'Absolute Dinosaur': Fisherman Reels In Massive 300-Pound Alligator Gar [Video]

A fisherman in Texas had the shock of his life when he reeled in a gigantic 300-pound alligator gar in the murky waterways.

According to local media reports, this could be one of the largest unofficially recorded alligator gars ever captured in North America.

Payton Moore, who is also a YouTuber, posted a video recently on his social media channel, WILD LIFE, revealing his experience of what had happened when he hooked on to something that was nothing short of a monster-sized sea creature.

“We are on something enormous,” he says, adding this happened in the muddy river somewhere “in the greater Houston area.” He did not give out the exact location in order to protect the fish.

“It’s like walking a T-Rex,” he says. “Every time I think I’m going to muscle him up, he muscles me back down."

Moore said that a rod wasn't enough to get a look at what had caught on to the hook, so he readied a rope lasso to bring the creature closer to shore.

An “absolute dinosaur,” the angler says.

"In this episode I catch a true river monster: an alligator gar several inches over eight feet long and estimated in the neighborhood of 300lb! Very few fish like this even still exist. Alligator gar are a native species that play a key role in their environment. Efforts to expand protections for these incredible animals is ongoing but in the meantime, should you catch one like this, be sure to release it alive! Check out some of these links below to learn more about the alligator gar and the need to protect them," he captioned the video.

Dr. Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at Nicholls State University, said the fish could have been between 50 to 100 years old, KKYR reported, citing the Houston Chronicle.

On shore, Moore measured the fish to be more than 8-foot-long, after which he carried the gar back into the water and released it.

“This is by far the most amazing catch of my entire life and it’s not even close,” Moore says. “I could fish for the rest of my life and never see one like that again.”

In 2019, a kayak fisherman reeled in a 200-pound alligator gar after a 40-minute struggle. The incident took place on a river by the outskirts of San Benito, Texas. Chris Hernandez came close to the 7-foot alligator gar when he was fishing on the river using his kayak.