As gator season intensifies...
Oh, look on the bank.
His whole head is eaten off.
You see that?
Hunters face their worst fears...
The whole pole's just gone, bro. What the hell's going on?
Somebody's stealing our alligators. We got a poacher.
...and confront the bayou's darkest forces...
This area they say is cursed.
-Cursed, I tell you. -Aah! It's always on me.
...as they put it all on the line...
Give 'em some of the stinkiest meat you can find.
[coughs]
I caught a whiff of that one there, boy.
...to bag the giants
that'll bring home the 350-tag prize.
Get him, Jacob, get him!
Watch that line, Don.
Don, watch it!
A new day dawns.
Go get this party started.
We're ready to rock.
Swampers gear up for the battle for 350 prime gator tags.
Here we go.
Willie leads the competition,
with Ronnie and Ashley coming in at a close second,
and the Landrys fighting from behind in third.
In Bayou Sorrel,
after his son Little Willie
took a job at the local plant...
Gotta break some news to you.
Got a job coming up.
To stay on top, Willie will have to hunt solo
for the first time in four years.
Hunting by myself,
it won't be near as easy as with a deckhand.
I mean, with my son, he was a big help.
But I gotta adjust
and get my head in it and get it right
'cause I really need them tags.
Got one going down the bank right here,
right by that stump right there, a big one.
Got him.
Ooh!
He's heavy. Kind that tears chunks of meat
out of your fingers.
Yeah, he knows his days are numbered.
Coming up, he's coming up.
Oh!
Gonna give him a proper thump.
Mm, done deal.
I can't ask for no better alligator.
That's how we start the day there.
Big gator.
He's probably more close to nine foot, 10 foot.
Got something for them old big alligators like that.
It's my backup deckhand right here.
He don't back down from nothin'.
It's been a long time since Willie
treble-hooked a gator this big by himself...
[grunting]
Come on now, open that arm.
Let the winch do the work.
Ain't gotta be straining all like that, hurting my back.
...and just as long since he loaded one.
Man.
Ah!
This boat I got now
is really not made to load big alligators by yourself.
And you trying to load 11, 12-foot alligator
in the boat by yourself, that ain't no--
that ain't an easy job.
It's gonna be rough
putting these alligators in the boat by myself,
and I'm just gonna have to do what I gotta do.
Done it before and I'll do it again.
Take another 10 more like that, it'll be a nice day.
Veteran hunter Ronnie Adams and his partner Timmy Aucoin
are setting out for one of Ronnie's favorite honey holes.
Man, I'm super stoked about today, bro.
This Pirogue Bayou, I got a good feeling it's gonna pay off, T.
Yeah, I been seeing big ones in there all year.
But I left it alone for several years
because they had some monsters in there.
Pirogue Bayou has always been good to me.
I haven't hunted it in several years.
If I'm in a certain area a couple years in a row,
I'll let it sit a couple years in a row.
Because once you kill all them big bull gators out of there,
it takes a little bit of time
for other big bulls to get into the area.
But we got it set up,
and I can't wait to get in there
and see what the good Lord's gonna bless us with.
We got a line by this pipe right here.
I don't see it at all.
Me neither.
Man, right here.
It's gotta be there somewhere, T.
Shoot, I don't see nothin'.
It was right here. The pole was right here.
No, it's gone, dude. The whole pole's just gone, bro.
What the hell's going on?
Nobody comes out here, bro.
This is all me. I got this lease for years.
Let's go on to the next one.
Let's pull up to this line here.
It looks like it's got something on it here.
Hell, yeah, T, we down, baby.
Come on with it.
-Got the line. -You got it?
Oh, no, it ain't nothin' on it.
Come on. I'm not liking that, my baby.
You know, let's rebait it.
Look, dude. No hook.
Looks broken.
Is that broken or cut?
I don't know. What you think?
That looks cut.
When a gator breaks it, it'd probably be shredded more.
We got a poacher here, dude.
Might be.
We got a situation on our hands
where somebody's stealing our alligators.
We got a poacher.
We gotta figure out how we gonna beat this son of a gun
or how we gonna catch him one way or the other.
Maybe we need to start doing something
so they can't find our lines.
Think maybe we ought to shred these poles down a little bit?
Maybe so we can cut 'em low,
little bit lower than the marsh grass.
Yeah. Enough just to hang the bait.
How we gonna find it?
I'm gonna put it down in my computer right here.
All right. You the legend, bro.
That's it.
I'm trying to mark things down,
and Timmy tells me, "Nah, I'm good to go.
I got this swamp computer on top my head."
He said wherever we gonna put the line, I will remember it.
You better remember where these things are now
once we go to chopping.
I'm gonna cut it about this low, all right?
All right, go ahead.
These poles are gonna be at grass level
with no flag and no nothin' on it,
just a pin to hold the bait out the water.
so whoever's killing my alligators can't see 'em.
And hopefully it pays off for us,
because these poachers are taking food off the table.
From a long way out, bro,
you ain't gonna see that once that gator takes that bait.
Yeah.
Whoever's doing it
might think we even pulled out of here.
90 miles west, near Bayou Long...
Time to go run some lines.
Oh, yeah.
Pickle's taking Troy to a new spot
she hopes will help them regain the lead
for the 350 tags.
Pee-wee got a big idea.
She wants to go hunt an area that she's hunted before
with her daddy and her grandpa.
You know, I got my schedule lined up,
my places I wanna hunt.
But she's my deckhand, she's my helper,
and sometimes I gotta give in to her, you know,
to keep her happy on the boat.
This looks a little familiar.
Where's your new spot this year?
That little Bayou Long shortcut.
Oh, Lord.
I'm confident. I did my homework.
This new area is really gonna boost us up
ahead of the competition,
and we're gonna pull some big alligators out here.
See something?
Yeah, look at this mess, man.
Probably a frickin' two-foot alligator.
What we got, Pee-wee?
Talk to me.
Got something on it?
I really don't know.
-Whoa! -Oh!
Don't let him pull you in!
Ooh!
Oh!
Show him who's the boss.
Whoa!
Shoot! Shoot!
[gunshot]
You see the size of that thing?
All right, winch her up.
This 11-foot dinosaur
is a perfect start for Pickle's new spot.
To my surprise, Pee-wee's hotspot,
the first line had a big alligator,
about a 10 1/2, almost 11-foot alligator.
So, you know, it might've not been a total waste to come here.
You knew he was a big one?
I felt him. He was heavy,
and he pulled the rope out of my hand.
Further east, near Bayou Etienne,
Jacob Landry and his partner Don Brewer
are hunting an infamous swamp known as Blackwater.
Don, this area's typically good,
but there's a lot of old stories about it.
They say it's cursed.
Huh?
Something to do with Jean Lafitte,
who used to be in this area years ago.
Who's Jean Lafitte?
He was an old pirate.
Used to smuggle all kind of stuff down here.
Jean Lafitte was a notorious
19th century pirate and smuggler,
raiding the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
and the Mississippi Delta.
Eventually, he fought for the United States,
defending New Orleans during the War of 1812.
Yeah, I ain't lying.
I don't believe no myths like that.
I make my own luck.
The area we're gonna be in, it's a perfect setup.
It's real deep water, and it's an alligator haven.
There's these big vast swamps on each side of it,
and if there was a place you wanna hide a body or a treasure,
it's a perfect recipe.
Ooh, look at that big alligator on the bank.
-See it? -Yup.
Damn good, Jacob.
[whistles]
Jesus.
Looks like he's dead, huh?
I think he's alive.
And he's a good'un, too, boy.
[smacks lips] Mm.
Big sucker, healthy.
Hope he don't come back this way.
He might be dead, but I don't think--
-Nope, his jaw moved. -Oh, yeah it did.
Watch him, Jacob.
Watch him, watch him.
I'm telling you, don't let him get you.
You better put a hole in him and do it fast, boy.
Get him, Jacob, get him!
Oh, [bleep].
Get him!
Come on, shoot him!
Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him!
[gunshot]
Ooh!
Whoo.
He's coming on down.
-Look out. -Look at the size of that thing.
That right there is a good'un, boy.
I ain't gonna lie.
He reared back and looked straight at me, I bingo-ed.
[laughs]
Look at that tree.
Look at that line burned into that tree. Look at that.
This 13-1/4 swamp monster adds a full inch
to the Landrys' season average so far.
You know, with that alligator coming at me,
all I could do was shoot.
and the only spot I had to shoot was down his throat.
I knew he was big, but I didn't know how big he was.
So I feel pretty damn good.
-One. -Go. Aah!
Get this son of a bitch in the boat.
Got him? Can you get your leg out or no?
I got that. Go get him.
Yaah!
Let me get up by you. There.
Motherfricker.
Lord.
That is a beast, my boy.
To the west, in the Atchafalaya Spillway...
Whoo, man.
Leron and Porkchop plan to draw out big gators
with some really rotten bait.
What is the best way to bait a scavenger is?
By giving him some of the stinkiest meat you can find.
Oh, man. [sighs]
I need that chicken
to get real, real nasty and down dirty.
But I caught a bad whiff, man.
I mean, whoo, man, I said, man,
I ain't never smelled nothin' like that in my life.
Oh, I ain't lying.
[laughs]
No matter how stink the bait was,
maggots could've been dropping in the water off of it,
it's like the gators just wasn't touching it.
I was highly confident about this area today, man.
I'll be damned, Porkchop. Man, look at that.
You see all those birds in there?
Porkchop, last seven out of 10 trees,
they were covered with white birds, man.
And you know them gators love them big white birds.
We got a couple of T-shirts in this boat.
You figure we cut 'em up,
use 'em as replicas in them trees?
That would give us a better chance, man?
We'll give it a shot, man. It makes sense.
So I know for a fact
that them gators over there are hunting the white birds.
Maybe they don't want the stink rotten chicken.
Maybe these gators over here used to jumping out the--
you know, grabbing these birds off the branch.
So we hung us some decoys of the white birds.
We cut shirts.
The swamp can be very helpful if you treat it with respect.
It'll talk to you as long as you're paying attention.
Those bird replicas kinda look real when the wind blowing, man.
Look like wings flapping.
Oh, yeah, man. That look good, man.
Over in Pirogue Bayou...
All right, T, find this cutoff, dude.
Ronnie and Timmy cut their poles down
to hide them from poachers,
but finding them is proving to be a tall order.
We should have one not too far away.
Man, I been fishing out here all my life.
I know this area good.
But once you cut these poles down to the grass level,
it's hard to tell what's a pole and what belongs natural.
Timmy says he's got it up here in his computer
and he's got it marked down,
but sooner or later, I got a feeling he's gonna miss one.
I don't know, T. You said you gonna remember.
I think we might've passed it up.
Nah, nah, I'm telling you it's not far.
Another 20, 30 yards we gonna see it. It's in the grass.
I don't see nothin', dude, and I'm looking hard.
You told me they right here.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I got 'em.
All right.
Computer says it's right up here somewhere.
Where at, T? I think we passed it up.
Ain't no way we got it that big a distance in there.
I think we passed it up.
Lookit, I see it. It's right there.
Oh, okay, I'm passing it up.
It's so hidden, I can't even see it.
That's right.
And it looks like the line is down, baby.
Come on, baby, be something good here on this hidden line.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Give me the line, bro. You got him?
Here we go. Oh, I got something here.
-Do you? -Feels heavy, too.
Come on.
I think he's under the boat, though.
That's all right. Give him to me.
Ima pull him out.
Let me see him. I got him.
On that short pole, too. I can't believe this.
Come on, baby. It's feeling heavy, boy.
Uh-oh, we got a gator here, papa.
Whoo, we got a gator, baby.
Yeah! Come on, baby.
Oh, that's a good one.
Come on, get the shot, baby.
-Hold him there. -Come on, Pirogue Bayou.
Keep paying off like that.
Watch him, T. Don't let him get that gun.
Come on, big boy.
Whoo-hoo, boy.
Drop the hammer, baby.
That a baby. Booyah!
This son of a gun is paying off in here, baby.
Pirogue Bayou.
At nine feet, this beast gets things going
and shows the shorter cane poles
could be their answer to poachers.
My plan's working because we just caught a nice nine-footer.
We starting to catch big gators,
but I got a long way to go to make up,
and I need to get some big boys in the boat
to get my average back up.
Here we go, baby. Clickity-clack.
That's a good gator to start off in Pirogue Bayou.
Don't come back to Pirogue Bayou.
In Bayou Sorrel,
hunting solo for the first time in years,
Willie's having a hard time putting gators in the boat.
I better make something happen
or I'm gonna be going low on gas.
I mean, I ain't got enough to pay the gas yet,
and that ain't good.
I've been going here for a couple hours,
got one alligator in the boat.
I don't know what it is about it,
but once the deckhand got out the boat,
he must've had a rabbit's foot in his pocket or something,
'cause, uh, here by myself, it ain't working out too good.
Big alligator right here swimming in the bayou.
Yeah, I seen him from way back there coming down the bayou.
Oh, they slick.
Can't believe that.
Now I'm have to put some lines out.
Yeah, them alligators are slick.
Like to be a slow day today.
Near Bayou Long...
Oh, yeah, this is your hotspot.
Oh, yeah.
Another line with nothing on it.
Line after line after line,
nothing, nothing, nothing.
Since landing an 11-footer on their first line,
Pickle's hotspot has produced nothing but hanging bait.
We've been running lines all day for nothin',
so Pee-wee's hotspot turned real cold real quick.
I mean, we caught one big one. Thank God for that.
But we ain't catching nothin' else.
Oh, Pee-wee, I just saw the big one!
-Where? -Oh, my God.
Underneath that willow tree right there.
He just went down.
-See the waves from him? -Yeah.
Look at the waves. He just went down right there.
Dude, this thing is big.
Told you they had some big ones back here.
What?
You ready to hop, skip and jump outta here.
Get your treble hook, get your treble hook.
Hurry up.
I mean, this thing is big.
Look, look, look. There he is, there he is, there he is.
-Stop, stop. -Throw, throw, throw.
Stop the boat!
Throw right there.
Oh, missed him.
Look, he's running, he's running.
He's in front the boat, he's in front the boat!
To your left, to your left.
Right there, look.
Look at the bubbles.
He's big.
Look right there, right there, right there.
Right there. You missed him. Right there, hurry up.
Throw again, throw again! Hurry!
Out in Bayou Long, Pickle's trying
to hook an elusive gator.
Throw right in front of the boat, in front of the boat.
Right there. Oh, now you're gonna get him.
Now you're gonna get him.
I don't know where he went.
He went under them water lilies.
He made his way under them lilies now.
-He's gone. -Damn.
We seen a giant. I'm talking about a big one,
way bigger than the 10 1/2-footer
we caught this morning.
This was at least a 12-foot alligator.
Big, big, massive alligator.
This alligator could help our average big time.
It pumped me up.
I get excited when I see a big alligator,
even though we've caught thousands of them.
Them big, big ones are far apart.
And, uh, this is the kind of alligator
that gets your blood pumping, and I wanna catch him.
I wanna bring this alligator in.
Okay, Pee-wee, we gonna put us
about 15 or 20 fresh lines right here.
All right?
Yeah, man, we gotta catch him.
This gonna be number one.
I hope this works, man.
All around this hole right here,
right where we seen him go down.
We gotta catch this alligator.
That sucker's good for our average.
Definitely.
I'm starting to taste those extra 300 tags.
Over in Blackwater Swamp,
despite rumors of a pirate curse,
Jacob and Don have already hauled in four big gators.
Ah, I don't believe in all that curse crap.
Unless I see a pirate ship
that vanishes around the corner up here,
then I might go think a little different.
But I don't think I'm gonna see that today.
I take me as a very rationalist person.
I don't think we have ghosts
and I don't think we have bigfoots
and I don't think we have Jean Lafitte.
We're in the middle of swamp in Louisiana, for Pete's sake.
You're gonna have to show me to prove it to me.
One back up in the trees.
Somebody up right up in there.
Got something, D?
Yup, got one. Don't know how big he is.
Damn, he hung up, too, boy.
-Good? -Yeah, it's been pulled back.
Watch that line, Don, watch.
Watch the gator, watch the gator. Watch it.
-You all right? -I'm good.
-Sure? -Sure.
Line got behind me. [both laugh]
You don't say. You don't say.
Jacob was letting the boat go back,
the line clips the back of my legs,
and it drags me off the front of the boat.
Ended up in the water, mud down both boots,
and I'm pretty sure I'm hearing Jacob laughing.
Because I'm pretty sure it wasn't Jean Lafitte I'm hearing.
Memories, Don, we're making memories.
Memories?
Let's try it one more time.
What you got there, Don Brewer?
Damn, it's heavy.
Oh, there it goes, there it goes, there it goes.
-[laughs] -Good one, D.
Come on, D.
Damn, he's pissed.
Watch out. He's gonna get you.
Come on, baby.
He is pissed.
Come on, baby.
Coming up, coming up.
Shoot him, Jacob, shoot him!
Big boy.
There it is.
With another gator on the boat,
Don's not sweating his swim in the Blackwater Swamp.
Average ain't too bad today.
Not too shabby, pappy.
So maybe I fell in the water. Big deal.
Because we got a good average going right now.
So if anything,
the curse that everybody's worried about
from Jean Lafitte, come on.
It's working for us.
Yeah, old boots are nice and dry this morning.
Now I'm ankle deep again.
[laughs]
In Bayou Sorrel,
after struggling to treble hook gators
and needing to fill the tags he already has,
Willie Edwards is forced to run lines
for the first time this season.
I wanted to fill all these tags with treble hooking.
Lost my deckhand off the boat and everything,
and gotta put some hooks out.
Gotta change my routines up.
[grunting]
Here he come up.
Done deal.
Golly, he's short.
That gator ain't gonna be six foot.
Yeah, that'll hurt my average right there.
That ain't good at all.
Adding insult to injury,
Willie's first line of the year produces his smallest gator.
That's exactly why I didn't wanna put out hooks,
but you got to fill these tags.
I mean, you can't turn tags back in.
Gotta take what I get.
Ain't good at all.
In the Atchafalaya Spillway...
Oh, yeah.
Leron and Porkchop have adopted
a new strategy to lure big gators.
We hung some shirts to make it look like
decoys of the white birds.
So alligators be coming
because them birds hanging there.
They trying to get them birds, too.
Look like a crime scene.
Looks like a crime scene here, cuz.
Watch yourself, watch yourself.
Cuz, got a big boy Yeah, boy.
Watch your hand, watch your hand.
-Watch out! -Whoa! Get him!
Watch yourself, he's coming out, cuz.
In the Atchafalaya Spillway, Porkchop wrestles a dinosaur.
-Whoa, watch yourself, Chop. -Trying to do a death roll.
Watch yourself, cuz. We got him, yeah.
I don't wanna lose him, cuz.
You gotta get him, cuz. Come on now.
Give me a shot, Porkchop.
??? I got him.
Get him up first. We gotta get him now, cuz.
[gunshot]
-All right. -Oh, yeah.
Oh, man.
Whoo!
-All right, cuz. -All right.
Let's go. Let's go, hold up.
-Mr. Kool-Aid Man. -Hold on.
This nine-foot gator is just what they need
to prove the white bird decoys will work.
When you come up with an idea
and then you capitalize off it and it works,
there's no better feeling than that
because you came up with that.
Ain't nobody told you about that.
This idea become successful...
Over in Pirogue Bayou,
midway through the day,
Ronnie and Timmy have four giants in the boat
as their cut poles continue to evade the poachers.
We should have 12, but we ain't got but four.
We gotta get this cat. We gotta catch him.
Right now the short canes are paying off.
We're catching nothing but nice gators
on all the short poles we got right at grass level.
It just sucks 'cause that gives us more work to do
cutting these cane poles.
We gotta figure out how we're gonna beat this poacher
or how we're gonna catch him. One way or the other.
All right, here we go.
We got another line down, my baby.
Another line down, papa.
Oh, yeah, that's it, that's it.
These cut poles are paying off, dude.
Yeah, them poachers can't find 'em.
No, they can't.
Yeah, get the gun, T.
We got something here, papa.
I thought it was dead at first, bro.
Yes, indeed, baby, come on, cut pole.
Golly.
-That's a good gator, baby. -Hold him.
Boy, we take him on a cut pole.
Seven, eight foot. Whoo! On a roll, baby.
Watch him, T!
Put the hammer on him, T.
He's gonna pop the line!
[gunshot]
That a baby!
All right, I got this one here.
-Got it? -Yeah.
Throw him here. I'll put him all the way to the front.
This eight-footer makes number five for the day,
but Ronnie's not celebrating.
That cut pole did it again, T.
Yeah.
Man, we got a good gator on the line.
I know Timmy's plan is working to the T,
so we're gonna keep it up and keep landing gators.
But I wanna catch these poachers.
I just wanna scare him
and let him know that I'm on to him,
and hopefully he stays his butt out my area.
Over in Blackwater Swamp,
Jacob and Don ignore tales of a curse
as they fill their boat with big gators.
-You good, big D? -Yes, sir.
Don doesn't wanna believe it,
but when one or two things happen badly,
uh, it starts making you think.
To the right over there.
-See it, D? -It's a gator.
Oh, yeah, it just got tight. Got something on it.
What we got on here?
Oh, yeah, baby.
Damn, he's feisty.
Pretty gator. Look how big and strong you are.
Whoa.
Can't get a shot like that.
-Oh! -[whistles]
Don, he's about to pop that line.
There he is. Shoot him, Jacob!
Hell, yeah.
Jacob and Don put this eight-footer to rest,
but the Blackwater curse lives on.
Ow!
Mm.
Damn it. About time I cut the line,
you grabbed the gator and pulled it.
At the same exact time that I yanked the alligator,
he goes to cut.
And he just makes the knife pass straight across his wrist,
slicing his arm wide open out in the middle of the swamp.
Damn it.
That'll burn a bit.
What is that, rubbing alcohol?
-Mm-hmm. -[laughs]
Wanna go get it stitched up?
Nah, I can get it.
We're in the middle of the swamp,
so you gotta figure out something.
The biggest thing I'm worried about
is to make it stop bleeding.
