As the battle for 350 new gator tags
Enters day three...
Oh, man.
There's nothing worse than a thief.
Hunters cross new lines...
Man, I don't like the fact
That these boys is hunting right here.
With joey and zak showing up in my neck of the woods,
They taking away from me. I'm ready for a war.
And unleash the bayou's boldest bait...
We have a secret weapon.
If there's a gator within a mile of this,
He's coming.
To capture the most elusive beasts...
God. I missed him.
Right here. He's going under them lilies.
How'd he run so fast?
...In the fight for gator gold.
Dad!
Welcome to alligator world, my boy.
Dawn breaks over south louisiana...
The sun's coming up. We got to roll.
...As hunters rush to get an early start.
Let's get it, buddy. Burning daylight.
Just three days into the season,
The competition for longest average gator is heating up.
The edgars rule the swamp at nine feet, five inches,
With willie and the landrys trailing close behind.
Over in violet,
Swamp veteran ronnie adams and his partner timmy aucoin
Are preparing to charge up the leaderboard.
That should be a real good area, right?
Oh, brother, it's gonna be money.
But today, they're not the only ones fishing these waters.
No way.
What's joey doing out here?
Hey, fellas, what's going on?
I picked up some of the tags in your area.
I mean, we gotta make a living, too.
I understand. Good luck to y'all.
Yes, sir, thank you.
Man, that's not good, bro.
They're right up against us.
They're gonna try to kill all the big gators they can.
Them boys can fish, but they ain't out-fishing us.
That's it.
That's right, that's right.
Zak and I acquired some tags
In an area that ronnie traditionally fishes.
Basically, you can have one property on this side
And another property on that side
And two different alligator hunters
Hunting the same alligators.
But we have a secret weapon.
Yesterday, joey and zak set whole pig heads
On their side of the property near their baited lines.
Them boys ain't never seen nothin' like this.
Mm-hmm. That looks great. It smells great, too.
I know I'll be getting up for some breakfast like that.
Come on.
Yes, sir. Alligators, they not worried about property lines,
So the pig heads are just there without hooks
To lure the alligators from ronnie's side to our side.
Then hopefully before he figures it out, it'll be too late.
We'll be tagged out.
Uh-oh, zak.
That's what I'm talking about.
Couldn't resist that hog head.
Could not resist it.
-How's he feel? -Big one.
-Oh. -Oh, yeah.
Come on.
Whoa! Hold on.
-You got him? -Yeah, we got him.
Aah!
There you go.
Oh!
He's pulling the boat out.
Don't let him bully you. Come on.
-He's strong. -Whoo-hoo!
He's a monster.
That guy's working you, huh?
[zak laughs]
-That boy is jumping. -Yeah, he is.
Get a shot on this thing.
We got to kill this thing. He's wearing me out.
-Whoo! -Burn him.
[gunshot]
-Come on! Come on. -Good job. That was good.
That hog head's bringing them in, bubba.
That's a meaty one right there.
This nine-foot beast is a good start.
Joey's strategy to lure monster gators
To his side of the marsh is paying off.
This boy's all muscle.
Yeah.
I think these pig heads are working.
If we can maintain that average or close to that,
We gonna be happy.
That hog head got them coming in
For a bacon breakfast in the morning, baby.
On the other side of the marsh,
Ronnie and timmy are on edge knowing they have to compete
With joey and zak for the same gators.
Man, I don't like the fact
That these boys is hunting right here.
If we don't catch 'em
And they cross that property line right there,
-They gonna catch them. -They gonna get 'em, yeah.
With joey and zak showing up in my neck of the woods,
Today's a real eye-opener on how competitive
This season's gonna be for them 350 tags.
It's every man for himself.
You better buckle that chinstrap up, buddy.
It's fixing to be big-boy time.
Ooh!
Timmy, this is a good one, boy.
Find me that rope, t.
-Got it? -Yeah.
Get that gun, t.
Come on, big boy.
Oh, yeah, t.
God! Soon as you get a shot, put it on his butt.
Put it on him.
Whoo! Boy!
Come on, get the shot, t.
Watch him, t.
Oh, whoa!
He's rolling up, he's rolling up.
Hold him.
Give me a shot.
Timmy, watch him.
Come on, t.
Drop the hammer. Right there.
Shoot him! Shoot him!
[gunshot]
Dang it, son.
Them little juveniles.
Yeah, a little one.
That ain't gonna win us them 350 tags.
No, no, we need bigger gators than that.
This seven-footer is not gonna help their average.
Ronnie suspects it may have something to do
With their unexpected visitors.
These big monster alligators are rolling right back and forth
From joey's side to my side.
We're not catching the gators we was expecting to.
All I can assume
Is that all the big gators are going to his side. I'm worried.
You want all big ones, but it don't always work out that way.
-Nope. -Nope is right.
87 miles northwest in the atchafalaya spillway,
Leron and porkchop are looking for ways
To gain an edge in the competition.
Me and porkchop heading out to one of our favorite honey holes.
We going out there
Because we know they got giant gators over there,
And there ain't too many people hunting them.
It's one of the secret spots.
Yeah, you can reach it, huh?
Come on, porkchop.
Oh, man.
The way that string there looked,
The only thing that could've cut that was a scissor,
How perfect that thing was cut.
It didn't show no sign of a fight.
It sucks knowing that they got poachers around, you know.
Like, you work too hard for that.
You make an honest living
For some thief to just come steal from you.
Man, might have to set some lines without flags,
You know, so the poachers can't see where we--
-You know, our location. -Yeah, you right.
Plan me and porkchop got is to take the markers down.
You know, if we can't see 'em,
The poachers ain't gonna see 'em.
So we just have to come up with a way
To figure out where we were putting them at.
Porkchop said, man, I'm gonna draw me a map,
And we gonna mark it off like that.
[laughs]
When I got to a tree I was looking at,
I was trying to give 'em a name
That remind me of some of the people
That I grewed up, you know, some of the people I know.
On to the next one, sir.
With nothing to show for the day,
All leron can do
Is hope porkchop and his map can turn things around.
Further west, near bayou long...
To move out of third place,
King of the swamp troy landry and his deckhand pickle wheat
Are gambling on a new hunting area.
Hey, you gonna take me to go look at that spot?
-This is it right up here. -Oh, right here?
This is what they call spearhead lake. Right here.
We need to catch good so it can help us hold our average up.
So we're always looking for a real good place
That we can keep in our back pocket.
Years ago, the water was a lot lower than now.
And indians used to live here.
That point right there, all that bank right there,
They find all kind of artifacts.
-Really? -Yeah.
They always finding like pottery.
Spearhead lake is a place where three big rivers come together.
They dredged it years ago
Because the big tugboats that come around
Was having trouble making them curves.
And after they dredged it, it was 30 to 40 foot deep.
Big alligators like deep water, so that's where they gonna be.
Pee-wee, pee-wee, look at this line right there.
-Ooh, lord have mercy. -It look like a nice one?
Oh, yeah, it's a nice one. Big one, pee-wee.
Don't let that line go, whatever you do.
Whoa! Whoo!
-Whoo! -Oh!
That ain't no baby, bro.
-Huh? -It ain't no baby.
Bring him up.
Whoo! Show him who's the boss, pee-wee.
Oh, there he goes!
Show him who's the boss, pee-wee.
Whoo! Oh, yeah.
Watch him, watch him, pee-wee!
Shoot! Shoot!
Dang it.
Shoot him again, shoot him again!
Dude, this thing won't stop.
-He's tough. -Bring him up, pee-wee.
[grunting]
[gunshot]
-Whoo! -Good shot, good shot.
Good job, pee-wee.
Way to not panic, you know?
-That's a good alligator. -Whoo-hoo!
This thing could save us.
It's definitely helping the average today.
Oh, yeah.
One, two, three.
This 11-foot behemoth
Is a great start towards gaining the lead.
But with only one gator in the boat,
It's just the beginning.
What I'm seeing, I think this is gonna be the spot.
But it needs to last.
It need to hold up all day
Because, you know, it's a long ways to come out here,
And we spending a lot of time here.
Good job, pee-wee. You doing good.
We needed that one.
By grand bayou,
Jacob landry is doing his part
To help his family's quest for the 350 tags.
But today, he's recruited a new deckhand.
Don wasn't feeling good yesterday evening,
So I told him, look, take the day off.
Ridge has been wanting to go out.
He's been chomping at the bit to go since last year.
-You pumped, bro? -Yup.
I am, too.
You know, ridge is 11 years old now.
He's become a little man basically.
Burning daylight. Let's get it, buddy.
Yup.
I trust him as much as I trust don.
I mean, he can do it all.
It's like having a little mini-me next to me.
I see the one swimming.
So they got a lot in here, some eight, nine-footers.
There's an alligator that's been in this canal.
We've been seeing him for five or six years.
There's a jugline to catch catfish,
And the gator bit the bait and got hooked.
So he's been swimming around with a jug in his mouth.
If the lines don't produce,
We might have to treble hook him, dude.
That'd be fun.
Oh, look what we got over there.
Look, look, look. Ooh, yeah, baby.
-Tree shaker, huh? -Yup.
Looks kind of tight, wrapped up.
Get up there on the front.
There you go, there you go, that's how you do it.
Whoa, whoa.
What you got? Oh! What you got, boy?
Oh, yeah, come on, boy.
Yeah, baby, that's a good one. Pull it.
Ohh, I hear that skin burning, I hear that skin burning.
Pull it. Quit playing around.
Shoot him. Shoot him!
You gotta pull him out the water.
I ain't got scuba gear.
Give me a shot, ridge.
Good job, dude.
First one. It's a good one.
This six-footer is fine for ridge,
But it hurts their season average.
You know, we started out on a bad note.
You wanna try to stick around a nine, 10-foot average.
Every six-foot alligator you catch,
You almost gotta catch an 11 or a 12-footer
To bring it back up to that level.
You don't catch 11 and 12-foot alligators all the time.
At the same time, I know there's an 11-foot alligator
On the bottom of this bayou, so I really wanna snag him.
Good job.
Meanwhile, in violet,
With joey and zak in ronnie's backyard,
Tensions are running high.
Look at them boys right there.
What's wrong with this dude?
Why's this dude looking at us like that, man?
They got a problem with us being here.
There ain't no doubt about it.
We in his territory now, that's why.
I'm telling you right now,
That's a messed up situation, bro.
Taking food off my table and bills I pay,
They taking away from me.
Joey and zak, they not from this area.
I don't go to st. Mary's trying to get their tags,
But here they are in my backyard.
Listen, I'm not gonna let nobody walk all over me.
And I can promise you, at the end of the day,
He ain't catching the big ones that I'm gonna catch.
This line's down.
Let's see what we got, t.
-You got him? -Yeah.
I just hope he's a good one.
-You ready? -He's coming.
Whoo! He's coming in like-- watch him, bro! Golly!
That's a fighter, boy.
Oh, watch out.
He's wrapping up, t. Get a shot on him.
Come on, boy. Get on him now, man!
Get the shot, get the shot. Dang it, son!
Boy, that sucker's got some fight in him.
Lord have mercy.
Give me a shot.
Jeez, he's thrashing and ripping and rolling.
Right there, t, right there.
That-a-boy, baby.
Not bad. Seven-footer.
It ain't helping our average out, bro,
But, you know, we gotta kill 'em.
Yeah.
The hunters haven't caught a single gator
Over eight feet today,
And ronnie has a strong opinion about why.
I'm not liking this because the gators ain't biting on us,
And that property line's right there,
I'd like to know what joey and them's got.
They might be getting our gators right now, t.
They might be.
Joey, he stabbed me in the back big time
Because he's taking the big gators
And leaving me with all these seven- and six-footers,
And all that's doing is bringing my average down.
-Hold tight. Here we go. -All right.
[engine revs]
Two miles away, joey and zak have no problem
Catching big gators in ronnie's backyard.
-Don't that look good? -Yeah, that looks great.
Damn. Pig heads are just meant as a lure.
I might be right here on this side of the bayou.
Ronnie's on this side.
I think these alligators are gonna come to these pig heads
And get them curious and excited.
It's every crew for itself.
I mean, we trying to win.
He understands that. They trying to win, too.
Look-a here. Our pig head's got one.
That line's down.
Look how dirty the water is.
And the weeds are cleared out. Come on.
Let's see how big he really is.
Man.
Oh, my god, there's some weight to this one.
Let me get him on the side of the boat.
You know how we like to do things.
Yeah.
Get your rifle, get your rifle.
Pop, it's huge.
Whoa!
Hold on. Hold on, pop.
Hold on, pop, he's wrapped up.
Whoo!
Whoa! Watch that.
Aah!
Where's he at? Oh, my god! Whoa!
Pop! Whoa!
Damn.
Watch those fingers, man. That's a giant.
Slow that bad boy down.
Don't let him get back on you.
Oh, my god. There you go.
You've got to kill this thing. He's wearing me out.
I got him.
[gunshot]
-Pig heads, baby. -Good job.
Pig cheese, bacon grease. Come on.
That's a big one, joey.
All right. Oh!
Get a front leg.
-You got it? -Yeah.
Let's go.
All right, let's go.
One, two, three.
[laughs]
It feels really good when an idea comes together.
We just killed an 11-footer next to one of these pig heads,
And I'm telling you, we filling the boat up.
And it's gonna be a long day, but I'm excited.
We'll probably maintain our nine, 10-foot average.
Talk about a few feet to add to the stack.
That's damn near 12, man.
That cheese smell off of that head, they couldn't resist it.
Bacon, baby.
Couldn't resist it.
27 miles northwest,
Troy and pickle are hunting in spearhead lake
For the first time.
They hope this remote area produces big gators
That'll raise their average.
Me and pee-wee gonna catch a big one.
That's the goal.
For us to consider spearhead lake a honey hole,
It has to prove itself to us.
We got 15 tags for spearhead lake,
So we gotta catch 15 alligators in this area,
And we gotta catch 15 good alligators.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bubbles.
What you thinking?
Might be a log, but it could be an alligator.
But it's worth a try. You got your hook?
Throw.
I don't see no more bubbles.
Me either. Where'd it go?
Dude, he's way down the canal over there.
Look at him. He's way the hell and gone.
Oh, pick up your hook. Hurry. You got it?
I got it.
How'd he run so fast?
Right here, right here, right here.
Drag your hook, drag your hook.
