Me and my fishing partner last spring when the water was up in the Nueces river just below Choke, we were fishing for white bass and the river was maybe 30' wide in that one section with a logjam, and this huge gator swam paralell and past my 14' boat at about 10' away, and I remember looking that the huge head on that gator as he got even with me at the front of the boat and as I looked back at my partner he was still starring at the tail, and we almost simultaniously said, "He's as long as the boat!"

It must be that time of year again. About this time every year some one starts the gator thread on choke. Won't be long before the "get rid of the gators on choke" bunch jumps in. My opinion is , just leave them alone. I have had a few run ins with the gators and always give them plenty of room but I love to watch them. They are now and probably always be a part of Choke Canyon. As long as I can launch and run the lake without running over them all day, I say leave them alone and enjoy nature.

I went there also many times back from when it opened in 84/85 until the early 1990's. I'd go when they stocked trout in the lakes. Although I've been around fishing spots that had gators all my life, like Lake Livingston and countless other lakes, ponds, rivers and swamps, I've never seen gators as aggressive as those at Brazos Bend. The fishing was generally good but the gators were everywhere. I'm surprised no one has been killed there in the last 30 years by a gator.

Some friends lived right around the corner from BB State Park in a acre lot type subdivision. As I recall, even the fences couldn't keep out determined gators from the Brazos seeking pets for dinner.

There are a few really big 12'+ gators in Sheldon Resevior too! They too are very very bold!

the biggest gator I've seen at Choke was at least a foot between the eyes...that's no exaggeration and no BS...he looked between 12-14'

There are some muy grande's down there on Choke and just because of their size you will be on the losing end if you get too close and disturb them, intentional or unintentional.

Leaving them alone can sometimes not be enough if they decide they want to be aggressive and approach you, and if that should happen, you need to just retreat from their area.

Their size alone makes them dangerous to anyone in a small boat, so why take the chance?

The gators at Choke tend to minimize the number of jet fleas, and skiers,.....and me.
With me, it's 2 trips per year instead of 4. This way, the chances of being eaten by the gator are cut in half.
Actually, the main problem I have with the gators is that they go where the big bass nest. And, they eat the mama bass and the eggs.

I've seen big gators personally on numerous occasions in Matagorda, on the mainland side and a few miles outside of town, in flooded roadside canals that connect to the bay.

Also raised about an 8 footer in 1987 deep inside Anuhac when casting across her/his nest or something. But the agitated gator was nothing compared to the ka-zillions of mosquitos there that July morning.

Yep, nats, mosquitos, and other flying insects are heck to deal with when you're trying to fish.

First time I ever fished there was last summer in the AM. We are fishing a shallow spot working the bank in the boat. We head down a long bank and about half way down this long bank we spot a gator, in the water watching us. We get to about 15 feet and he slowly goes under water. We weren't sure what to do so we just kept fishing. We go directly over the top of him and look at the fish finder. Its 3.5 feet deep. We get about 10 yards from where he was and he comes back up to the top. We went right over the top of him and he never blinked an eye. it would seem he has done this before............

I once got my jig stuck on ones back down there as he was sunning on a hyrdilla mat. I casted it over it several times and pulled my jig across its back, as soon as it would fall off his back, the fish would nail it. Anyway I pulled up right along side it to retrieve my jig, he didn't move at all, and I figured it had to be about 17ft long. My boat was 21' and I put it no less than a foot from the side of my boat. Its back had to be 3ft wide.

I could not get my jig off, it was stuck pretty good, and he finally went under pulling drag. Eventually I guess I had so much hydrilla on the line that it was able to pull from a different angle, that it free'd my jig. Growing up on that lake and fishing it almost every weekend for yr's I've ran into all kinds of gators and seen some pretty cool things.

19 ft+ is the world record found in Louisiana, 14ft is the Texas Record. A 17 ft gator now will be pushing the world record in about 5 years.

@Choke a couple of years ago...

http://texasalien.com/fishing/MOV01830.MPG

Ive grown up fishing Lewisville and Grapevine. Ive been told stories about gators but they are rarely seen. Im waiting for the day that I actually see a gator here. A little off base but I know bull sharks can survive in fresh water, but can live in completely fresh water? I know they have the rare ability to keep and circulate salt through their body but what about a land locked lake no where near the ocean?

Dump some in ray hubbard and see what happens