Weston told Fox News that he was hoping to set a new 12-pound-test record when he booked Kirkland for a week of fishing. They accomplished that feat on Weston’s first day aboard Kirkland’s boat, the Garship Enterprise. The 169-pounder they caught should easily top the current IGFA record of 129 pounds, 13 ounces.
With that record theoretically in hand, Weston sized down to 6-pound test. Kirkland took them to a spot with a sandy bottom and few snags, where Weston’s carp bait was inhaled by yet another giant gator gar. He battled the fish for nearly three hours, letting it run as much as possible and doing everything he could to keep the 6-pound line from breaking. He said he started to get worried around the two-hour mark.
“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,” Weston told Fox News, adding that he was fully prepared to lose the fish.
“He yelled out, and was clearly in pain, but still got her secured at the side of the boat, [which took] over 10 minutes and multiple ropes,” Weston explained.
Back on shore, the duo used a large tripod and a certified scale to weigh the gar, which measured 8 feet, 4 inches long, with a 48-inch girth. The scale registered 283 pounds.
If that weight is accepted and confirmed by the IGFA, it will easily replace the current 6-pound test record of 123 pounds, 9 ounces. More importantly, it should also the replace the current all-tackle world record for the species. That record dates back to 1951, when angler Bill Valverde caught a 279-pound alligator gar from the Rio Grande. (The heaviest gar ever recorded in Texas weighed over 300 pounds, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife, but that fish was not eligible for an IGFA record because it was caught on a trotline.)
Read Next: Watch This Texas Man Catch a 8-Foot, 300-Pound Alligator Gar That Could’ve Been the World Record
“I won’t lie,” Kirkland wrote in a Facebook post. “We both jumped up and down as Art shouted, ‘We just beat a 72-year-old record!’”
Kirkland added that Weston will digitally submit the record application along with photos and weight receipts at the end of his trip. As required, he’ll also send in a piece of the ultra-thin, 6-pound line they used to catch the massive gar.