so whats the trick to get close to gators

[jpatz18]

went out to lake washington today and boy are they skittish, sometime i couldnt even get near them. sometimes 50ft and they went under. How do you get close to your monsters? Today is my first day to hunt and im excited. saw a lot of small ones but thats it i think the big ones wont even let me get near them...

[admin]

One of the key things is not to shine the bright light right in their face. Try shining the light way up in the air when you are approching them. As long as you can see the eye shine you know where they are. If the person in the back is driving they can just go to where your light beam is aiming. Keep quite. Try not to let the lights shine on your boat. When you get close you can drop your light down to get a good look. If they are not in the thick stuff I use a rod with a big treble hook and snag them.

[jpatz18]

ive tried that and still couldnt get close to them and as soon as we get even remotely close to them. We did get a 7'11 gator which took forever to get thanks to weeds and tree stumps gators arent that dumb.

This leaves me to another question were allowed to hunt 1 hour after sunset well what happens if you get him before sunset but cant get him in after sunset.

[admin]

68A-25.042 Regulations
(b) Alligators may be taken from 1 hour before sunset to 1 hour after sunrise each day during the harvest
period specified in the harvest permit.
I read this as to you should are to be done (gator banged) one hour after sunrise. We have had one give us trouble that we had harpooned during the legal hunting hours that we were still finishing up on just after legal time. We have stopped persuing some nice gators as the time was getting close and we knew that we could not finish before the end. After time is up make sure you take all points off of your gear as not to be percieved as still attempting to hunt.

[jpatz18]

Man you got some nice gators. I just dont see how you do it when you get close to hime do you use a trolling motor? i justr cant seem to get right up on them. the only time we did it was our gator in the first place. We got within harpoon range. But decided against it cause we could easily locate him when he went under. i though that just "sank to the bottom when we approach them this wasnt the case he actually went under some weeds and wrapped us up in a stumps and it took 2 plus hours to get him out. So we couldnt harpoon him.

[admin]

we do use a trolling engine quite a bit. On the lake we were on they leave clues as to where they go after going down. If you can find a place on the lake that the will release bubbles if they move on the bottom you can just follow the bubbles. Our second 11'8" gator this year went down as we got close but made no real sign as to where he went. I just casted a few times and hooked him about twenty yards from where he was on the surface. If you continue to have problems getting close try for a while and then put out some bait where you have been seeing a big one and take a nap. You just might wake up to a gator pulling out your line. Just follow the line to the gator. You can pull him up by the bait line or use a rod to snag him once you know where he is. How close are you getting before they are going down?

[jpatz18]

not even close enough to use a snatch hook. I mean it seems about 150ft to 100ft. We just cant get close to them even using a trolling motor has problem. were going to go again thur. Ill let know how it goes.

[admin]

try to keep an eye on where they were when they went down. sometimes they just drop to the bottom and are close to where they went down. I would take some bait with you when you go. on lakes like you describe we will run around and find where a big one likes to be and put some bait out and have it on a very long rope. We then back way off and rest our eyes. If you feel it take the bait wait a few minutes to make sure it has time to swallow it and then use the trolling engine to get you close. Either use a hook to slowly raise him or gently pull on the bait rope. If you are pulling on the bait rope and it wants to run just let it. Once it stops try it again. Have the harpoon ready and do not make much noise when you pull it up and it will most likey offer you a good shot. Once it is real spooked it is much more difficult.

[curtgeorges]

Get to where they go down quickly, depending on depth and type of bottom you may find bubbles or mud stirred up. If you watch the bubbles you can determine if the gator is moving or sitting still. If moving there could be a trail of bubbles throw you snatch hook so you can drag it back just ahead of the bubble trail. Or if there are a few bubbles in one location close to where it went down, it is probably just sitting on the bottom right there.

If you use bait use several hundred feet of line to back off from the bait giving the skittish gator plenty of room possibly hidding your boat in reeds. And use the light sparingly.