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Old 08-30-2013, 08:56 PM   #1
branon
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Thumbs up Aqua Hunter Gator Hunt - SpearWars BBO Prize Package

August 29, 2013 – Alligator Hunting on Aqua Hunter

During the 2013 SpearWars Spearfishing Tournament, I was the lucky winner of the $1,200 Alligator Hunt with Capt Todd Baily of Aqua Hunter. The trip included Capt Billy Black (the Emcee of the tournament and resident celebrity) and Tony Grogan and crew were filming the event as well.

We met just before 5pm on Thursday, August 29 at Slim's Fish Camp in Belle Glade, FL. Capt Billy, Capt Todd, Tony, and I were on one boat and Todd's first mate and the camera guys were on the other boat. We made a slow meandering down the Rim Ditch Canal to shoot some B-roll and get acquainted with the process and the gear involved.

I do all my fishing by speargun, so I hadn't had a fishing rod in my hands in quite some time. But, just like riding a bike, there are certain things you never forget. We made quite a few practice casts to get familiar with the weight of the gig (weighted treble hooks) with wire leader and 80lb braided line. One of the most important aspects of this type of gator hunting is your throwing range. Knowing how far you can throw comes in pretty handy once you're doing this at night by the lights of their eyes.

Once we were sufficiently warmed up, Capt Todd headed us North in the canal and within a few minutes spotted a monster out in the distance. We tried to get close, but the gator was fairly spooked. Given its size, chances are this was not the first time it had been stalked. Capt Todd estimated the size at 9ft or so by the head - it didn't breach its body out of the water.

Finally in range, I prepared to cast, but the alligator sunk into the murk. I made the cast anyway, but no joy. We opted to head into one of the feeder canals in the hopes of finding more options. The water was shallow, the hyacinths were thick, and the muck was chunky. Both boats kept getting their intakes plugged up causing them to begin to overheat. Needless to say, it was fairly slow going. It would occasionally open up or clear out and we would run a bit. We went through the Burned Bridges area and gingerly made it up to the Treehouse stopping at an old chickee hut along the way to stretch our legs.

Once past at the Treehouse, we opened it up skirting the edges of the grass to a quicker path back to the Rim Ditch Canal. While it was a quicker path, it certainly was a narrow one. Capt Todd masterfully piloted the 22-foot skiff we were on as if he had done it one hundred times before. We eventually reached the Rim Ditch Canal and headed back to our Tag-Designated Hunting Area. At this point, it was completely dark and we were spotlighting for the telltale glowing red eyes of the alligators. We approached three or four gators, but they submerged themselves before we could get close enough for a decent throw.

Capt Todd’s home-made headlamp made quite an impression and certainly made spotting an easy task. I wish I had taken a photo; it was exceptional comic relief (in a good way). Capt Todd switched to the trolling motor so we could try to make quieter approaches. As we meandered North toward where we had seen the big gator earlier, we pitched at a number gators to no avail. We finally decided to drift in the cove where I had casted on the big gator previously. Within ten to fifteen minutes, we started spotting eyes fairly regularly. Still, most were spooky and wouldn’t let us get close enough. We did have a small (5-6ft) gator swim straight toward the boat, but seeing it was fairly small, I didn’t make the cast.

We came across a spot where there were several gators on either side of the Rim Ditch. We tried casting at one and would slide across to the other when one would submerge. The excitement was building with each sighting and further with each cast. At one point, I thought I had hooked into a nice gator, but it turned out to be a submerged log or something equally innocuous. However, the film crew certainly came out of their lull and rifled into place. A few minutes of excitement subsided when we realized I was simply hung up and not hooked up.

There was a bigger gator on the East side of the ditch that surfaced and submerged in fairly quick succession. I made a throw, but was a little off – no luck. I suggested Capt Billy Black take a cast – maybe his aim would be better given his experience. His cast was also a bit off the mark, but fairly close. Not bad for his first cast of the night. For the record, trying to cast long distances in the dark is harder than you might think. Your reference point becomes two beady eyes in the beam of a flashlight. There are none of the tell-tale distance markers you normally use like trees, reeds, floating hyacinths, and so forth. All you can do is make your best guesstimate and make the toss. On top of that, you hear the splash, but you don’t usually see it, which makes it hard to judge where your hooks might be in relation to the prey.

By the time Capt Billy made his cast and started retrieving it, I had reeled in my line and was ready for another cast. The gator looked like he was getting ready to submerge (eyes getting smaller as it starts to go under), so I decided to put a little extra shoulder into it. The gator was moving West across the canal and my throw was just to the right of him. As the weighted treble hook splashed the water, the gator went down. Just as Capt Todd had taught me, I let it sink and pulled it steadily. As luck would have it, the gator’s trajectory and my line crossed paths. I felt the line rubbing along its back and when the resistance kicked in, I set the hook. Fish on! Well, Gator On!!

The drag of the rod started screaming, the tip of the rod bent like I had hooked bottom, but the line was steadily moving into the depth of the canal. Capt Todd maneuvered us closer to the gator while the camera boat slid into position to catch the action. Keeping steady pressure on the line is imperative to keep the hooks in place. The gator’s skin is so thick that you’re not likely to penetrate and really set the hook. Chances are that you’ve just got the tip of the hook in a piece of loose skin or on one of the ‘horns’ on the back. Any slack is likely to result in the weight pulling the point out and losing its grip.

I kept steady pressure on the line cranking us in ever closer to the gator. He made a couple of quick runs, but clearly had sounded to the deepest spot he could find at about 15 feet deep. My efforts to try to move him off the bottom with the rod were pointless. At this point, Capt Todd said it was time for the grappling hooks. Basically, these are larger versions of the same treble hooks I’m already using, but with much larger hooks and secured with thin rope to the gunwales of the boat. This gator clearly had played this game before.

