Angler catches huge alligator gar in the heart of Houston

A fisherman in Houston who learned to fish downtown's Buffalo Bayou while in college made what some might call a surprising catch.

A fisherman who grew up in Houston and learned to fish the downtown waterway known as the Buffalo Bayou while attending the University of Houston-Downtown made what some might call a surprising catch.

After a half-hour battle, Alex Sosa, 27, pulled into his boat an alligator gar that measured nearly 6-feet long and weighed an estimated 130 pounds. He caught it inside the 610 Loop that surrounds downtown Houston, and he had several witnesses, which made the catch all the more meaningful.

“Being able to share that moment with everyone who stopped to ask questions and take pictures is what reminded me why I love fishing,” Sosa told the Houston Chronicle, the first to report the catch, which was made in November. “If were to have been alone, and not have been able to share it with anyone, the catch wouldn’t have been as meaningful.”

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Because he was using the head of a buffalo sucker fish that was a little bigger than a softball for bait, as he described to KTRK, Sosa knew when he got a bite it was a big fish.

“Here in Houston, most people don’t realize it but we are very fortunate to have our waterways the way they are,” Sosa told the Chronicle. “We tend to have a warmer water temperature so we tend to have giant fish swimming around all year.”

Though it was a personal best for Sosa, it wasn’t close to a state record set in the Rio Grande in 1951. That weighed 289 pounds and measured 7 feet, 9 inches.

Like all the fish he catches in the bayou, Sosa released the alligator gar, and it swam away unharmed.

Photos courtesy of Alex Sosa.