Yep, this is a record that won’t be broken for a LONG time.
According to Fox News, Kentucky angler Art Weston took a little trip down to Jasper, Texas to go fishing on the legendary fishery, Sam Rayburn Reservoir. One of the premiere largemouth bass fisheries in the country, they apparently also have some mondo alligator gar.
Weston is no stranger to fishing records, as he already holds 40 world fishing records to his name, but this one was different.
He told the outlet:
“I have a few of those line-class records already, and on this September 2023 trip, I had a plan to go after the 12-pound line-class record first, given I felt it was the most obtainable. The record to beat was just under 130 pounds.”
On the first day of the week-long trip, alongside fishing guide Captain Kirk Kirkland on his boat the “Garship Enterprise,” they found themselves in a two hour, 45 minute battle trying to reel in an alligator gar on six-pound test line that they knew had the potential to be something special.
Weston admitted that he was nervous about something going wrong:
“I was dreading it at this point, as I have fought other fish past the two-hour mark and have had the line just randomly break, and I just was not getting enough pressure on it.
I don’t like to admit it, but I wear a small fighting belt for exactly these situations, as it makes it a lot easier to relax your arm muscles if you can put the butt of the rod in the belt.”
At the two hour and 20 minute mark, he saw the leader’s tip which was nearly six feet long.
Luckily, Kirkland was able to get a rope around the fish on his first try, but the gar dove immediately, causing serious rope burns.
Weston added:
“He yelled out, and was clearly in pain, but still got her secured at the side of the boat, taking over 10 minutes and multiple ropes.”
Once they reached the shore to weigh the catch, the tripod holding the scale almost broke due to the massive size of the gar. That’s when they realized they had just caught a 283-pounder. It was 48 inches around and 100 inches long, totaling eight foot four-inches in size.
The 283 pounds is good enough to break the all-tackle world record of 279 pounds, which was caught back in 1951.
They released the fish back into the water, but at the end of the day, Weston can sleep well at night knowing he’s once again a record holder.
