What a gator, baby!
It's going under the boat.
As the season marches on,
gator behavior changes,
pushing hunters to try new spots...
The water being extremely low, it's harder than ever.
-Watch that one behind you. -Whoa!
Now we in trouble.
And new tactics...
We switch weapons.
Whoever gets the alligator first.
If I get one on the rod and reel, you're buying lunch.
-Aah! -Hold him.
Yeah, buddy!
As they rush to fill their boats...
Get the gun!
My biggest fear is not getting out of here in time.
Golly, it's a good one.
They must stay one step ahead...
You know them big boys gonna be coming out that swamp,
so we need to lift higher, cuz.
I sure hope your strategy works, man.
To defeat the bayou's baddest beasts.
Miss Wanda's seeing a really big gator
right here behind her house.
Watch yourself. Hold him, Anna, hold him.
-Watch that tail. -Watch his tail.
-Whoa! -Watch out!
[gunshots]
As another day of gator season rolls over the bayou...
over by Old River,
veteran hunter Ronnie Adams
needs to fill the remaining ten tags for this area
before moving to a new property tomorrow,
but his deckhand's late.
Where is Timmy, dude?
Timmy is like clockwork. He's always on time.
Today's not a day I need to be late
because I gotta get these lines run.
I got a big event at the end of the day, and I gotta make it.
Come on, Timmy, you done fumbled the ball.
Sorry about that, man. I'm never late.
I know. Normally we call you the legend.
Today we're calling you Timmy because you're late.
[laughs]
Oh, dude, I'm so jacked.
I just got inducted to the football Hall of Fame
for the college I went to, bro.
-That's awesome. -Hell, yeah, baby.
Man, that's fricking awesome.
Yes, indeed.
Growing up as a kid, the only two things on my mind
was football and alligator hunting.
In high school and in junior college,
I was kind of a two-way player, offense and defense,
but once I got to my senior college,
I strictly focused on being a defensive lineman.
I was just a big 315-pound, 6'5" solid wall.
I mean, I did double, triple team most of the time,
but I was a bad to the bone defensive tackle,
and if it wasn't for a knee injury,
I probably would've made the NFL.
We gotta get it across the goal line today,
and I gotta get it to Mississippi.
-You ready to rock? -Let's do some field goals.
We got to rock out today, papa.
All right, let's get it.
Whoo, I'm stoked, baby.
Tonight is one of the biggest nights of my life.
It's such an honor to be in the football Hall of Fame.
I gotta bust tail and get these lines run
because I don't wanna miss
one of the greatest moments of my life.
Old River is a big, slow moving bayou
known to contain big bulls,
but the drought has been wreaking havoc on it.
Why is this channel
all clogged up with lilies today, dude?
-Man, this is absolutely-- -We gotta be careful
we don't burn up your motor in this set.
You think? This is freaking terrible.
I don't know even know how we're gonna get out of here.
This is gonna slow us down, my baby.
There's our first line.
He's down.
Oh, back up. It's tangled up in the front of us right here.
I see a big crime scene over here.
Yeah, look, he went all up in there.
Oh, here he is. He's on top of the lilies.
[laughs]
Yes, indeed, papa.
Golly! Watch him, Timmy!
Whoo! He's trying to get in the boat!
Hold him there, hold him steady.
Lord. Whoo-hoo!
T, don't let him sack the quarterback, T!
Watch him, baby.
Whoo-hoo! Golly.
Come on this side, pop him.
Hammer him, hammer him.
-Whew. -Got him.
That motherhumper had some fight in him, boy.
Oh, yeah, baby.
This seven-footer is nothing to write home about,
but the most important task for today
is to fill all remaining tags in short order.
We got our first gator real quick,
but right now the lilies and Mother Nature's
throwing obstacles at me
and slowing me down like you can't imagine.
We gotta get going, and I'm gonna tell you what.
I just hope and pray
I can make it to this Hall of Fame induction.
Dang lilies.
In Bayou Bass,
Leron Jones and Anthony "Porkchop" Williams
plan on hunting one of their most reliable gator honey holes.
The pair's season has slowed after a hot start,
filling 67 of 175 tags,
and it's high time they get back on track.
But as they start running their lines,
they get an unpleasant surprise.
The bait was right here on the water,
and now, right now it's almost like a two-foot difference.
Ain't nothing we can do about Mother Nature
besides drop the line back down,
but damn near need a ladder to get up there to the string
so we can drop it down.
That's how fast the water dropping.
With such a drastic shift in water levels
since they hung their lines 18 hours ago,
they have a decision to make.
Leron thinks we should drop all the lines down,
but I don't agree. And I really believe that
we can catch the biggest alligator
that we ever caught if I keep these lines this way.
So I'm kind of disagreeing with Leron right about now.