God, I missed him, I missed him.
He's running again, he's running again.
Hurry, p, hurry.
He's way the hell over there again.
Oh, pick up your drag. Hurry up.
I got it, I got it.
Just go, go.
Right here, he's going under them lilies.
He's going under them lilies. Throw right in front of you.
-Where'd he go? -You feel him?
I'm stuck.
We can't catch up with him.
I'm stuck. He's fast.
I've never seen an alligator get away like that.
This alligator was slick, dude, and he was playing with us.
We playing a cat-and-mouse game with an alligator.
We got lines to run.
He's too fast for treble hook.
Grab a line, grab a line.
We're gonna put a bunch of 'em close together.
-Okay? -Yeah.
All right.
Nine miles away by grand bayou,
Ridge has stepped in
To help his father jacob hunt for gators.
But so far, they're not having much luck.
I see about seven alligators swimming back there.
Just don't see no splashing on our lines.
That's it. That's the only problem.
No matter how good a place looks,
Them little bitty ones, if they get on them hooks first,
You don't have the opportunity to catch the big ones.
I really wanna treble hook that one with the jug in his mouth.
We can do it. He's there.
Today, for the amount of lines we running,
It's not producing the way I expected 'em to.
But there's an alligator
That's been here for probably six, seven years.
He's always gotten away from us.
He has an orange jug stuck in his mouth.
If we can make him bubble,
Then we can maybe get the treble hook in him.
Jacob and ridge will keep searching
For the jugline gator,
But for now, they'll run their lines.
Whoa, whoa, what was that?
-Got another tree shaker? -I think.
Get them hands ready.
Ridge makes the fifth generation of landrys
That actually hunt alligators.
So, you know, for him to continue to do it and enjoy it
Is really special to me.
Get up there on the front. There you go.
Is it snagged or it's got a good gator?
Ooh, what you got, bro?
Whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho.
[laughs] that's what I'm talking about, huh?
Another nine-footer.
Just don't wrap that line in your hand now. Remember that.
Go fight him off the front. There you go.
Whoa, whoa!
Come on, ridge.
-Fight him, ridge. -Shoot him!
Get ready, get ready.
[gunshot]
Sometimes you don't always catch 'em
With the bait in their mouth.
Saw that?
Yeah. It's barely hooked.
Good job, dude.
Huh? Psh, psh, psh-psh-psh, psh-psh.
Look at that.
Barely hooked in the jowls.
Ready?
One, two, three. There you go.
This nine-footer is a step in the right direction,
But they'll have to reel in a monster
To make up for the small ones.
You know, I'd much rather catch
A good couple solid, solid alligators like this
Versus catching 30 small ones
Because it's just gonna help our average.
All right, bub, good job.
On to the next one.
Good alligator. He be close to nine foot.
Wouldn't mind having a nine-foot average today.
In the atchafalaya spillway,
After losing gators to poachers,
Leron and porkchop are pinning their hopes
On a new set of lines
Marked only by porkchop's homemade map.
Man.
Porkchop, I think you're lost, partner.
You know, porkchop's map is not, you know, an exact science.
You're not down to the t.
But I done figured we got a chance in hell
That map would work.
Who we got coming up next?
[laughs]
I made a map because when you hide from poachers,
Man, you got to be real good and careful where your lines at.
This ain't nothin' but a mess.
Slow it down, cuz. Slow it down, cuz.
Slow it down, leron, there.
See it running toward the swamp?
Just like the map said, boy.
-Give me a shot, buddy. -Here he is.
Leave it alone, leave it alone, cuz. Leave it alone. Let her go.
Man! Come on now.
Oh! Ohh!
In the spillway, leron and porkchop's first good gator
Is about to get away.
Come on, cuz, you gotta get a shot on him.
You gotta get it, cuz. Come on now.
-Whoa! -Oh, watch yourself, chop.
[gunshot]
Yeah, cuz, you and I.
Got him, boy?
Yeah. Grab that back leg.
Pull up.
Porkchop playing tug of war with that gator,
He came on top of that water.
I see he barely was hooked.
I was like I'll be damned if I lose this one here
By letting him come off, you know, by being our fault.
91 miles southeast in the marsh,
It's been a tense day for ronnie and timmy.
That's joey?
That's them putting in the lines right there,
Right on our property line, dude.
Right on us, man.
Nothing we can do because they on their property.
But they're right up against us.
But we gotta see what they're doing.
What's that?
Look like a pig head.
That's exactly what it is.
Maybe they're trying to pull gators
From our side of the line to their side of the property.
That's no doubt about it, buck.
That's what that's all about.
That ain't no hook. That is nothing but a lure.
I got news for them. This is my backyard, buck.
I know what these gators like.
I know what they want.
I know what they gonna eat.
And I know what we gonna catch 'em on.
I'm-a show 'em how to catch gators.
Joey put out these pig heads.
All I can assume is that all the big gators
Are going to his side.
