# 10ft Alligator in Sinclair?



## jatkin99 (May 24, 2010)

A buddy of mine fishing the Oconee Tournament told me that he'd heard that a 10ft gator was found in Sinclair last week or this weekend.  Anyone else hear anything?  As populated as Sinclair is, I find it hard to believe he's been there long (if it's true).
Also, the only way I figure he would have gotten in was to come down a creek somewhere, since it's dammed at both ends.
Any thoughts or info?  I haven't found anything on the Milledgeville news sites.


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## t bird (May 24, 2010)

There was one killed by DNR right down the road from the house. I am sure that is the one they are talking about. I have heard 20 stories about a gator this week. I could be wrong because there is a bunch below the river.


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## whchunter (May 24, 2010)

*Oh no*

They should have left it and added more. Gators have to eat too and there are plenty of skiers.....


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## willh (May 24, 2010)

I personally know of 2 in the lake and they been for at least 3 yrs but both are less than 6ft


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## deerhunter388 (May 24, 2010)

dang! I was working in the water around a dock last week- where on the lake did they kill it?


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## Nicodemus (May 24, 2010)

Gators can show in some real surprisin` places. Trust me on this, I know from experience. One more thing, a 10 foot gator ain`t a real big one either.


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## MTMiller (May 24, 2010)

taste like chicken


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## Money man (May 24, 2010)

I don't know about the gators but I know that there are catfish as big as VW's down at the dam!


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## tournament fisher (May 25, 2010)

*night tournament*



t bird said:


> There was one killed by DNR right down the road from the house. I am sure that is the one they are talking about. I have heard 20 stories about a gator this week. I could be wrong because there is a bunch below the river.


all i saw last saturday night was 12 otters , 3 muskeeters,and 75 pleasure boat riders that road all night.


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## olcowman (May 25, 2010)

Nicodemus said:


> One more thing, a 10 foot gator ain`t a real big one either.



I saw something on the tv regarding this the other night. It was said that 20-25 years ago a "big" gator was 6-8 feet. But now, due to climate change or urbanization or some other scary thing, a big gator these days is 10-13 feet.

I got to thinking about some of my working trips to Florida and some of the lizards I seen back in the eighties on the ranches I was staying at.... this pretty much hit it on the head. Reckon what is causing these things to grow to such extreme sizes? They didn't say it on the tv, but 20 years from now are we going to be sharing fishing holes with gators close to 20 feet?


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## fishndinty (May 25, 2010)

olcowman said:


> I saw something on the tv regarding this the other night. It was said that 20-25 years ago a "big" gator was 6-8 feet. But now, due to climate change or urbanization or some other scary thing, a big gator these days is 10-13 feet.
> 
> I got to thinking about some of my working trips to Florida and some of the lizards I seen back in the eighties on the ranches I was staying at.... this pretty much hit it on the head. Reckon what is causing these things to grow to such extreme sizes? They didn't say it on the tv, but 20 years from now are we going to be sharing fishing holes with gators close to 20 feet?



I just think the news report has no idea what they are talking about.   We used to see GIANT gators all the time on the St. John River drainage when I was a kid.  Ones over 10 feet were pretty common, and I remember one evening on the way back to the boat ramp seeing one with dad that was every bit as long as our 16 foot bass tracker.

I think people just see them more than they used to, so the urbanization thing may be true, but not in the manner the report framed it.


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## Twenty five ought six (May 25, 2010)

olcowman said:


> I saw something on the tv regarding this the other night. It was said that 20-25 years ago a "big" gator was 6-8 feet. But now, due to climate change or urbanization or some other scary thing, a big gator these days is 10-13 feet.
> 
> I got to thinking about some of my working trips to Florida and some of the lizards I seen back in the eighties on the ranches I was staying at.... this pretty much hit it on the head. Reckon what is causing these things to grow to such extreme sizes? They didn't say it on the tv, but 20 years from now are we going to be sharing fishing holes with gators close to 20 feet?



I can remember when a big gator in S. GA. was anything over 6 feet, but that was solely the result of illegal hunting. Anything bigger and the locals would make a point of killing it.  The difference in the size of the gators in the Okefenokee Swamp (highly protected) and area rivers was noticeable.   Along about the late 70's bigger gators began to show up.

When I was a tad, we lived in Bradenton FL (family home) and there was a gator that lived right in the middle of town that was every bit of 14 + feet.  Sort of a local attraction and protected.


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## Nicodemus (May 25, 2010)

olcowman said:


> I saw something on the tv regarding this the other night. It was said that 20-25 years ago a "big" gator was 6-8 feet. But now, due to climate change or urbanization or some other scary thing, a big gator these days is 10-13 feet.
> 
> I got to thinking about some of my working trips to Florida and some of the lizards I seen back in the eighties on the ranches I was staying at.... this pretty much hit it on the head. Reckon what is causing these things to grow to such extreme sizes? They didn't say it on the tv, but 20 years from now are we going to be sharing fishing holes with gators close to 20 feet?





I don`t know. In the mid 70s down on the St, Johns and Ocklawaha Rivers, I saw 12 footers regular, and in the late 70s, saw some just as big around Fort Gaines and Eufala. Strangely, durin` that time, if I saw a gator of any size on the Flint between HWY 32 and Warwick, it was something to remember. Now, they are everywhere in that stretch, from watchstrap size to bigger than you want to fool with. I waded those shoals religiously, sometimes 200 yards from the boat, and didn`t even think about a gator.

Down on Seminole, there are some that put you in mind of Godzilla. I also know where one is, in a private pond, that is as big as any I have ever seen. I won`t even say how big, but it shocked me, and I see gators regular. real regular.


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## kevincox (May 25, 2010)

I had a Gator in my pond several years ago and its several miles from the Oconee River!


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## Icecold (May 25, 2010)

shouldn't the size increases probably have a lot to do with them being much more protected than in the past as well?


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## olcowman (May 25, 2010)

I think I fell for the propaganda of global warming, ozone depletion, or whatever end of the world scenario they were trying to portray on that tv show. Plus they weren't too common in the mountains where i was raised. 

Nic... how big do they get? I actually laid my hands on one that was a shade over 9 foot (and graveyard dead mind you) and to be honest that thing give me bad dreams. You ain't going to catch me with wet feet much past Columbus after seeing that nasty thing up close.


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## Nicodemus (May 25, 2010)

olcowman said:


> I think I fell for the propaganda of global warming, ozone depletion, or whatever end of the world scenario they were trying to portray on that tv show. Plus they weren't too common in the mountains where i was raised.
> 
> Nic... how big do they get? I actually laid my hands on one that was a shade over 9 foot (and graveyard dead mind you) and to be honest that thing give me bad dreams. You ain't going to catch me with wet feet much past Columbus after seeing that nasty thing up close.





The absolute biggest one I ever say, was Joe, who lived in  a section of Lake Crescent Florida, up till the late 70s. His size, and missin` one eye, was his trademark. He got tangled up in a commercial fisherman`s trotline, and rolled up over 1,000 hooks in him and he drowned. If memory serves me right, he was a shade over 15 feet. Right now, I know where two are here in SW Georgia, that  will push 14 feet. Maybe a touch over that.


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## Rusty Shakleford (May 25, 2010)

You want to see BIG gators, head over to Choke Canyon Resevoir, TX!! I'm more afraid of the alligator gar there than I am the gators though!


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