Angler Catches 153-Pound Behemoth in Texas Using Ultra-Light Tackle, Likely Setting a New World Record
Art Weston and Kirk Kirkland reeled in and released the enormous freshwater fish, known as an alligator gar, after a four-hour battle on Lake Livingston
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After a four-hour battle, an angler in Texas reeled in a humongous fish that will likely set a new world record.
Art Weston was fishing on Lake Livingston, a massive reservoir outside of Houston, when he made the “most challenging catch” of his life, he wrote in a social media post. The veteran fisherman, who is based in Kentucky, landed an enormous alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) after chasing it for more than two miles.
“Almost lost her multiple times,” Weston wrote.
The unusual-looking freshwater fish, which has pointy teeth and a long snout, measured 7 feet and 3 inches and weighed 153 pounds, according to Weston’s post—about the same heft as a keg of beer. The catch still needs to be certified, but it will likely set a new International Game Fish Association (IGFA) world record.
On April 8, Weston and his guide, Kirk Kirkland, boarded Kirkland’s vessel, aptly named the Garship Enterprise. They were on a mission: They wanted to catch an alligator gar that weighed more than 110 pounds using a two-pound test line, which would beat the current world record.
Once they caught a big fish, they expected it would take about two hours of swimming for the creature to tire itself out. But in reality, the fight took twice as long.
“This particular fish was very difficult, swimming 8 to 12 feet below the boat and even resting on the bottom for ten or more minutes at a time,” Weston tells Sports Illustrated’s Kurt Mazurek. “Our hope was she would rise to the surface to gulp air … next to the boat, giving Captain Kirk a chance to get a rope on her. But, of course, she did not cooperate for hours.”
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They almost lost the alligator gar when their ultra-light line got twisted and wrapped around part of the rod. But they were able to untangle the line before the fish could swim away.
Eventually, the duo placed a rope around the fish and hauled it onto the boat. They sped over to the shore, took measurements, snapped a few photos and released the fish back into the water alive. The IGFA is reviewing Weston’s catch and lists it online as “pending” for the two-pound world record.
Weston writes that securing that fish was extremely improbable: “a true 1 percent likelihood catch.”
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This is far from the first time Weston and Kirkland have caught a monster fish. In September 2023, the pair hauled in a 283-pound alligator gar using a six-pound line at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas. That feat earned Weston two new IGFA world records: the men’s six-pound line class and the all-tackle record for alligator gar.
More broadly, over the course of his fishing career, Weston has set 81 total IGFA world records in six countries, 44 of which are still standing.
Alligator gar are among the largest freshwater fish in North America. They’ve been around for a long time, with fossils suggesting they’ve been on the continent for 100 million years. Even so, Weston says many anglers just aren’t that interested in them.
“People don’t regard [the alligator gar] as much of a game fish, I don’t know why,” Weston told McClatchy News’ Mike Stunson last year. “They are amazing, they can jump, they’re huge, they’re abundant.”
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With enough food and space, these fish can reach colossal sizes, with females typically growing larger than males. However, behemoths like the one Weston recently caught are still relatively rare.
In 2011, a commercial fisherman in Missouri accidentally caught a 327-pound alligator gar—the largest ever recorded, though it didn’t count toward an IGFA world record. Its body is housed at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, and researchers have estimated it lived to between 70 and 95 years old.
For giant alligator gar to keep swimming in North American waters, anglers need to help conserve them, according to Weston and Kirkland. That’s why the two are such big proponents of catch-and-release fishing.
“That’s the big thing about these fish—they live to be so old,” Kirkland tells MySA’s Priscilla Aguirre. “If me and Art killed that 283-pound fish, you’ll never replace that fish in your lifetime.”