I always carry my orange pack.
I got some Super Glue in it.
I got it.
It's almost as good as new.
Could've been a lot worse.
That's what we gotta look at.
Could've cut his nerves or cut an artery or something.
I missed my arteries like this much from my wrist.
This place might be cursed, Jacob.
Might have to rethink what I said earlier.
Back at Bayou Long,
Troy and Pickle have hauled in seven beasts
in Pickle's hotspot.
While all measure over nine feet,
they still need at least one real giant
to get back into first place.
Oh, look on the bank to the left of the tree.
His whole head is eaten off. You see that?
Look at that, dude.
Look, the whole front leg's gone,
the head's gone.
He was hooked up right there,
and that big one come there and killed him.
All the front half of the gator's missing.
The front feet are missing.
The head is missing. The neck is missing.
Everything's like ate up like grind meat.
It's all grinded up and ate up, chewed up.
Oh, I know this is the big one we seen. I can tell.
We gotta catch this alligator.
This alligator could help our average big time.
He's big.
We got something, Pee-wee.
Talk to me.
Whoo!
Ooh, that's a nice one.
It's a big one.
Don't let him bite your foot.
Grab the gun, grab the gun. Hurry up!
Whoo! It's a big one! It's a big one!
Whoo!
He's gonna pop the line.
Shoot him, Pee-wee, shoot him!
[gunshot]
That's a good one, but that ain't him.
This nine-footer is solid,
but not the behemoth they need to get back to first place.
We didn't catch the big, big one yet,
but we got a real nice healthy nine-foot alligator.
So that's gonna help us. It's not gonna hurt us.
That's not the giant we're after, huh, P?
No, it's not the giant.
Patience, it's a virtue.
Meanwhile a few miles west...
Leron and Porkchop are reaping the benefits
of their white bird decoys.
Man, Lord, Porkchop,
this might be a success right here.
In my mind, I'm like, man, we on to something.
The plan is starting to work.
Yeah, I see that.
We gotta make this one count, man.
Damn. Come on now. Whoo!
-Give me a shot, buddy. -You got it, cuz, you got it.
[gunshot]
Whoo!
Every tree we seen was full of them white birds, Porkchop.
The hunters have lured another good gator with the decoys.
Adapting like this on the fly is very important,
especially as a hunter, you know.
Because if you're gonna win these 350 tags,
it's gonna require a never-give-up attitude.
Man!
Yeah.
In Bayou Sorrel...
It's been a rough day for Willie,
who's feeling the sting
of losing Little Willie for the season.
Willie, he was four years in the boat with me.
He was a big help, and when you by yourself
and you ain't done it in four years by yourself,
I mean, it's pretty challenging.
I mean, it takes a toll on you.
But I gotta get these tags filled
and gotta get them on some good alligators.
We got another one right there,
in front of them bushes right there.
Here we go.
-In Bayou Sorrel... -Aah! Damn!
Willie's arm-wrestling a feisty gator.
That thing's spunky.
You wanna fight?
Yeah, that's what I need right here.
I mean, this size and up.
See if we can get this thing back in here.
And it would help me out big time.
I need about seven, eight, 10 of them.
That'd bring my size back up.
I won't be behind.
Right now I'm behind. Way behind.
Willie ends the day with only four gators
averaging less than eight feet,
well below what he needs to stay on pace.
I started in first place
when I first started this stuff on treble hooking.
But I know right now I done fell behind big time.
It's not looking well.
Over in Blackwater,
despite some close calls
in an area that's rumored to be cursed,
Jacob and Don
have managed to fill their boat with big gators.
But they've run out of lines
and still have one more tag left for this area.
I ain't going home with one tag in this boat.
We gonna find a way to fill it.
It's been a really good day, better than I expected,
even for all the mishaps we've done had happen.
See anything, D?
I see bubbles right there. See them?
Pretty good gator, I think.
Now we gonna treble hook
just to give us that little bit of edge
to hopefully come out on top with a big average for the day.
Look right here, look right here, look right here.
See him?
I got him, I got him.
His bubbles are right out here,
so he's probably up a little bit because of the current.
On the bubbles or to the left of the bubbles?
Just throw to the right, two, three feet from the end.
No, to the right.
Come on, Don Brewer.
Let's do it. Make me proud.
I just lost the treble hook.
What?
The rope come untied.
No way. That's the only one we frickin' have.
-Aah! -The rope didn't float?
I don't see it.
It's too deep right here.
-I know. -How the hell?
Look, Jacob, you can see where the old knot was in it.
Where it was tied on. Look.