Using their tail to propel themselves,
large adult alligators can reach up to five feet
above the surface of the water while reaching for food.
Near Big Fork Bayou,
King of the Swamp Troy Landry and his deckhand Pickle
return to a honey hole Troy calls The Boneyard,
known for big gators
and a minefield of underwater hazards.
If you remember, I took you here.
This is where they used to pull
all the cypress logs out the swamp
and pile them up right here.
Yeah, I remember it.
Just I don't think it was worth it then.
The Boneyard used to be a logging area
where they cut big giant cypress trees down a hundred years ago.
For years and years all of New Orleans
was built with cypress from this area.
In the early 1900s,
logging was booming in south Louisiana.
Millions of acres of cypress
were cut and removed from the swamp.
The process left areas where old stumps, logs,
and networks of cypress knees
are scattered across the bottom,
putting boats at risk in times of low water
and providing great cover for large gators to hunt.
I know we in a bigger boat,
but I'm still a little cautious
going back here. Just be careful.
All right, watch where you going.
Where you going?
Try this way. Go left, go left.
Why you going right? Go left.
Hold on! Where you going?
Oh.
Where you going? Back up.
It's not worth coming here.
I don't know why you like coming back here.
-What? -It's not worth coming here.
Last time we came here, we had trouble, but we did good.
We caught real good. You don't remember?
-Back up. -I'm trying, I'm trying
to swing the back end around.
The water's usually about three foot higher than it is now,
so we can ride over a lot of them stumps.
But now the water's so low this year
that we running into them.
Oh, that line looks tight.
Ooh, come on.
-Feel like a big one? -It's a good one.
Feels like something heavy over here.
-Heavy? -Oh, yeah.
Bring him up, bring him up.
Whoo!
Whoo, it's a big one.
Ooh.
Aah!
Whoo!
Ooh-- oh!
Whoa!
At their first line in The Boneyard...
-Whoa! -Troy and Pickle
are rewarded with a fighting dinosaur.
Whoo, that's a big one!
Oh!
Whoo!
Bring him up, bring him up.
Ay yi yi.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.
Whoo!
Shoot! Shoot!
Whoo!
Good job.
-All right, ready? -Ready? One, two, three.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Nice gator, Peewee.
This ten-foot beast proves The Boneyard does have giants,
but Pickle isn't convinced the risk is worth the reward.
There's so many other spots that we can go to and fish.
We do not have to come to this area.
But he insists, and I'm deckhand,
and he's captain for a reason, so...
-[thud] -Oh!
You're so lucky I love you.
In Bayou Corn,
Ashley "Deadeye" Jones and her deckhand Anna Ribbeck
are heading out to set lines
in a deep channel that runs past a group of homes.
Gators usually avoid the area, but the low water
has brought them to the doorsteps of the locals,
who want their new neighbors gone.
With the water being so low,
we really have to change our strategy and how we hunt.
The lower water is making these big gators move
because their swamps are drying out
and they're wanting to move to these big waters.
You ready?
Ready as I can be.
You'd never know there's such big old gators
-under that water, would you? -No.
Ashley and Anna approach one of the concerned locals
who reached out to the hunters.
Hey, Miss Wanda!
Good morning.
Good. How're you doing?
Good.
You been seeing gators?
Swimming right out here?
Miss Wanda is seeing a really big gator
right here behind her house.
And this big gator being that brave
to stay this close to her house like that
is a major problem for her.
And just hearing the genuine concern in her voice.
We're gonna bring you back that gator,
-that big gator over there. -Oh, I hope so.
This gator is taking precedence
because he's around these camps and these houses
and I wanna concentrate on him today.
Bye, Miss Wanda.
Bye. Good luck to y'all.
Thank you.
Waterside cabins known as camps
are a fixture of life in south Louisiana.
Originally used by fur traders
as temporary lodging during their hunts,
today these camps have become family retreats
passed down through generations.
Some swampers even make them permanent year-round homes.
Look at this cypress cluster. That's where he's coming
in and out of every day, right there.
We'll put them on both sides.
We'll have this place cornered.
Yup.
Put it right here for when he comes out.
Since there's a lot of camps and a lot of boat traffic,
we're gonna set more lines in this area.
We know he's coming here every day,
so we're gonna cover this area with a lot of lines.
That gator's going home with us, Anna.
Thirty-three miles west, near Bayou Chene,
with only a few tags left for this area,
Joey Edgar and his deckhand Zak Catchem
plan to spend the day
hunting the biggest bulls they can find in open water.
That one is huge.
Not many tags in this area left.
I think it'll be a good day
for Zak and I to try to get one or two more
of these big alligators
that we been seeing moving around.
I can't cast that far, I don't think.
Oh, that was him. I was right on him.
I can't cast that far. Oh, my God.
That was terrible.
