# 12'4" Stud from the Satilla River



## nate2800 (Oct 3, 2016)

So the story goes,
 Had a buddy call me and told me he had a friend that had a tag for zone 6 and he was wondering if I could help him fill it. With gator hunting probably being on the top of my list without hesitation I was in. 

   I have had the chance to assist in 3 gators in the last 2 years, one being my own and they were all on the Seminole. I had never been to the coast after gators and had to deal with the tide or the brackish water .

  So I started looking ,reading, and posting for any info I could find. Started a thread on the GON forum and had a couple guys PM me with info..(you know who you are)and a really big thank you to all 3. After getting all the info I could I had decided Woodbine on the Satilla was where we would start

   We left after work Friday and made it down around 12:30 am. (coming from NW Ga)Got in our room and got a small nap. Set the alarm for 3:00 got up and headed to the river. Not having any idea what we were about to get into we put in and started seeing gators right off the bat. Saw a what looked to be around 10' as soon as we got to the ramp. Put in and headed his way within 30 min hooked up with him, fought him for 1 or 2 min and he got off. Could not catch up to him again so we headed west to keep hunting after several hours we had saw and chased several with no success.

  Later in the morning we were sitting, glassing and saw a giant headed down river over 200 yrds away. you could tell he was going somewhere because he had most of his body out of the water. We eased over there to find he had went in a little creek headed into the marsh. So we decided to head back in, go get some lunch and a nap and come back to this area that evening.

  Left the room about 3pm and made our way back to the river. We were trying to hunt with the tide and it was suppose to be low around 5. got back to that area and waited and glassed, nothing but smaller gators. we moved on and headed up river. Went several miles and only saw smaller gators. The sun was setting so we headed back down river. By the time we made it back to where we had spotted the big gator at, the tide had came way back up. So we weren't seeing as many gators. But the ones we were seeing seemed to be bigger. We passed the area without seeing him, went around the bend and there was a set of eyes that disappeared as soon a my light hit them. we shut the motor off and started trolling. We waited 30 min and we saw him again come up closer to another creek. He went back down so we eased in the direction of the mouth of the creek. 10 min later he came back up just as I was scanning the creek mouth. Jason casted a hook, the first time we were able to cast and  most likely the only time because he was headed into the marsh. 

 PERFECT cast right beside his head. As soon as it hit the water the gator thrashed his head left and BAAM!!!!! We were hooked up. He went down and we started right away trying to get another hook in. After several casts we finally got another in but he did not like it, he took off and it came back out, but something was wrong the line that was still in him was going straight down.(He had us around a tree) I looked out and saw the gator 80 yards or so up getting air. In a panic I grabbed another rod and casted over the line pulled it up and got hold of it. Waited on the gator to stop, cut the line, retied to another line and BAAM we were back on. 

  After several rehooks and Unhooks, after a miss with the crossbow and more trees we manage to still get a bolt out of the crossbow in this guy. Not 15 min after we did we lost all hooks in him. NO HOOKS IN HIM!!!! BOLT only he went around another limb and Andy had the Buoy off the bolt. it was going down, he was almost out of line and it came loose. All good again. We got another hook in and he came up. I had harpoon in hand and missed at about12'. Regrouped and he came back up at the boat . 2nd attempt with the harpoon was good. Pulled him up and 4rounds of the 22mag behind the head finished him off. 

 We had 4 adults in the boat and all 4 had just as much to do as the other. Sammy, Andy, Jason and Me (Nathen)
With all the Moves this old man had God made a way so we could counter his every move. Thanks Sammy for the invite!


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## ryan_beasley (Oct 3, 2016)

*Congrats!!!*

HUGE congrats to you all!!!  That's a beast in any part of the country!  That's definitely a tougher area to get close to them, so i understand and respect the work you all put into it!  It sounds like you did alot of good things to make sure you had a successful hunt!  Congrats again on a true trophy!  Breaking that 12' mark is something very few anywhere can say that they've done.  Great job again!!!


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## Burton (Oct 4, 2016)

Sounds like an awesome hunt.  I imagine you are all excited about the next opportunity.  Well done.


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## mattech (Oct 5, 2016)

Congrats


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## GAGE (Oct 6, 2016)

Great story and congrats on a monster!


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## SnakeBite70 (Oct 9, 2016)

Congratulations...Great gator and story. God truly blessed yall with a true stud of a gator.


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## Dep6 (Oct 9, 2016)

Congratulations on a true beast!! Definitely a memory of a lifetime.


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## Wjackson11x (Oct 10, 2016)

Congrats to yall again!  Glad you guys were able to kill such a beast down there.  It's a tough area to get those big ones.  I'll be calling you when I get to Seminole.


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## nate2800 (Oct 10, 2016)

Wjackson11x said:


> Congrats to yall again!  Glad you guys were able to kill such a beast down there.  It's a tough area to get those big ones.  I'll be calling you when I get to Seminole.


Yes sir by all means do!! We will meet ups and eat some lunch or something. We should be down there opening weekend.


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## jkp (Oct 11, 2016)

Nice job.  Congrats on a big ole lizard!!


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## Dep6 (Oct 17, 2016)

Congratulations!!


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