Yeah.
It just came untied.
Man, nothing can go right.
We have no treble hook now.
Even if we shoot one, we ain't got nothin'
-to get him in the boat with. -Yeah, we can't--
Don't pay to even keep the red, white and blue out.
Look like we're dead in the water now.
Seems like nothin' wants to go right.
Place has got the jinx on it.
I'll tell you, this Blackwater thing,
Jean Lafitte, enough is enough.
I've already had three or four accidents today.
Maybe because I'm not believing in it,
maybe Jean Lafitte is around here.
I don't know if he is or not,
but I'm ready to get outta here.
I've had enough.
We need to get the hell outta this place.
Yeah, this place-- this place is jinxed. I'm done.
I thought you were gonna be my good luck charm this year.
In Pirogue Bayou,
even though using cut poles
has allowed Ronnie and Timmy to evade the poachers
and put seven good gators in their boat,
Ronnie can't believe someone's stealing from him.
Pirogue Bayou's paying off, T,
if we could keep the damn poachers out of here.
I'm not a big fan of poachers.
That's just a cheating way of trying to make a living,
poaching off somebody's property.
I worked too hard my entire life
to get where I'm at.
To me, I believe a poacher belongs in jail
with the rest of the thieves.
Line's down, T.
Shorty is down, baby.
-Oh, yeah, he feels heavy. -Yeah, bro.
Feel like a big one or what?
It's a good one. You ready, T?
[engine running]
You hear that?
There ain't supposed to be nobody back here.
Look at that. There he goes!
-That's a boat. -Hell, yeah!
That is them. Come on, come on.
Get that down, T. Let's go, baby.
Let's get it.
Hey!
Whoo! Try to stop 'em, bro.
Dude, this ain't good.
Gotta get 'em.
They got a big jump on us!
In Pirogue Bayou, Ronnie's chasing a poacher
that's been stealing his gators.
Let's see if we can catch 'em.
We gotta get 'em.
They got a big jump on us, though.
They went to the left right here.
Think they went that way somewhere.
Look, look, way over there.
Oh, yeah, they gone, bro.
We'll never catch 'em. They gone, bro.
You didn't recognize that boat, did you?
No, I don't know that boat.
I ain't never seen that boat before in my life.
-Dang. -Look at 'em.
They are getting it, too, son.
Well, at least we gave them a scare, though.
-They know we saw 'em. -Yeah.
That might've scared them off.
They might not come back. Hopefully they don't.
I hope and pray they're outta here for good.
We got a glimpse of 'em.
That's all we could get today.
But hopefully we'll bust their tails in the long run.
Bro, if they know what's good for 'em,
they better not come back.
Dude, you don't mess with Ronnie Adams.
This is my turf.
Back in the Atchafalaya Spillway,
Leron and Porkchop's combination
of extra-nasty bait and white-bird decoys
is turning this into their best day of the season so far.
[coughs]
Aah! Whoo!
-[laughs] -Ooh, whoo.
I caught a whiff of that one there.
-Whoo-hoo! -It was rough when we started,
but throughout the day, I mean, it just turned sweet.
But now we need a white-bird giant.
Here goes one of our white-bird lines.
All right, all right, all right, right there.
Be careful with him, bro.
Whoo!
Be careful, buddy.
Don't let him pull you in there, Porkchop.
Watch yourself. He's about to pop the line.
Give me a head shot, Chop.
Oh, I'm gonna get his head.
[gunshot]
Oh, this thing about to whup our ass.
We got him, cuz. We got him.
We got-- Get under the bottom of it.
All right.
[grunting]
That's what I'm talking about, cuz.
-All right. -Got it.
Oh, man.
There. Got it.
Oh! All right, man.
Whew.
This 12 1/2-foot dinosaur
caps one of their best days ever
and helps Leron and Porkchop
become serious contenders for the 350 tags.
I'm very proud of the decision, you know,
to adapt to the environment that we was in.
Caught a big, nice gator, you know, on the last line.
And what a way to go to Duffy's, you know,
with a big, nice gator to go brag on.
Further north, Pickle's new honey hole is staying hot,
but they need to catch a monster
to launch them into the lead for the 350 tags.
We need to do this.
This our last chance, Pee-wee.
You better be ready.
That giant alligator we seen earlier,
that big, big alligator,
it's him that killed that seven-footer on the bank.
He had the head all chewed up like grind meat,
had the front feet.
This ain't no baby. This is a giant alligator.
We got a alligator on the line!
Oh, yeah. I see something moving.
See the clothespin in the tree?
And then I see the line underneath it.