They teach casting lessons at a--
[bleep] you.
I can't reach him.
Now he's out of my reach, too.
I believe he's still there, pop.
I think I just hit him,
and I think he moved when I touched him.
You want me to take that rod and reel over?
You think you can do better?
I tell you what, I've been fishing all my life
and I done snagged plenty of alligators with a rod and reel.
I don't know. I've seen a lot of chicken hanging over here.
In Florida, this is all you can do is rod and reel.
If you wanna exchange for the day,
if you wanna swap out for the day,
I think I got it. I know I got it.
Tell you what, we gonna make a bet.
Whoever gets the alligator first.
If I get one on the rod and reel, you're buying lunch.
If you get one on the treble hook, I'm buying lunch.
Oh, yeah, that's a deal. [laughs]
We gonna shake on it. That's how it's gonna be.
All right. Let's find them.
We switched weapons.
I got the rod and reel, he's got the treble hook.
Whoever catches the first gator wins the bet.
I'm telling you, I'm coming.
I'm coming with it. I'm bringing the noise.
The only thing is
it'll probably be easier for you to get on the gator
since I'll be driving the boat.
-Ha! -[laughs]
As the hunters proceed down the bayou,
they come upon their first chance to prove themselves
just around the corner.
Right in the middle. See him, pop?
Yeah.
Zak thinks he's the most deadliest man
in the swamp with that rod and reel.
But we been catching alligators with a rod and reel
before Zak was born.
This is where he went.
Where's his bubbles?
Straight that way. Go ahead.
I believe in you.
You better.
Aw, what?
What is this, fly fishing? [laughs]
I made this bet with Joey. I wanna show him how it feels
to use this rod and reel. You know, I make it look easy.
I could use a break off this thing.
I'm gonna get something on this treble hook.
That was a great cast, buddy.
[laughs]
Go ahead, try.
Got him, boy. Got that big boy.
Oh, that's a big one.
Good job.
I got a big one.
But I'm looking for a 12-ounce ribeye.
With some bone-in or bone-out?
Oh, bone-out.
-Twelve-ounce filet. -Yeah?
Catching them on the rod and reel is
a little harder than I thought,
and Zak catching them on treble hook
is a little harder than he thought.
-Let's roll. -Yeah.
A few miles away in Bayou Bass,
unable to agree on the best strategy
to contend with dropping water levels,
Leron and Porkchop
have set half of their lines just above the surface
and the other two feet out of the water.
So far, neither approach has produced results.
I'm trying to catch my personal best, big gators.
And I know a lot of these lines gonna be up,
but I'm trying to catch one 13-foot alligator.
Leron's gonna stop complaining about them high lines
once we catch that 13-footer, I promise you that.
The hunters arrive at one of Leron's low lines.
Whoa.
Oh, yeah.
Be careful, cousin.
Gimme a shot, Porkchop!
Oh-- be careful, cousin.
Come on, cuz. You gotta get him, we gotta get him.
Oh, he barely hooked, he barely hooked.
-Come on, cousin. -He barely hooked.
Don't fight him, don't fight him, don't fight him.
-I'm gonna ease him up. -Ease him up.
He barely hooked. Can't lose him.
Go on, shoot him, cuz.
Shoot him, he's right there!
Leron and Porkchop finally have a gator
at one of their low-hanging lines.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
Come on, cuz.
Oh, cuz, you gotta get him, we gotta get him.
Oh, he barely hooked, he barely hooked.
-Come on, cuz. -He barely hooked.
Don't fight him, don't fight him, don't fight him.
-I'm gonna ease him up. -Ease him up.
He barely hooked. Can't lose him.
You gotta shoot him, cuz.
Shoot him! He's right there!
Give me a shot, Porkchop.
Come on 'round.
Cuz, come on, cuz, we gotta get him, cuz.
I don't wanna lose him.
Come on, gimme a shot, cuz.
Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about, cuz.
Oh, cuz, look...
Good job, cuz. We got him in the leg, cuz.
Yeah, I know, cuz.
-I know, cuz. -We need to put
his head in the boat. We need to get
a grip on him, brah. We barely got him.
Hold on.
-Gotta do... -He wasn't that risky.
[straining]
Hold on, hold on. Be careful.
I'm gonna hold his head because his eyes
ain't all the way closed. I just want...
-There you go. -I just wanna get him in,
-cousin. -There you go.
Once I get my hand on him, once I get him, cuz,
-I'm gonna get him in. -Oh, yeah.
This eight-foot bull is the first of the day,
and to Leron it's proof
they should lower all of their lines.
We haven't been catching that great,
but we caught an eight-footer, and it was on the low line.
I'm super worried that I might not catch any gators
on them high lines at all.
I mean, that's what bothers me the most.
I don't know why I let Porkchop talk me into this.
