 lbs their flesh gets coarse and they are not as good to me.

Thanks Gitter and texdanm for the replies. Gitter: Did you guys see the Gator when you fished Cally the other day? I heard the same that CPS was going to leave it alone. Texdanm: I never ate a fresh water drum before but have heard they taste pretty good. The closest fish I ate to a Gaspergoo was a freshwater Red Drum!



Side Note: Good fighting fish.

Gatoritis.


Side Note: Kayaked Cally last week for Reds and did not see any Gators.

Good deal. Friends of mine who have fished the lake this past week said the same. Lots of places for the gator to hide.

Gator Alert! Friends of mine fished Calaveras Tuesday morning and saw the gator over by the 181 cove. They said they also talked with other anglers on the lake who fish Calaveras regularly and they say the see the gator a lot.

Fished Cally last week. Did not see it!