But I'm ready for a war.
If that's what he wants, I'm ready for one.
After seeing joey's pig-head strategy,
Ronnie's back at camp with a new game plan.
What you got?
Oh, yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
-Oh, yeah. -Huh?
What's in there?
Wow, look at that. That's crazy.
Dude, I'm stoked.
You don't bring pork to louisiana, buck.
When you come to louisiana, you come to eat seafood.
These alligators love the crabs,
They love the shrimp, and they love fish.
So we gonna give 'em an all-around seafood buffet,
All you can eat.
It's open, wide open, the lines are clear.
I'm gonna win 'em over with that seafood buffet.
What you think, t?
Gator, party of one, your table is ready.
Yeah.
That looks like a meal for us tonight.
Undo that. Let's take that home and cook it up.
[both laugh]
Come on over here, alligators.
Got some food for you, and it ain't pork!
Yeah, no pork over here.
Meanwhile, ridge has his sights on a gator
To help his family improve their average.
Oh, ridge, I think I see the jugline alligator down there.
Yeah.
You wanna go after him?
You wanna go now while we know where he's at?
Yup.
Get up on the front deck.
Get your treble hook ready.
He's going to the back corner where it's shallow,
So it should be easy to get on him.
You just gotta be on your mark with the treble hook.
Remember when you feel that gator,
You gotta set that hook, okay?
-Jug just went down. -Jug just went down, yup.
Remember to throw right past it.
Don't throw on top of it, okay?
Perfect.
Let it sink, let it sink all the way.
You might've landed it right on his back on that one.
You think you feel it, make sure you set it.
-Yup, got him. -You got him?
Oh, yeah, baby, keep it tight.
Keep it tight, keep it tight. Do not let it slack.
Ooh, that's a good one, boy. That's a good one.
-Hey, look what it is. -Hey!
-It's the jugline gator. -It's the jugline!
Keep it tight. Come on, keep the slack for me.
Oh, it's the jugline.
Get ready. Whoa-oh.
Damn it!
I think he's right here. See the bubbles?
Yeah.
Don't wanna throw it too far past the bubbles sometimes,
Because then you're gonna snag a tree or something
Before you get to him.
Oh, you got a log.
It's not a log. What is that?
-An umbrella. -Umbrella.
[jacob laughs]
Supposed to snag a gator, not an umbrella.
Oh, my goodness.
Despite their best efforts,
The jugline gator escapes once again,
And ridge learns a hard lesson in the swamp.
You never know what you're gonna find in the bottom of the bayou.
He wasn't sure. He knew he had something,
But he thought it was a branch.
When he pulled up the line,
It ended up being an old umbrella
That's been on the bottom of the swamp
For probably 50 years.
I gotta say that's probably one of the weirdest things
We've ever caught on the treble hook out here.
That was fun, my dude.
Yeah.
Outside violet, joey and zak have been catching huge gators
Next to ronnie's hunting grounds,
But their luck is starting to shift.
Bait's hanging.
Another hanging bait.
Pop, where the gators at, bro?
I don't know.
When a hot streak turns cold, it's not a good thing.
It's kind of like losing an old girlfriend in high school.
You were on a roll and then it just went a different way.
Now you have to figure out what you could do to bring it back.
Is that a giant?
-Oh, hey, straight ahead. -Where?
Straight ahead, boom, he's right here.
If we pass up the white pipe,
We're off of the hunting grounds.
Really? We're off the property line?
Way off. We got to wait on him, zak.
Pop, he's not on our side.
We gonna go and park on our side and wait on him.
Hopefully he'll come to us.
Ronnie and timmy's nowhere around,
But I'm not about to go get this alligator.
The code of the swamp is we don't steal from each other,
We help each other.
But this alligator better not cross the property line.
He's in trouble if he does that.
He's gotta cross the middle of the bayou and get halfway to us.
Yeah. Look, pop, that's him. He just popped up.
Is that on our side? Is he on our side yet?
He's not on our side yet. Give him a call.
[gator call]
Here, gator, gator, gator.
He's right there, pop. He's right there.
He's starting to come, bubba. Get ready.
He's past the line. Come on, let's get him.
Anybody's game now, zak.
We got a chance. Get ready.
Come on, baby, here we go. Showtime.
He's fair game right now.
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Can you bump him a little bit?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right there, right there, right there, right there.
That oughta get him, that oughta get him.
-Oh! -You got it.
You got it, pop.
Hold on, let me get on top of him.
-I should have him right there. -Yeah.
-You got him? -I got him, I got him.
-Get the rifle. -Come on, stick him.
Get the rifle. I got him.
I'm barely on his tail, I'm barely on his tail.
-Oh! -He slid down.
Stick him good. Stick him good.
I got him.
-Get your rifle. -Come on, come on.
You gotta shoot.
-I can't get a shot. -Oh!
There he is, baby.
Come on, come on.
