Two men, Keith Kelley and Kelly Sziy, spent four hours catching a 13 foot, 765 pound alligator in St. Johns County. The two nicknamed the gator “Lumpy” and have been scouting him for several months. They caught him just after sunrise when he was off guard in just 4 or 5 feet of water.
“Put some leather gloves on and I told Kelly: we’re going to have to get him by hand and that’s all it is to it. Hang on,” Kelly said, according to WJAX-TV.
When he was caught, the gator broke the scale. Specialists with the Alligator Farm say they don’t see these kind of catches often.
“Usually when people say they’ve seen a large alligator, it’s usually around 11 feet or so. So, 13 feet, close to 13 1/2 feet is definitely rare,” Jim Barlington, curator of reptiles, said.
When it was all said and done, “Lumpy” was killed and used for processed meat. Kelly will now be the proud head of Lumpy’s head, which will be mounted. He is looking forward to the next catch.
“I don’t know if there’s another one out there, but we’ll definitely be looking.”
Fish and Wildlife Commission official are trying to calculate if this is the biggest gator caught in the state.
