Last week, Payton Moore posted video of him hauling in the gigantic gar to his YouTube channel, Wild Life.
He’s declined to disclose exactly where he caught it, but the video posted to YouTube has gotten more than 400,000 views.
Moore says the fish measured in at 8 feet 2 inches and girth of 48 inches, well over 300 pounds.
The Houston Chronicle reports:
"The catch might've been big enough to break the official state record of 302 pounds, set in 1953 — but it won't qualify. To earn a state record, a catch must be weighed on a state-certified scale. This process can be stressful for large fish and potentially even kill them, says Dr. Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist at Nicholls State University. Instead of taking the risk, Moore released it back into the bayou. Moore and David estimate the gar could've been between 50 to 100 years old. The world record for the largest alligator gar ever caught is 8 feet 5 inches and 327 pounds. Researchers estimate that fish was 95 years old."