LAST UPDATED: May 1st, 2015
Within the past several months two different states have already seen their respective bowfishing records for gar being taken. The third state is Mississippi, and this gar is so big it will make you think twice about swimming there.
Bowfisherman Robert Belk, Randy Rippy and Belk’s son Talor were bowfishing the Yazoo River late last month when they ran into an alligator gar of state record proportions. The incredible mammoth would measure 7-feet 2-inches, weighing in at 234 pounds!
Taken in late June, this amazing Mississippi state alligator gar measures over seven feet long! Weighing in at 234 pounds!
Son Talor was the first to shoot, but his arrow would end up either missing or deflecting off the beast. Both Robert and Randy were then able to view the large swirl and tail splashing after the fish took off and decided to get ready for the possibility of another shot opportunity.
Ten minutes later they would get that chance. Standing beside one another on the deck of their 16-foot boat the two men shot simultaneously into the giant gar, hitting within 4 inches of each other. Then, as they would later put it, “all hell broke loose”.
“He didn’t like those arrows, and he took off down the river and got in the current,” Belk said.
The gar would strip out nearly 50 yards of bowfishing line from the two bow-mounted reels, and take an exhausting 30 minutes before the fight would come to an end.
“For us to get the boat alongside him – and then it got really wild,” Belk added. “We got the rope off the front of the boat and made a noose out of it.”
An official from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks has said that the fish will qualify for the all-tackle trophy fish state record. The current record is 175 pounds, set by Joseph Sylvest in 1993.
As always, the staff of the Hunting Network wishes to congratulate the three Mississippi bowfisherman, Robert and Talor Belk, and Randy Rippy on this giant accomplishment. We could only imagine the great fight this mighty fish must have given. Congrats again gentlemen!
