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(From left) Jim Reed, Michael Robbers, Tom Grant and Kenny Winter harvested this 697½-pound gator. (Special to The Clarion-Ledger)
After being hooked, the gator sat on the bottom. When it came up for air, it surfaced under the boat. Jim Reed of Greenville tells The Clarion-Ledger that depending on who's talking, the gator either rocked or nearly sank the boat.
From first hook to final gunshot took two hours, with another 2 1/2 to wrestle the beast to shore and lash its head to the boat trailer.
Reed, Tom Grant, of Cleveland, Kenny Winter, of Greenville, and Michael Robbers of Palos Verdes, Calif., broke the old record by 7 pounds.