Jamie Calvert, of Selma, admits he is not a very good judge of size when it comes to alligators in the Alabama River. In fact, he and his hunting mates—Blake Jones, Fielding Watts and Wil Tipton—had no idea they had hooked a behemoth until they were hanging on for dear life.
“We ran up on the gator about quarter after 12 and watched him go down seven or eight times and decided to stay on him,” Jamie said. “We hooked him about 1 a.m., and he immediately swam out to the middle of the river and went to the bottom, about 45 feet deep.
“We were able to drag a grapple hook over him and hook him. Then we were able to get another No. 12 (12/0 snatch hook) treble hook in him. So we had two No. 12 hooks and a big grapple hook in him. He laid on the bottom for an hour and five minutes before he came up the first time.”
