World Record Alligator Gar

There are a handful of fish I really want to catch before I die. To be added to this list, the fish have to either look really amazing, fight really well, or are just be incredibly large. The alligator is all of the above. These mean loooking fish are found in the south eastern United States and can grow up to 12 feet long. These fish have been known to attack alligators and humans in rare cases. The rod and reel world record has stood since 1951, caught by Bill Valverde, weighing in at 279lbs and was caught in the Rio Grande, Texas. I wasnt able to find pictures of the fish but I thought I would share these photos of what looks to be an alligator gar well over 200lbs, one site has it listed as 244lbs. This gar was caught bow fishing and is the biggest one I could find a picture of.

Huge Alligator GarHuge Alligator Gar

Watch the video of the catch on YouTube.

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Categories: Alligator Gar, Fishing, Freshwater Species, News, United States

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Saturday November 17th, 2007 @ 11:18 PM | Clive Mathias

6 Responses to “World Record Alligator Gar”

My uncle is Bill Valverde(deceased) we have an old pic of him and my grandfather with the fish. I’ll get it scanned and emailed to you if you would like.
Dan

Dan on May 20th, 2008 @ 2:08 am

[...] posted about the world record alligator gar sometime ago, but was unable to locate a photo of the enormous fish. Luckily one of our readers [...]

Fishing Fury - A fishing blog about two guys with a serious passion for fishing, the great outdoors, crazy adventures, and heart-pounding entertainment. on May 20th, 2008 @ 7:39 pm

Hi,

Just wondering if we may be related. My immediate Valverde relatives are located in Southern California. I’m 64 but had a cousin Johnnie, a year older than me, who moved to Texas a number of years ago. He has since passed away. His parents names were Johnnie and Carmen and he had 5 siblings. Valverde is not a very common name so I thought just maybe.

Fred Valverde on June 7th, 2008 @ 10:01 pm

Fred,
You never know. We live in the RIo Grande Valley. I’ll have to ask my mom if the names ring a bell.
Dan

Dan on June 8th, 2008 @ 5:13 pm

Hey Dan
My name is Joseph an I live in the RGV(Edinburg) as well, im 21 and I’ve been trying to catch an alligator gar for a while, where do you think the is best place to catch one down here??

Joseph on July 17th, 2008 @ 4:06 pm

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