He kept himself under the boat and each throw came up empty. It was like he knew where the grapple hook was and simply stepped out of the way each time Capt Todd tried to secure him. Capt Todd threw more than a dozen times and each time, the gator slyly stepped aside. Capt Billy joined the fray and made a few tosses as well. Each of us was strategizing where he must be based on the bubbles, the movement of the fishing line, and the lack of result from the previous toss. Finally, Capt Billy found the mark and set the hook. We would learn later that he caught the left fear foot – just enough to get the leverage we needed to bring the gator up from the murk.

Still keeping tension on the fishing line, Capt Billy started pulling the gator up. Not enjoying the disturbance, the gator would take back the gains that Capt Billy had just finished ratcheting in by hand. Being sure not to tangle himself in the line, Capt Billy was undeterred and kept pressure on bringing the gator up. Finally, the tail breached the surface and nearly our entire boat got wet as what we now realized was a sizeable gator thrashed about. I think we were all pretty surprised at the size of the gator, and of course, having him head down is not the optimum position anyway. He rolled and broke the 80lbs braided line. I traded the fishing pole for another grapple and made the toss. I hooked up, which gave us a bit more leverage – two lines meant we had a better than average chance of bringing the gator into the boat.

Several thrashes and nasty growls later, Capt Todd was standing by with the Bang Stick. Loaded with a .44 Magnum shell, the stick basically has to make direct powerful contact to fire the bullet. Capt Todd expertly placed a shot just behind the eyes. The noise was deafening and the blowback again sprayed us down. Tony’s camera took a direct splash, so he was frantically trying to clean the lens to catch more of the action.

The gator was still thrashing about so Capt Billy and I maneuvered the gator around for another shot. Capt Todd put another well-placed shot into the gator with a thundering boom. The gator fell limp, and we started to move around to pull it into the boat. You have to get the head up to tape the mouth shut as a safety precaution. Their nervous system will sometimes send a reflex action and they’ll thrash their head around. An unsecure mouth could mean a nasty injury – always better safe than sorry.

Capt Billy used the push pole to lift the gator’s head while I reached for the duct tape. I know that the “Gator Boys” prefer electrical tape, but wider, stickier duct tape was just fine by me. As Capt Billy lifted the gator’s head up, it turned back and chomped down on the push pole. Capt Todd was already poised with another shot in the bang stick and made one last contact to end the struggle. We grabbed a small hand-gaff and Capt Todd connected under the bottom jaw. I reached down and grabbed the loose skin under the mouth and pulled him toward the boat.

We brought the head up over the gunwale and I secured the mouth closed with the duct tape. It took all three of us to lift the gator into the boat. He was quite the monster. Of course, all the cameras start coming out with photos all around. There were congratulatory handshakes and Tony doing play by play. We made our way back to the dock to untangle the mass of grappling lines and ice down the gator for transport. Measuring it out, it was exactly 10 feet 6 inches. Apparently, it’s fairly uncommon for a first-timer to come away with such an amazing trophy, but I credit Capt Todd and crew for knowing where to go and being excellent teachers.

For the record, I was taught from an early age that you never point your gun at something you don’t plan to shoot… you don’t shoot anything you don’t plan to kill… and you don’t kill anything you don’t plan to eat (except in self-defense, of course). This alligator is no exception. Capt Todd dropped the gator off at “Skinning and Grinning”, a local wild game processor. The meat will be sent to a local butcher who specializes in wild game and is apparently famous for amazing Alligator Sausage. The belly skin will be tanned over the course of the next year to produce Alligator Leather, which I will use to make some trophy fashion items. I’ve got designs on a few new alligator belts, but also lots of wonderful meals with friends and family. Nothing will go to waste.

I want to take a moment to thank Tony Grogan and his film crew for taking the time to come out and film the event. I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing the video after it has been edited. Thanks to Capt Billy Black for his experience and insight as well as immense help in wrestling the monster into submission. And of course, sincere thanks to Capt Todd Baily, his first mate, and Aqua Hunter Charters for not only donating the alligator adventure to the SpearWars Prize table, but also for giving me an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. I had an absolutely amazing time and clearly, it made quite the impression.

If you ever find yourself interested in going on an Alligator Hunting Adventure, I would whole-heartedly recommend Captain Todd and Aqua Hunter. He offers other charters as well including spearfishing, scuba diving, lobstering, and fishing. Apparently, he’s quite the accomplished bowfisherman as well. Having been on several of his spearfishing charters (thanks to a previous donation to the SpearWars tournament prize table), I can tell you that he knows his way around the ocean just as well as he knows the swamp.

For more information, visit his website: http://www.Aqua-Hunter.com

Contact information:
Aqua Hunter Charters
Captain Todd Baily
105 Lake Shore Drive
Lake Park, FL 33403
TeamTodd65@aol.com
561-723-4412
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Old 08-30-2013, 09:11 PM   #2
SpearMax
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Oh My God Branon, that was an incredible trip and your report captures the experience so well. I had a phenomenal time watching you, Todd and Billy and having the crew shoot broadcast video of the hunt. Thanks also go to Scott who piloted the camera boat as well as camera men Ed and Jim McG. I would second your recommendation that if anyone wants a once in a lifetime sort of experience, definitely do this gator hunt charter. Tony




















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Last edited by SpearMax; 09-01-2013 at 04:50 PM.
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Old 08-31-2013, 09:34 AM   #3
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Re: Aqua Hunter Gator Hunt - SpearWars BBO Prize Package

That sounds like it was an awsome time glad you had fun!
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Old 09-01-2013, 03:18 PM   #4
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Re: Aqua Hunter Gator Hunt - SpearWars BBO Prize Package

Good job there are a few nice ones down there
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