Back on Old River,
Ronnie and Timmy are racing
to finish running their lines as soon as possible,
but the low water is slowing them down.
-[thud] -Oh.
Goddamn.
You all right?
Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good.
Right now my biggest fear
is not getting out of here in time
and being late to my own induction to the Hall of Fame.
-We on something that time. -Yeah.
I mean, the water today is unbelievably low,
and it's slowing us down
with the stumps and the lilies.
I can't have that today.
But I gotta do what I gotta do,
and I gotta take my time to get through it.
Ooh, ooh.
Damn stumps.
I'm trying to get to this thing, and we got stumps.
They're everywhere.
Everywhere.
Ooh, look at that line straight out.
Oh, yeah.
Ooh, baby!
Let's get him.
Oh, yeah, that's a good one there, papa.
Look at the whirlpool this dude's making, son.
Oh, Lord, that's about a ten-footer.
Oh, yeah, T, that's a big dude.
Get the gun!
Lord, that's a monster, T.
Whoo-hoo, baby.
Timmy, don't let him get in the boat now.
He's trying to get in the boat.
-Golly. -Watch out.
Whoo-hoo!
Watch him, T.
Golly!
Come on, get him, baby, get him.
He's gaining yardage.
Block him, hold him down.
Hit him hard, hit him hard. Sack him.
Shoot him, baby, shoot him!
-That a baby. -Whoo!
Look, a nub.
-Oh, a nubby. -Uh-huh.
-Oh, he's heavy. -Yeah, he's heavy.
One, two, three.
Hell, yeah, T.
Next year, we're getting you
on a weight program-- come on now, I need
-some weight on you, T. -Yeah.
Although the hunters are filling tags...
Good job, brother.
They have 20 lines remaining, and since by law
they are required to run all of them today,
they need to put it into overdrive.
I need to get to this induction, but I gotta take my time
because of the stumps and the lilies
and you don't know what's under the lilies,
I just-- if I bust my boat up
or lose my lower unit or blow the motor,
I mean, then I'm stuck.
Then I'm never gonna make the Hall of Fame.
Click.
What a stick, baby.
Gotta go, we gotta go.
Along a canal, near a stretch of camps,
Ashley and Anna are on the trail of a monster
who's been coming dangerously close to the houses.
We got a gator over here.
He's swimming really fast. That's good.
Ash, do you want me to cut the motor right here
so you can just--
I don't wanna shoot back there
because I don't have a-- there's camps all over here,
and there's a lady sitting out there.
I gotcha.
Miss Wanda is seeing a really big gator back here,
and it's a major problem,
these gators are swimming right here behind her house.
Miss Wanda is the reason that I love Louisiana.
She's that grandmother that you miss, you know,
she just-- and she's gonna welcome you with open arms.
And when somebody like that asks you
to do something for them, you do it.
Yeah, you see those bubbles right there?
Yeah.
-He might go to our chicken. -Yup.
Let's run this line right here
and see if he comes back up.
And we'll just let him think
we're busy doing other things,
and I'll be watching for him.
With evidence of high gator activity,
the hunters decide to check their new lines
much sooner than they planned.
Come on, Anna, grab a hold of him.
Please let this be the big boy. This has gotta be him.
Talk to me, Anna.
He's got himself wrapped.
He's underneath these knees right here.
Get that gun.
I got it, Anna. Ready?
Yeah.
-Whoa, watch yourself. -He's swimming, he's swimming.
Hold him, Anna, hold him!
-Oh! -Easy.
He's barely hooked in the mouth, Ash.
He is barely hooked.
-Watch that tail. -Watch his tail.
-Whoa! -Watch out!
Back near a stretch of camps,
Ashley and Anna hope
they've hooked the monster they're after.
Hold him. Hold him, Anna!
Watch yourself, Anna.
-Got him? Hold him. -Got him.
[gunshot]
-There you go, Anna. -Good shot.
-Good job. -Nice.
Down he goes, Anna.
One, two.
This is a good gator.
We definitely need to take it back to Miss Wanda's camp
to see if that was the one that we're after.
I thought he was gonna get that hook out of him and be gone.
Me, too.
Further northwest in an area known as The Boneyard,
Troy and Pickle have captured just two gators,
and an obstacle course of stumps, roots,
and cypress knees are slowing them down to a crawl.
-Go left! -I am going left.
It's very dangerous.
You have stumps, you have logs under the water.
You can't see under the water,
so you don't know they're there until you hit them.
But also we get quite a few tags for that area.
Over the years, The Boneyard has always been good for us.
We never had trouble to fill the tags.
-[thud] -Whoa.
Oh, yeah, you on that one good.
Of course we're stuck.
-Huh? -Of course.
What's that supposed to mean, of course?
All right, okay.
I already hate this place.
I'm looking at him, and I think
he's starting to agree with me.
Finally he's starting to agree with me.
But we have lines to run,
and so Mr. Troy just has to stick it out in The Boneyard
and so do I.
With many more lines to run
and not much to show for their efforts,
Troy worries he may have made a mistake coming here.
You and your big ideas.
I can't hear you, Peewee, I can't hear you.
Near Bayou Chene...
Joey and Zak have a bet to see who will catch a gator first
using their partner's weapon of choice,
but so far they're both drawing a blank.
You might wanna get in the shallow water for yourself
to see if you can get them up,
because I saw the big one headed up to the shallows.
Oh, my God, right in the middle.
Right in the middle, right in the middle.
Right in the middle. Go get him. Go get him.
That's him. That's the one.
Go get him, go get him. He's right there.
I'm fixing to show you how it's done.
I got your back.
Yeah, set it, set it. You better set it.
Yeah, buddy. Yeah, buddy!
That's a big one.
I got a steak dinner
with your name on it, pop. Come on.
You gotta hit him with this hook.
Okay, I'll tell you what.
You do appetizers, and I'll throw this hook. Yeah?
Absolutely. We'll split it.
Okay, I got you, I got you.
Keep that pressure on.
-Ready? -Yeah.
Come on!
-Hold him. -Come on!
-Hold him. -I got him!
I got him! Uh!
-Hold him. -I got him.
I got that thing.
Shoot him!
Using Zak's rod and reel, Joey has snatched a monster.
-Come on! -Hold him.
Come on!
-Hold him. -I got him!
I got him! Uh!
-Hold him. -I got him.
I got that thing.
Shoot him!
He's wrapped. He's wrapped.
Get ready for that shot.
Oh, crap.
Oh, my God, it's huge.
Whoa, whoa.
Oh, God!
If you get him up, I'll shoot him.
I got him, I got him.
It's coming. There it is. Shoot it!
Ahh.
Yeah, nice snag.
You know how I like my steak cooked?
[laughs]
Well done like you, huh?
Medium rare.
Holy crap.
Ready?
Yup, yup.
Uh!
Ready?
There it is.
While Joey may have reeled in this 11-footer,
the friendly competition has given the veteran gator hunter
a renewed appreciation for his team.
I think switching weapons for a while
gave us each a different respect of each other
and realize how valuable each other is
on the boat and as teammates.
We have good chemistry,
and we're a hell of an alligator killing machine together.
There's no doubt about it.
And, I mean, it was all in good fun,
but I'm looking forward to my steak dinner.
And that's how you finesse your captain into doing your job.
[laughs]
Whoo!
Near a row of camps in the Atchafalaya Basin,
Ashley and Anna have caught several gators
near Miss Wanda's,
and they're hoping the largest is
the one that's been terrorizing her camp.
We caught a good eight- and-a-half, nine-foot gator.
I'm starting to wonder
if that was maybe the gator Miss Wanda saw
because even an eight-foot, nine-foot gator
is a big old gator out there in the water.
Hey. Look at the one we did get.
We got about a nine-footer.
Oh no, God.
This isn't him?
Mm-mm. No.
Is he be bigger than this?
Yes.
Absolutely.
We're doing our best.
We've got this place covered right here.
We're gonna stay over here until we get him.
Yes, ma'am, we're gonna try.
We're gonna try to get that big one for you.
Thank you, Miss Wanda.
You, too.
-Bye, Miss Wanda. -Bye.
Miss Wanda knows her stuff. I thought, you know,
I was gonna bring her back this nine-foot gator
and she was gonna be really proud,
but she's like no, no, this is a bigger gator.
So we're talking maybe an 11-foot gator out here.
Looks like there's something swimming right there, Anna.
That's a big gator swimming.
Swimming, swimming.
-Did he go down? -Dang it, he went down.
He may be on our line, Anna. That's our line right there.
Yeah.
He was swimming out there by it.
Please be on our line.
The line's going around the back of the tree.
All right, let's see.
-You got it? -Yeah, it feels really slack.
Oh, no.
I'm a little worried because we only have
a very short period of time where we can take the time
to hunt this gator. We gotta fill more tags,
so we gotta make sure to get this gator,
because I want Miss Wanda to feel safe
with her grandkids out here.
Got lines to run, but just keep a lookout.
He'll pop back up. We're gonna get him.
In Bayou Bass,
with gators caught only on their low lines so far,
Leron is running out of patience with Porkchop's hope
to catch a dinosaur on one of their high lines.
I'm a little frustrated because I allowed Porkchop
to convince me to leave a lot of them lines high.
I'm gonna just beat myself all up
if that don't work at the end of the day, man,
because I know better.
I should've followed my first mind
and ran all them lines low.
Line down, line down.
Got him, cuz.
-Careful, cuz. -I got him, cuz.
Oh! Oh!
He under the boat, cuz.
All right, cousin.
I got him, cuz.
-Be careful, cuz. -Aah!
Come up here. Cuz, we can't let him get off.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
Watch him, cuz, watch him.
Be careful, cousin!
Aah!
In Bayou Bass, Porkchop is wrestling a giant
hooked on one of his high-set lines.
Get ready now. I got him, cousin.
Give me a shot, Porkchop, give me a shot!
Come on, cousin.
Oh, man.
Give me a shot, cuz, give me a shot.
I'm trying, cuz.
Whoo! Come on, cuz, get him!
Get him, cuz!
Oh, man.
Come on! Come on, cuz.
Put something in him!
Cuz, shoot him, cuz, shoot him.
Shoot him! Shoot him!
[gunshot]
Whoo! Man.
Ay, don't grab that leg there--
-Pick it up. -Don't grab that.
Gotta flip him, cousin.
All right, but not the front, I got the front.
Get the back, get the back. The back leg.
-The back. -Agh.
Porkchop's high lines have produced a nice ten-footer,
but Leron is still questioning today's strategy.
Got a big old gator on a high line,
but what we giving up and what we getting in return?
[both laugh]
Back on Old River,
Ronnie and Timmy are racing to run their last line
so Ronnie can make it to his Hall of Fame induction.
How much further to the next one, T?
Yeah, I'm not 100% sure.
We had to skip so much spots
because of all the lilies and logs in the water, branches.
The time is ticking away.
I literally got one more hour to get off the water.
I mean, I'm pushing it to the limits.
I gotta have enough time to make it to my ceremony,
and if I don't make it,
talk about, I mean, a dagger in the heart.
Oh, there's one.
Oh, it tore up, huh? It tore up, T.
It tore up, baby!
Got a lot of mud stirred up.
Motherhumper, that's gotta be a good one, T.
Dude, he's-- he's heavy.
-Oh, yeah, Timmy. -That's the grand papi
right there we been looking for.
Oh, yeah, Timmy, this dude's strong, bro.
Golly!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Look at the size of him, Timmy!
Ooh, baby.
Whoo, watch out.
He's wrapping up.
It's a good one! It's a good one!
Hold him, watch it.
[gunshot]
-That a baby! -Whoo!
What a giant, Timmy.
That's a picture perfect gator there, baby.
One, two, three.
Oh, he hooked his leg.
-All right. -All right,
hold him like that, T.
-Oh, yeah. -He's...
he's making it easy on us now.
Let me get on him. You come around my back,
-all right? -Okay, you ready?
All right, we got him now.
That's it, he's in.
What a giant.
Whew-whew. Whew-whew.
-Got a full tail? -Full tail, bro.
Yeah!
-Whoo! -Whoo-hoo-hoo!
That's 12, bro.
Oh, that's a 12-footer all day.
Bro, see when you got that big defensive tackles
who're holding the line, baby?
That's what counts.
This 12-foot monster
caps a successful day on the water.
Click, click, another stick!
But Ronnie's not ready to declare victory just yet.
We got the boat loaded with gators.
We gotta get going, and I'm gonna tell you what.
I just hope and pray
I can make it to this Hall of Fame induction.
Timmy, we gotta go, baby!
Back in what some locals call The Boneyard,
with six gators in the boat,
Troy and Pickle have started to catch
and figure out their way around the dangers lurking underwater.
Try to spot the stumps before I hit them.
One's right over here on your right.
Go left.
All right, good job.
You never know what's under the water back here,
and to put a hole in the boat or to knock the prop off
is so easy to do right here where we're at.
-Okay, go right, go right. -Right?
Right, right.
All right, we missed that one.
We lucked up and missed that one.
What we got, Peewee?
Looks like a good one.
He's good?
He's pulling pretty hard.
He thinks he's hiding underneath these lilies.
Ooh, it's a big one, it's a big one!
Oh, Lord!
Ooh, it's a big one!
Troy Landry, what are you doing?
Bring him up, bring him up, bring him up!
Whoo! Show him who's the boss.
Bring him up, Peewee, bring him up.
-Oh, my God. -Whoo!
Whoa!
In The Boneyard, Pickle struggles with a monster.
Bring him up, Peewee, bring him up, bring him up!
-Oh, my God. -Whoo!
Show him who's the boss.
Oh, yeah. Whoa!
All right, ease him away from the boat.
Shoot, shoot!
[gunshot]
Whoo! Lord have mercy.
-Good job, Peewee. -Oh, yeah.
What you talking about?
This eight-and-a-half-foot monster
helps fill the boat,
but with more than a dozen lines left to run
and unknown hazards along the way,
this is not the time to let their guard down.
I hate this place.
