Man's Fishing Trip Ended As Alligator Emerges From Water And Chases Him

A fisherman in Florida, USA, packed up his rod and called it a day after a massive alligator emerged from the water and chased him. Watch here:

Tommy Lee was tarpon fishing in the Everglades at sunrise on Saturday (8 May) when the reptile bobbed its head above the surface.

I should clarify at this point, it was not Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame who was out tarpon fishing when he was chased by a gator. This is a decent story, but it's not that good.

Anyway, back to said story. Tommy stopped thinking about tarpon and started thinking about doing one as the 11-foot creature glided towards the bank and headed after him.

The 22-year-old's GoPro footage captures him taking a tumble as the huge beast pursued him.

Having made it a safe distance from the gator, Tommy concluded: "Well, that puts an end to my tarpon fishing."

As though underwhelmed by the close encounter, he then crept up to it slowly, but a few strides from the alligator were enough to send Tommy rapidly backpedalling once more.

After the alligator returned to the water, a breathy Tommy said: "And I am outta here. Screw that."

Screw that indeed.

ViralHog

Floridians have to be extra wary of gators at the moment, as it is mating season, meaning the males are getting a little lairy.

Savannah Boan, head of Crocodilian Enrichment at Gatorland, told Click Orlando: "It is not unusual during this time to see lots of alligator stories in the news, however, I've seen more alligator stories in the news this year than I ever have in the history of my living in Florida.

"First of all, you need to watch every body of water, your bathtub, your swimming pool, your backyard pond, your mud puddles that your kids play in - anywhere an alligator can be found right now, because alligators are on the run, especially the smaller ones that are easier to hide.

"The big bull alligators are pushing all the little ones out because they want all the ladies to themselves."

She added that people should contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) if people find a gator somewhere where they are as utterly unwelcome as a bathtub.

She said: "If you do see one of those nuisance alligators, make sure you call FWC.

"We have a program in place where we can bring some of those big old alligators that haven't done anything wrong, they were just caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time. We bring them to Gatorland and they can live out the rest of their life here in alligator paradise."

Topics: US News, Alligator, fishing, Animals

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey