Alligator shark released in Texas may be largest ever caught by a woman

It was dark on August 31 when Paul Myers, a renowned fishing guide on the Texas coast, set up on a private shoreline with his client Emilie Song. He rigged three heavy-duty spinning rods with cut tilapia for bait and cast them into the bayou.

“I’ve fished this place for years and it produces (a lot of) good fish,” Myers said. Outdoor living“And the conditions were perfect for alligators that night.”

Around 10:30 p.m., one of the rods fell to the ground. And before she knew what was on her line, Song found herself hooked to the biggest fish of her life.

“Before that night, Emilie’s biggest fish was a 6-pound bass,” said Myers, a full-time teacher in Houston who has been guiding part-time for eight years. “She had her hands full with that fish. It took her about 30 minutes to get it into the shallows and retrieve it.”

Read more: Watch: Marlin Tows Kayak Fisherman 11 Miles Across Ocean in Epic 5-Hour Battle

Myers said the big fish made several long, powerful runs, stripping nearly 100 yards of 100-pound braid. But the 1/0 hook held.

“She had a hard time with that fish. She told me she was afraid the fishing rod would melt in her hands.”

Song eventually maneuvered the oversized alligator gar into shallow water, where Myers looped a rope around the fish and pulled it to shore. They measured the gar at 100 inches long with a 50-inch girth. And after snapping a few photos of Song lying next to the massive fish, they released it back into the bayou.

“Emilie was thrilled,” Myers said. “We don’t kill or weigh alligators because they’re too valuable as a living resource… I hate to estimate the weight of the fish, but I’d say it was close to 300 pounds.”

This estimate, although unconfirmed, fits with some of the formulas used to estimate the weight of a fish. Taking the length and girth of the gar into two of these traditional formulas (one used by Trout Unlimited and the other by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) gives an approximate total weight of 312 or 285 pounds.

Theoretically, this would allow Song’s alligator gar to claim the world record. The IGFA world record for the species is 280 pounds, and that fish was caught on Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas in 2023. But the record-keeping organization also recognizes multiple line-class world records in both a men’s and women’s division, and the record for the largest gar ever approved in the women’s division weighed about 130 pounds.

Song’s fish likely eclipsed that weight, but because they didn’t use IGFA-approved leaders and never weighed the fish, her gar isn’t eligible for a world record. Still, Myers believes it could be the largest alligator gar ever caught by a female angler.

Read more: The Giant Alligator Gar: Trash Fish or Trophy Fish?

“This is the third largest place I’ve ever hosted a guest,” Myers said. Chronic“I keep in touch with most of the guides and I’ve asked them. Nobody knows a fisherwoman who’s ever caught an eight-foot fish.”

Myers, who has caught nine fish over 8 feet in the past four years, says Song’s fish also had a tag. He explains that his friend tagged the fish two or three years ago when it was 97 inches long and 43 inches in circumference.

After releasing the giant fish, they continued until about 3 a.m., and Song caught eight more alligators measuring between four and six feet long.

Myers wouldn’t reveal the exact location where he and Song caught the gar. But he says it wasn’t the Trinity River, which is one of the state’s best-known alligator gar fisheries. The only clue he’s willing to share is that it’s a brackish creek that empties into Galveston Bay somewhere in Harris County.