Get his head up!
Shoot this thing!
[gunshot]
We got him.
-Dude, that was close. -Yeah, we got him.
This solid nine-footer
Is a testament to the hunters' persistence.
When you're hunting or fishing in general,
You gotta be patient.
And in this situation,
It's taken a lot more patience than we might want.
And, you know, it feels a little bit unfair
Because we did see him on ronnie's property.
But that gator's ours as soon as he crossed that line,
And we threw him in the boat because of it.
Ronnie's gonna be pissed, man.
Pop, we did it fair and square.
-We didn't do nothin' wrong. -Yeah.
We pulled that one from him.
Hell, yeah, we did.
In the atchafalaya spillway,
Leron and porkchop have seen fewer signs of poachers,
But the threat remains.
There's nothing worse than a thief.
I really hate 'em.
I try not to hate too much things,
But people wanna rob an honest man
From making an honest living,
I kinda hate that type of stuff, man.
You trust them old eyes you got, buddy?
Oh, you see it?
Just saying you know it
Like the back of your hand there, cousin?
Hang tight, hang tight.
What we got there, cousin?
Hold on, cuz.
Like you walking the dog, you walking the dog for you.
Bastard's slinging mud like a 4x4 truck, buddy.
Get that gun.
Hold on, man.
Hold up. Yeah, I got him now.
I got him, I got him.
That's one pissed-off gator, porkchop.
Tell you what, he aggressive.
-You're taking your time, buddy. -Oh, I'm watching him.
[gunshot]
The hunters' hidden lines
Have produced another nice size gator,
Helping to turn their day around.
Oh, yeah, man. Hell, yeah.
Oh, yeah, that came in handy, buddy.
That was some brilliant thinking right there, buddy.
I was doing more laughing at porkchop
Than believing that it was gonna work,
So I really wasn't taking him too serious.
But it got the job done for us.
I love that damn porkchop.
I don't know what I'd do without you, man.
Further west, troy still isn't convinced
Spearhead lake is the new honey hole he's looking for.
My patience is wearing very thin lately.
We need big and numbers.
It's not that we're not catching.
But we're not catching big alligators.
For us to catch up and get at least a nine-foot average,
We gotta catch a monster.
We gotta catch a real big one.
Needing five big ones to fill their tags for the area,
They return to the spot where a fast gator escaped earlier.
He was right here.
What we got, pee-wee?
Something's pulling that line tight.
Whoa, what we got, pee-wee?
What it feel like? Heavy?
I don't know.
Whoo!
-Don't panic. -Oh, my god!
Whoo, it's a big one. It's a big one, it's a big one.
Whoo!
Ooh! Dude, it's a monster.
Aah!
Ooh, watch him, watch him!
What you talking about? Whoo!
[gunshot]
-[whistles] -good job.
-Ready? -Yup. On three.
One, two, three.
This 10-footer pushes troy closer to first place,
But he'll need more like it to call this a honey hole.
We gotta keep moving.
Finally we pull up to a line and we got a big one.
And I think this is the kind of place
That could become a honey hole for us.
All right, p, let's stay on course.
In the marsh outside violet,
Ronnie and timmy are rebaiting the last of their lines,
Hoping their new seafood buffet
Will attract more gators than joey's pig heads.
We got about 20 lines baited up with the seafood.
These big alligators,
They don't know anything about property lines,
So we can't control the alligators.
All we can do is out-bait 'em.
Oh, yeah, that seafood buffet on this one's down, baby.
Ooh, look at the damage.
Oh, yeah, he been up on the bank.
Come on, baby, be something big.
-It's a monster. -Let me see him, brother. Show.
It really is. Get the gun.
All right.
Dude!
Whoo! Lord, dude, the seafood buffet pays off, huh?
Look at the size of this monster.
Whoo, whoo!
Hold him, hold him.
Yeah, watch him, t.
Watch him t!
Boy, he almost pulled me out the boat just now.
I wasn't ready for that.
That is a monster.
Come on, t, get the shot, baby. He's killing me, t.
Come on!
Yo, che, come on in the boat, big papa.
Come on, t, come on, t.
Get the shot, get the shot.
[gunshot]
That-a-boy! Hell, yeah.
What'd I tell you about that seafood buffet?
Big gators.
One, two, three. Oh!
This 10-footer is a welcome relief.
First line of the seafood buffet,
This son of a gun's 10-plus.
We are gonna load the boat up with big monster alligators.
That's a big old gator that joey ain't getting today, baby.
Our average is going up.
On the other side of the marsh,
Joey and zak's lines have stopped producing.
That's the most the bait's ever hung, zak.
Yeah.
Doesn't make any sense.
Them hogs should be drawing them in.
I'm not sure what's going on.
We've been catching big alligators
So well with these pig heads,
And now we're not catching anything.
I'm like, what's going on?
Was it just like a fluke? Did we get lucky?
Did they happen to swim towards our bait?