The branch is moving, too.
This could be the big one.
What we got, P?
I don't know. This look like a good one.
Ooh! That line look tight.
Look like a good one to me.
-Huh? -Oh, God.
Don't panic. Don't panic, Pee-wee.
It's a good one?
Yeah.
-He's under the boat. -He's under the boat.
A little way.
I like what I see, Pee-wee.
[quietly] Listen, come here, come here.
You take the gun. Give me that thing.
Watch it, he's pulling, he's pulling.
Oh!
Aah!
Whoo!
-Do it! -Give me a shot, will ya.
Oh, P, it's a monster.
This is the one we been after. That's the big one.
-You all right? -Yeah, yeah.
This is the giant we've been after, Pee-wee. I guarantee.
Oh, my God.
It's do or die, Pee-wee.
Aah!
Ooh, yi! Ay-yi-yi-yi!
In Bayou Long, Troy and Pickle might have their hands
on the biggest gator of the day.
This is the giant we've been after, Pee-wee, I guarantee.
It's about to go ballistic again.
He's coming. Shoot him!
[gunshot]
Oh-ho-ho! Ahh!
We got him!
Look at that.
Pick that up. That's a part of that alligator
that's dead on the bank he killed.
Oh, my God, look at that.
The jaw.
He ate the whole head off of that alligator.
That's disgusting.
All right, P, this is a wincher for sure, huh?
We got the giant.
This 12-foot leviathan
might be enough to put Troy and Pickle back on top.
[grunting]
This thing is huge, I mean, big around.
That's the one we saw, I can tell.
The big alligator
had all the front half of the seven-footer in his mouth,
and that tells you how aggressive they can be.
That's him, baby girl.
That's the giant we been after, P.
That's what makes us get up at 4:00 every morning.
Go after something like that.
Meanwhile, in Pirogue Bayou,
although they've been catching well,
Ronnie suspects the poachers still made off
with the biggest beasts from his territory.
Oh, man, what a day, bro, what a day.
I feel like the poacher got the hint.
And I feel like poacher's out the area now,
'cause we're starting to catch big gators.
Oh, man, I hope a huge gator pops to the surface.
See this line's down right here, bro.
All right, another one down.
Come on, T, give me something good here, legend.
How it feels, T?
Feels like there's something heavy.
-Come on, baby. -Going out to the middle.
I hope it's a big boy, baby.
Oh, he does feel heavy, T.
You better go on and get that gun ready.
-All right. -'Cause this is a good one here.
I can feel him. I can feel him, boy.
Yeah, baby, the fight is on, baby.
Hell, yeah, baby! Hell, yeah, T.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
-Oh, look at that thing. -Jeez, boy.
Come on, big boy, give me that fight, papa.
Get it, baby.
Yes, indeed, boy.
What a gator, papa.
That son of a gun got fight.
He gonna pop that line.
Ooh-whoo!
He gonna pop the line.
He gonna get away, T, gonna get away!
Get the shot!
[gunshot]
Ooh, we doing good,
but we got robbed a little today, che.
Yeah, we probably lost some giants, Ronnie.
Got him?
Measuring just over eight feet,
this gator won't help Ronnie rise in the rankings.
I need big ones.
I don't know what was on them lines
or what the poachers took from me,
but what they did at the end of the day
can cost me these 350 tags.
Lord have mercy.
Back at Duffy's...
Back up a little, Jake.
Aw, right there.
Troy and Pickle unload the monster
they hauled out of Pickle's new hotspot.
All right, Jacob.
Taking her up.
That was your giant, Pee-wee.
That's him.
We got his behind.
You know, Pee-wee's little spot paid off good for us.
We, uh-- We caught some nice alligators.
We didn't catch a lot of gators, but we caught big alligators,
so they helped our average big time.
And by me being patient
and maybe listening to her for every once in a while,
it paid off.
You know, I don't want to swell her head up
and tell her that it was a good idea to go to her little spot,
but in the back of my mind, I think it was a good idea.
This is a long alligator.
He's about 15 feet long.
[all laugh]
With the success of Pickle's honey hole,
the Landrys return to the top spot,
while Leron, Porkchop, and Bruce
continue their rapid rise to second,
and Willie drops to fifth place.
I'm proud. Having a successful day
in a new spot that I picked on my own
and did my own homework, it's just...
I can't be more proud of myself at this point.
I feel validated and appreciated
as a deckhand and as an alligator hunter.
All right, y'all ready?
Drum roll.
Drum roll. 11-10.
11-10.
We got him, Pee-wee, we got him.