Texas fisherman hooks 300-pound alligator gar outside Houston

Ask YouTube angler Payton Moore about the biggest fish he has ever hooked, and he will tell you it was like walking a Tyrannosaurus rex in the muddy waters of a Texas bayou.

According to Moore, the massive 8-foot-2-inch alligator gar weighed an estimated 300 pounds. He said it is the largest such fish ever filmed alive in North America, but that’s not an official record.

“When you see me next to that gargantuan fish, it makes it a little bit easier to believe that it was that big,” he said.

Fishing was something that the 32-year-old man from Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb of Houston, would do from time to time growing up. It became a passion when he started thinking of ways to broaden his career as a conservation educator.

Admiring the work of Animal Planet’s extreme angler Jeremy Wade of “River Monsters,” Moore started learning how to fish more effectively, and that’s when his YouTube channel started. He wanted to educate the public about as many freshwater ecosystems as possible within the Houston area. Four years ago, it evolved into his full-time job.




Texas trophy: Man hooks 300-pound alligator gar outside Houston