I don't know, but it's not looking good.
If he's right there, I can't see him.
Let's see.
Oh, he's--ooh.
Oh, we got him.
-Oh, yeah? -Yeah.
-How's he feel? -Can't tell yet.
Zak, get your gun, get your gun.
Drag that boy out, pop.
Ooh, he's spinning.
Dude, he's barely hooked.
He's barely hooked. Aah!
Watch your hands, watch your hands.
Damn, pop! Hold on to that bad boy!
He's hooked in the mouth.
-Get him up, get him up. -There we go.
[gunshot]
Huh.
Damn.
This average-size gator
Is not the way they want to end their day,
But joey's still satisfied with his pig head lures.
Aah! Damn.
-He whipped you? -Yeah.
We just caught a seven-footer,
And it changed our average in a big way.
Running lines, sometimes you can't be selective,
And you gotta take it like it comes.
I thought we would've got a few more big ones,
-But we caught alligators. -Yeah.
In grand bayou,
Jacob and ridge are tracking down
The big jugline gator that got away.
Oh, I see that jug running around back there, bud.
When you catch a big 11-foot alligator on the treble hook,
You better be holding on.
And I'm 210 pounds, and he's 80 pounds soaking wet.
When that hook hit that alligator,
The alligator exploded,
And ridge didn't set the hook in it.
It's kind of like when you're fishing.
When you feel that bite, you gotta be quick and set the hook.
You can't let him take off, then try to set it.
Oh, no, look, look, the jug! Look, the jug.
He's right there. Get ready.
I see the jug.
He's right there. Throw it by the jug.
Throw it where the bubbles are.
Hurry up, hurry up, throw it.
Perfect, perfect.
Let it go to the bottom. Now pull it across.
You got him.
Keep it tight, keep it tight.
-Got him? Got him? -Oh!
-Aah! -Sink it in him good.
Sink it in him good. Make sure it's in him good.
Aah!
[grunting]
That's what I'm talking about, baby.
Aah.
Welcome to alligator world, my boy.
Unnh!
Shoot him!
There he is, right there.
[gunshot]
Whoo! What a fun freakin' hunt, huh?
Hold this handle right here.
Right there.
All right, pull him in.
Hauling in the infamous 11-foot jugline gator
Is exactly what jacob needs to help his average.
But the real sense of pride is doing it with his son.
Whoo! That's what I'm talking about, bro.
We went out there today, me and ridge.
You know, we didn't have a lot of lines to run
And was able to take our time,
And I could teach ridge
Some things that, you know, he didn't know yet.
We caught five good solid gators.
He treble hooked one of them, the best one we actually caught.
And for him to get the experience,
That is a proud moment for me
Because he really stayed persistent.
He went after it, he stayed with it,
And he didn't quit until we got him in the boat.
Oh, yeah, that's gonna look good tomorrow.
About a 10-foot average today.
Yup.
In spearhead lake,
Troy and pickle have a single line left
And a possible new honey hole steeped in history.
This was all where the indians lived back years and years ago.
They used to have a big shallow point.
A friend of mine found a dugout canoe.
Really? You know what indians this was?
-Chitimacha. -Chitimacha.
And a little bit further south was the atakapa.
Then if you go a little further north
Towards white castle and plaquemine,
It was the choctaw.
Yeah, see, that's where we were.
-Choctaw? -That's us, choctaw.
Mm-hmm.
All right, pee-wee, let's roll.
It's an old, old history area,
But you can't slow down until you finish
Because, you know, you don't know.
The last line of the day might have the biggest alligator.
This is the last one.
Ooh, big one, big one.
-Big one? -Yeah.
-Got one? -Yeah, he's a good one.
I saw his head pop up.
Oh, a good one?
Oh, yeah, nice alligator, huh?
Good alligator. That's what I'm talking about.
All right, pee-wee, show him who's the boss.
-Oh! -Ooh! What happened?
I don't know. He's rolling.
Ooh, it's a big one, it's a big one.
Whoo, pee-wee!
Whoo!
Is he pissed or what?
Whoo!
I don't know, he's rolling.
Shoot the damn thing!
Give me a shot, give me a shot.
Okay, right there, right there.
Hurry up!
[gunshot]
[laughs]
-You saw the size of that thing? -Good god.
Okay, on three.
One, two, three.
With this 11-footer in the boat,
Troy is ready to call spearhead lake
A new honey hole.
We really caught good over here today.
The size was good.
I think it's a big payday
By coming over here to spearhead lake.
I think it's gonna help us big time in the competition.
Our average is going way up.
I knew this would be a good spot.
Back in violet, thanks to their new bait,
Ronnie and timmy have been catching
Nothing but big gators.
I feel like the tables are turned
'cause all the big gators is on my side.
Every line's loaded with a big gator,
And they're getting away from that pork.
Like I told y'all, you don't come to louisiana to eat pork.
