'Baby Alligator Rescue'
Early in 2005, during the months January & February, club member Dave Kops was enjoying some awesome backyard snook action; catching and releasing about 9 healthy linesiders including a few that flirted with the 40” mark. On and off during the action, we noticed an orange plastic bobber hovering under the mangroves on the opposite bank of the saltwater canal behind the house. After a closer inspection with binoculars, I realized it was a juvenile alligator with what appeared to be something we refer to as 'a tourist rig' somehow attached to it. Basically, that's an overkill mess of unnecessary fishing tackle.
Living here, we’ve grown accustomed to sharing the environment with a healthy alligator population, and have had the opportunity to get up close and personal on occasions when they get in the yard or become entangled in crab lines. In every case, we were able to safely release them unharmed. Fortunately, others like the big male below, measuring approximately 12 feet and weighing in at an estimated 1,000 pounds, never needed our assistance.

This smaller gator on this day, now named 'Bob', hung around the area of our dock and was spotted for a few weeks when it was decided something had to be done to free it of the extra baggage. Everywhere it went, the bright orange bobber closely followed just behind its head; stifling any attempts at stealthy hunting. We were also concerned it may be hooked in the mouth or tangled in line that could be causing problems with its ability to feed. Our estimates had it at about 2.5 – 3 feet. We've caught them by hand before, but that's usually done at night with a spotlight to hold their attention.

In some cases, gators will follow a topwater fishing lure all the way in to the dock, and at times, this can be an obvious nuisance. But our hope in this case was the tactic would give us a better view of the situation. Bob was smart, though,and stayed beyond the halfway point in the middle of the waterway. After several attempts to cast and lure it closer, I actually made a cast and snagged line that was attached to the bobber just in front of its head. It was gator on! And after a brief tussle, we brought it to the dock and saw the bobber was attached to several feet of mono line. Unfortunately there was also some steel leader that appeared to be going down the animal's throat.

We carefully and quickly lifted it out of the water and into the yard where Tom determined it had swallowed the hook. He then proceeded to clip the steel leader as far down as possible, and in the process, managed to give Bob too much time with his mouth open. In an instant, Toms’ index finger became a victim of the needle-ringed vice of Bob’s small, but developing set of jaws. Even at this size, it’s amazing how strong these animals are. After some distraction, Bob opened his mouth and Tom quickly retrieved his finger, along with wounds consisting of small punctures through the fingernail. He would be good as new after a good cleaning with a disinfectant. Fortunately, at this age, alligator's mouths don't hold as much of the poisonous bacteria common in their larger relatives. This reduces, but doesn't eliminate infection risks so this was a good reminder not to let our guard down with any wild animal, regardless of their size.

After removing the hardware and some quick photos taken by my dad, Bob was released back to his natural environment. It’s our hope the hook didn’t do any internal damage. The steel leader wasn't stainless steel so it will eventually rust away and the small amount of steel leader should either fall out or pass through. There’s no way to know for sure, but other than being a little thin, he appeared to be in great condition. It was our good deed for the day, and there's no doubt he's better off without the mess.