But we're putting alligators in the boat one after the other,
and so we're gonna finish what we started here
and we can boogie on home.
That's a good one.
-Yeah, he's a pretty gator. -Yeah.
Just trust me.
Before the day is over, we gonna fill this boat up.
Let's roll, baby.
Where Bayou Bass meets the intracoastal waterway,
Porkchop's high bait lines have delivered only one gator,
compared to the five on the low lines.
And with just a few lines left,
his hopes of catching the monster he's been promising
are dwindling.
I'm running out of time, man.
I mean, I'm gonna be honest, I'm running out of time.
I was trying to show Leron with setting these lines
high like that, but I'm running out of time.
I'm really running out of time.
As the pair arrives at the last of Porkchop's lines,
they find an encouraging sight.
Oh, lord. Pork, look at the size of him.
-Gol, oh, boy. -That's it, cuz, oh, yeah, cuz.
You see him?
I don't know.
Slow it down.
Man, cuz...
-What? -Look, he right there, cuz.
On the other side, yeah, I see him.
Hold on, hold on. He ain't there, cuz.
I see him, cuz.
We'll get him, cuz.
-See him, cuz? -I see him.
Yeah, he's right over there, cuz.
Come on, cuz, come get him. You gotta shoot him, cuz,
you gotta shoot him. Come on, cuz.
Get the gun.
-[rifle clicks] -Cousin, come on, cousin.
Come on, cuz! Cuz, come on, man,
I'm gonna lose him!
Come on, cuz! Come on, man!
Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
I ain't never seen that.
Ahh.
-That's a big ass gator, cuz. -Oh, yeah.
Grab that back leg. Yeah, roll him, cuz.
Yeah, roll him. Watch yourself, watch yourself.
[bleep]. [bleep].
-Whoo! -Oh.
This dinosaur may be the biggest one
Leron and Porkchop have ever caught.
They won't know for sure until they measure it,
but for Porkchop, there's no doubt his plan was a success.
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
I know we would catch a big gator on my lines,
and we did it and I'm happy.
I'm gonna keep rubbing it in
because I feel like I'm a genius because my idea worked.
Deep in the Atchafalaya Basin,
Ashley and Anna have filled their boat with gators
near a row of houses and camps,
but they haven't caught the monster
harassing Miss Wanda and her neighbors yet,
and time is running out.
We have a boat full of gators,
and I'm, like, you know, thinking
we've really done something.
But we still haven't found that gator
Miss Wanda told us about, and it's gonna be
a really big letdown if we don't get this gator.
That line's down right next to Miss Wanda's camp.
She's outside, Anna.
Oh, I hope it's him.
It's gotta be him.
Can you reach it, Anna?
-Be careful. -I don't know where it is.
I think it's behind the tree.
Careful, there's a log over here.
All right, Anna, what do we got?
-Got it? -Yup.
Ash, it feels heavy.
Get that gun ready. This could be him.
Oh, my God.
Pull him up, Anna.
-Whoa! Anna! -Oh, my gosh, Ash, Ash!
It's a huge gator!
Get him around here, give me a shot.
There he is. Watch out.
Whoa!
Hold him.
Pull him up, Anna.
Get a shot. He's gonna get off!
Right there, Anna!
Aah!
Across from Miss Wanda's camp,
Ashley and Anna have a leviathan on the line.
Get a shot. He's gonna get off!
Right there, Anna!
-I'm trying, Anna. -Gah.
Get him, Ash!
-Hold him. -Come on, gator.
Oh, no, he's going under the boat.
He's going under the boat. Pull him up.
Watch him.
-Get a shot! -Come on, gator.
Come on, give me a shot.
Hold him, Anna, hold him right there!
Do it!
Whoo! You better believe that's him.
That's him.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my God, look at this gator.
Oh, my God. [laughs]
Let's get him, girl. Here.
-Ready? -Ready.
Which way is he going?
He's going this way.
Yup.
Here you go.
Man, Anna, whoo, that's a big gator.
Come on, let's hurry and tag this thing
so we can go show her.
Yeah.
Catching this gator
will keep Miss Wanda and her grandchildren safe.
It feels so good
to finally have this big 11-foot gator in the boat.
It couldn't have happened at a better time
when we caught this gator,
because Miss Wanda was able to see it.
So it's a really good feeling to not only get this gator,
but have Miss Wanda watching the whole thing.
She's waiting right there for us.
Oh, my gosh. She's got her family with her.
It just makes me super happy
that we got this gator for Miss Wanda and her grandkids,
and now they can actually swim there and feel safe again.
So swamp kids deserve to be in the swamp.
This him?
Oh, I'm so glad y'all got him.
I'm so happy for y'all.
Thank you, thank you.
Oh, man, what a good--
You stand there. I'm gonna get a picture.