You come to louisiana to eat the seafood buffet,
Violet style.
Ooh, that one is downtown.
Yeah.
Hell, yeah.
All right, look at that crab he stirred up.
Oh, yeah, sure enough, that's what they eating.
I see it right here.
I got it.
Come on, papa.
Feels heavy.
I just don't know if he's tangled.
This is a monster, bro. Get that gun.
Holy moly!
-That's a monster, boy. -That's a big one.
Dude. Come on, t, get the shot.
I can't hold him, bro.
Watch him!
Ronnie and timmy have a massive gator on the line.
Watch him.
Whoo! Boy, he almost got your hand.
Watch him, t.
Whoo, look at the big mamou there, baby.
Hold him steady, hold him steady.
Trying, t.
Right there, my baby, right there!
-Good job, t. -Whoo!
Lord, this is gonna be a monster getting in the boat.
There we go.
One, two, three.
This 12-foot goliath
Is the best way to end their day.
For ronnie, it's proof
That seafood will always beat pork in his backyard.
Dude, if I could afford all this seafood,
I'd use seafood all the time to bait these gators.
Yeah.
We get him in the boat,
And lo and behold, a big old blue crab come out,
The crab that was on the line that he ate.
We hit a home run with the seafood buffet.
I kinda can't wait to see joey and zak.
See what they got, yeah.
-I know what they got. -They ain't gonna have much.
They might have gators, but they got lizards.
-Hell of a job, bro. -Hell, yeah.
Hell of a job.
As the swampers head back to camp,
They come across their rivals once again.
There's joey and all that.
Y'all got a few?
We got a couple.
How y'all do?
We did all right. We got a few.
Everybody's being so secretive about everything.
It's a very difficult situation right now
To try to see who might be in the lead.
Best man wins, buck.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
This is a prime example
Of how competitive this whole season is gonna be.
It's gonna be a competition.
Everybody wants those 350 tags.
Since y'all a little lighter, y'all go ahead and go first.
[laughs]
Thank you. Good luck to you.
Yes, sir.
In the atchafalaya spillway,
Leron and porkchop's strategy
To evade the poachers by using unmarked lines
And porkchop's hand-drawn map has paid off.
I'm very impressed with that map.
You know, I talked a lot of crap about it to myself,
But it worked. He proved me wrong.
Look like we got a nice one right here, porkchop.
Yeah, you right, porkchop! Give me something, cousin!
Be careful now, porkchop.
Hold on, cuz. Hold on.
One second.
Whoo!
-Whoo! -Be careful, buddy.
Don't let him pull you in there, porkchop!
Oh, lord, look at that thing, porkchop.
Damn, porkchop, damn thing
Look like a submarine down there, buddy.
Oh, he's spinning.
He's trying to bite the line.
Give me a shot, porkchop. Give me a shot, buddy.
All right, I'll give you one, cuz.
You gotta get it when you get a chance.
[gunshot]
-Whoo! Hey! -That's what I'm talking about.
Oh, man.
I gotta close this old big mouth of his.
With this 11-foot behemoth,
Leron and porkchop have gone from defeat to triumph,
Making it their best day of the season so far.
Give me some on there, porkchop!
-There we go, buddy. -Whoo, man.
Oh, it made me feel a whole lot good,
Especially when I could get leron to be right there with me
And, you know, giving me a high five.
The map turned out to be good.
See, I came up with that idea,
But teamwork make the dream work.
Man. What you used to say, porkchop,
When it's time leave?
-I'm down. -My man.
[laughs]
In pierre part, jacob and ridge arrive back at duffy's,
And they're greeted
By the landry patriarch and king of the swamp.
What's going on over there?
You know, when we got back to duffy's, dad was actually there,
And ridge couldn't wait to tell his papa
How he caught his first alligator with a treble hook.
And on top of things,
It was the biggest one in the whole boat.
-Treble hooked that one? -Yup.
That's the one he treble hooked.
Bro, he hurt my hands.
He pulled or what? He pulled you?
He pulled us around.
He been shooting alligators for a while,
But he just now getting to where he's treble hooking,
And he just caught a nice one.
He caught about 11-foot alligator on his treble hook.
So I'm pretty pumped up. I'm proud of him.
Boy, I wish pa could've been with you
To see you fighting that thing.
Oh, it was hard.
He had fun.
It was an adventure, that's for sure.
-Yeah. -Huh?
After day three,
The landrys secure their first lead of the season
With an average of nine feet, four inches,
The edgars close behind with nine feet, two inches,
While ronnie and willie are neck and neck
At nine feet, one inch.
All right, let's unload 'em.
You know, I know my dad was definitely proud of ridge
And being able to do what he done
And just to see the excitement and the love that he has
For the outdoors and hunting and fishing,
The same thing my dad does.
I know it really, really makes my dad happy.
Well, you all got nice gators.
It's a good one, bub.
Good job, bubba.
Oh, my blisters hurt.