World Record Alligator Gar Goes to the Taxidermist

[WckedMidas]

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gone-fishin’/2011/05/world-record-alligator-gar-goes-taxidermist

It’s what a taxidermists’ dreams are made of. Or maybe it’s what their nightmares are made of – I’m not sure. All I know is that if I was given the responsibility of mounting what’s believed to be the world’s largest alligator gar ever caught I’d have a panic attack. Fortunately though – for all involved – that duty fell on Buddy Kirkhart, Mike Kirkhart, and Justin Herron, of New Wave Taxidermy, according to tcpalm.com.

The 8.5-foot, 327-pound alligator gar was caught in a net by Kenny Williams in Chotard Lake in Issaquena County in Mississippi on February 14. News of the catch spread quickly and it wasn’t long before the state of Mississippi inquired Williams about the possibility of obtaining the fish for the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson.

Williams and the state reached an agreement and the torpedo-sized fish was sent to New Wave Taxidermy on April 26. A full-size fiberglass reproduction is being made for Williams, while a skin mount is being prepared for the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson.

Regardless of who gets what, it looks like a nightmare job to me.

Comments (5)

 

[flemming]

Pics?

 

[WckedMidas]

click the link

 

[WckedMidas]

 

[Yellow_Perch]

the record is 14 feet

 

[flemming]

yeh did see that pic,but there's got to be more!

 

[WckedMidas]

http://www.fieldandstream.com/photo...rd-gar-alligator-gar-monster-huge-mississippi

Editor’s Note: Alligator gar stories often cross our desk, and we generally refrain from publishing them because too often these amazing, prehistoric fish are caught and killed for nothing but a trophy photo. This story is an exception; the record gar in these photos became tangled in a net and was beyond recovery when a fisherman hauled it in.

When Vicksburg, Mississippi commercial fisherman Kenny Williams began pulling up his last net of the morning from the depths of Lake Chotard on February 14, he was expecting nothing more than to reach his weekly quota of buffalo. But what he brought up in his net that day ended up being the largest alligator gar ever caught.

Williams plies his trade out of a 16-foot aluminum boat, setting his nets in the many oxbow lakes along the Mississippi River. His usual catch consists of buffalo, which is what he was after on Valentine's Day morning on Mississippi's Chotard Lake.

"I was almost finished for the day and had caught about 90 percent of my weekly quota," says Williams. "It had been a good morning, the boat was full of fish."


ADDITIONAL INFO

When Vicksburg, Mississippi commercial fisherman Kenny Williams began pulling up his last net of the morning from the depths of Lake Chotard on February 14, he was expecting nothing more than to reach his weekly quota of buffalo. But what he brought up in his net that day ended up being the largest alligator gar ever caught. Here's his story.

Editor’s Note: Alligator gar stories often cross our desk, and we generally refrain from publishing them because too often these amazing, prehistoric fish are caught and killed for nothing but a trophy photo. This story is an exception; the record gar in these photos became tangled in a net and was beyond recovery when a fisherman hauled it in.

 

[WckedMidas]

he set the world record for gar caught in a net! Acording to wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator_gar


Along with its status as the largest species of Gar, the Alligator Gar is the largest exclusively freshwater fish found in North America, measuring 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 m) and weighing at least 200 lb (91 kg) at maturity. Kenny Williams, from Vicksburg, Mississippi, has broken the record for largest Alligator Gar ever caught using a net. [1] He caught the fish on February 14, 2011; it measured 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m) long, 327 lb (148 kg) in weight, and nearly 48 in (120 cm) around. The fish is believed to have been between 50 and 70 years old, wildlife officials said. Williams has donated the fish to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson where it will be on permanent display in the future.

 

[WckedMidas]

Seems no sooner did Outposts mention the International Game Fish Assn. all-tackle world record for alligator gar in a Wednesday post than word comes that the record may be bested.

Angler Kenny Williams of Vicksburg, Miss., landed an alligator gar Monday that tipped the scales at 327 pounds, possibly a new record for the species. The current IGFA record belongs to a 279-pounder pulled from the Rio Grande in Texas in 1951.

The fish, caught by Williams in Mississippi's Chotard Lake, measured 8 feet, 5 1/4 inches with a 47.95-inch girth.

"At first I didn't think he was that big. But as I was getting him into the boat, it was like, 'How big is this thing?' It was a lot of effort just to get him into the boat," Williams told ABC affiliate WAPT-TV in Jackson, Miss.

Williams donated his catch to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, where it will be mounted and placed on display.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/out...-alligator-gar-possible-new-world-record.html

 

[stackdeck]

Any idea if that size is total length?