I'm glad we could help.
Me, too.
Man, that's a beautiful alligator, too.
Beautiful but deadly.
Deep inside The Boneyard,
after putting their boat and safety at risk all day
to catch gators,
Troy and Pickle are rushing to finish their lines
before their luck runs out.
We ain't got but one line left,
so we gonna stay here now till we finish.
But anything can happen.
You have to be real careful and not let your guard down.
On approach to their last line,
the hunters discover a big log blocking their way.
Oh, no.
Worst timing possible.
See if you can tie the bow rope to that thing.
Wrap your rope around it.
Let's try to do something before somebody get hurt.
[sighs]
This thing's heavy, dude.
-Just hold the end of the rope. -All right.
Gonna see if we can't move that big log.
All right.
-You got it? -Yeah.
Peewee, good job.
Thank you.
What we got, P?
Looks good.
-It looks tight, huh? -Yeah, it looks tight.
Oh, yeah.
-He's heavy? -Yeah, he's heavy.
Come on, bring him up.
Look at the bubbles, look at the bubbles.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
You wanna trade? You want me to bring him up?
You got him?
I don't know. Aah!
-Whoo! You saw that? -Oh, yeah.
Show him who's the boss.
Oh! Good Lord.
We got a dinosaur.
-You got it? -No. Ow!
Whoo, it's a big one.
Aw, he's pulling.
Aah!
-Whoo! -Whoa!
Good job.
You saw that thing?
That's a nice one, P.
Good alligator.
Okay.
-Got him? -Yeah. Ready?
On three, ready?
One, two, three.
Aah! He almost bit me.
One, two, three.
Lord have mercy. Ready?
One, two, three.
This massive 11-foot-long gator
is their biggest of the day
and the ultimate payoff after a tough hunt.
Once you commit to hunting a certain area
and filling tags in a certain area,
you gotta stick with it.
We did good in The Boneyard again.
Time after time we always do good here.
We work hard to get them out of this area, it's so rough.
But I'm looking forward to coming back here
if not next year, the year after.
We got just about a full boat.
Let's get out of here.
-I got enough for the day. -All right.
We got 15 or 20 caught. I got enough.
Yeah, about time.
Let's get out of here.
-I'm gonna make you happy. -Thank you.
Over at St. Mary's,
after losing today's bet,
Zak's holding up his end of the bargain
and serving a steak dinner to his captain.
You deserve it fair and square, pop.
Bone apple tea, buddy.
A meal fit for the king.
-I need ketchup, Zak. -Excuse me?
You're gonna put ketchup on the steak I cooked you?
Yes, sir.
Joey, why you always gotta make things...[laughs]
-You're joking. -Give it to me.
-No, I'm not joking. -Please.
-That's how I roll. -Please, please, just eat.
-I'm good. -Are you for real?
Yeah.
Not bad, but I need ketchup.
I won the bet. I get to eat it like I want.
Meat is just meat.
If I wanna put ketchup on it,
I'll put ketchup on it.
If I won, I won. Doesn't matter.
That's how I wanna eat it.
That's sirloin. Dude, oh, my God!
[laughs] That is blasphemy.
I could've just got some ketchup for you
and sprinkled some meat on top of it.
You need to put some on yours and try it.
No, no. That wasn't part of the bet.
You just enjoy your food, pop.
You deserve the win, man, you deserve the win.
-Oh, my God. -Well, I'll tell you what.
That rod and reel is a little tougher than--
But you did great, man. You got him.
We should swap more often, pop. That was fun.
It was fun, but I think we best...
you stay on your side, I'll stay on my side.
I'll do what I do, you do what you do.
We complement each other. We do well together.
We work well together. We have good chemistry.
Zak and I over the last six years
have really became close friends and more like family.
It went to a different level.
Oh!
I still can't believe
you're eating that steak with ketchup, bro.
I think it's good.
At least you're enjoying yourself.
Thanks, buddy, that was good.
-You deserved it, pop. -Thank you.
Over in Ellisville, Mississippi...
Ronnie has made it just in time
for his college football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
ANNOUNCER: Please turn your attention to the field
as we recognize six special guests.
First up is Ronnie Adams.
Adams was an offensive lineman on the football team
and a conference champion in track and shotput
during the 1995-1996 seasons.
A round of applause for Ronnie Adams!
[cheers and applause]
To be honored to be inducted into the football Hall of Fame
was one of the greatest feelings of my life.
Not many people get the chance to witness this,
and it's just such a great feeling.
If I was to rank this in the honors of my life right now
it'd be right up under when my daughter was born.
I'm so honored to be a part of this.
Thank y'all, guys.
It ranks up with the top of the tops
of all honors for me.
That's what I'm talking about!
Look like the old days when I played here.
Touchdown, Bobcats, baby!