WE WILL BE INTERVIEWING
Blake Gamberi on our show this Tues and Sat
on the Crazy Guy with the Lazy eye
GOING FISHING WITH ED SHOW
You can hear the interview with Blake below on our online broadcast
EUFAULA, Alabama -- Blake Gamberi, of Rainbow City can't stop talking about the alligator he snared last Saturday with the help of his friends.
And, he's got good reason to.
It took the avid hunter and fisherman seven years of applying to secure a tag -- the permit that allows a hunter to kill one alligator during the regulated hunting season - first applying for the Mobile Delta, then the Alabama River and Lake Eufaula.
Gamberi and his three 20-something buddies also took their time, spending five days on Lake Eufaula - two weekends - in order to get a big, mature alligator.
"We could have taken an 8-foot gator (earlier) but we thought we would take our time and have fun," he said.
Gamberi had an experienced gator hunter with him, but they knew Lake Eufaula was going to be a tough hunt with the rules and regulations there. Comparatively speaking, only small sections of the lake could be hunted due to the wildlife refuge and much of the lake being in Georgia.
"Sometimes we would put the boat in at 7:30, wait for 30 minutes, and then get finally tired enough to quit at 5:30 (in the morning)," he said.
After the opening weekend of the hunt, Aug 8-10, Gamberi said the alligator population seemed to thin out.
He said the gators started to "wise up" to what was going on.
"It was almost like they knew the (state) line, and they would stay on the Georgia line," Gamberi said.
Even though one member of his group had killed a gator before, Gamberi said when they started their hunt they were rookies, but by the end after talking to older guys from Eufaula, they were pros.
"We talked to a lot of people and did a lot of research," he said, learning the gators would build their dens on the Georgia side of the lake and then go to the Alabama side to hunt.
On the fourth night of hunting, and losing about seven gators on the line over that period, Gamberi said he and his buddies almost gave up, thinking of calling an alligator guide to help.
But, they decided to give it one more try.
Shortly after hitting the lake on Aug. 16, Gamberi hooked his gator at 9:30 p.m. Thirty minutes later it was dead, and they started the process of hauling it into the boat.
"When we hooked up on it we knew we hooked it, they go straight to the bottom and they just sit there," he said.
But, the rod just stopped and stayed bowed over. At first, they thought they hooked a log since the line wasn't moving. Finally, after 20 minutes, a huge area of the lake started bubbling.
"Then we knew we had a gator," Gamberi said. "About the time we saw the bubbles, that is when we got the big hook with the line in it.
"As soon as (the gator) broke the surface, it went nuts," he said. "It came up and started thrashing. It started death rolling."
Finally, the gator wore itself out, and the hunters were able to snare it in the tail and front foot.
"This time we hooked it perfect," Gamberi said. "Everything just lined up that night for us."
"We were so excited," he added. "Once we got it and it was dispatched we were just freaking out."
Another 15 minutes, and the gator was in the boat.
"It was very gratifying for us," Gamberi said, of their catch.
"We hunted hard," he said. "You can't mess around when you have a gator on the line.
No comments:
Post a Comment