As gator season thunders toward the midway point...
Oh! Whoa!
[gunshot]
Hunters battle notorious foes...
We call him Crawdaddy.
He's been eating crawfish traps.
We're gonna have to outsmart him.
Oh!
Aah! Damn!
And legendary curses...
We going to Graveyard Island.
I don't like that name.
This is where he wants to set, so be it.
We're gonna dig us a grave.
-Aah! -Whoo!
Bring him up, bring him up!
Using new tricks...
Boy, that CD gonna be flashing, looking like a disco ball,
catch an alligator's attention.
I know it will work.
And equipment...
I'm the captain and you're the deckhand.
Dorien's got an airboat. While mine's being repaired,
he's the captain, I'm the deckhand.
To fill their tags...
Oh, my God!
Aah!
Oh, no! Whoa!
And keep their seasons above water.
Dorien is in the water.
Oh, my God.
[gunshots]
In Belle River,
King of the Swamp Troy Landry
and his deckhand Pickle Wheat
are headed to a notorious location deep in the swamp.
Graveyard Island is an island in Belle River.
Years ago, two guys,
one of them lived on Graveyard Island,
two guys got into an argument
at the Rainbow Inn in the 1940s.
They went and settled it on the island,
and one of them didn't make it.
They had a shootout there and a guy got killed,
and they buried him right there on the island.
Graveyard Island, huh?
There's always big alligators there.
Yup. I don't like that name.
Graveyard Island has a lot of negative energy.
People don't like to go there.
But, you know, it's nothing we can't handle,
and nobody else hunts there.
So I need to go and thin 'em out,
because I'm sure they done built up
a good bit around there.
When you get in the south end of Graveyard Island,
it's loaded with persimmon trees.
Just on the south end of the island,
I can show you a hundred trees like that.
You think that's where they buried him?
It could be. I don't know.
I think they buried him in the middle of the island
from what I'm told, where he used to live at.
-Yeah. -But I'm not sure.
There's tall tales all around the swamp,
and so I'm sure every bayou that we fish in has its own story.
And if this is where he wants to set,
in Graveyard Island, well, so be it.
We're gonna dig us a grave.
All right, well... let's get it.
Oh, I like this. I like it, Peewee.
Show him who's the boss, show him who's the boss.
Hey, wait!
-Whoo! -Shoot him!
Aah!
Ease him, ease him.
[gunshot]
-Whoo! -Yeah.
Good job, Peewee.
Good job.
Don't hurt your back.
I'm good.
One down.
Yup, we gotta start somewhere.
You gotta chip away.
An eight-footer on their first line
in this notorious area
has Troy thinking there's nothing to be afraid of.
You know, we on Graveyard Island,
and it's got a bad reputation.
But that's not who I am.
I don't believe in that,
and I think we gonna do good here.
Oh!
-Oh, no. -Watch it, watch it.
-Hey! -Watch it.
That mother [bleep]. Watch it.
Son of a bitch.
-Watch out. -I don't know where they at.
Oh, you got him.
You know, I'm not about to pick up and move
just because of the wasps or the bees.
I'm not gonna let 'em run me out.
It's swelling already.
-He got me right here. -Yeah, I see it.
In Bayou Chene...
while helping out the Landrys to fill
their record 900 tags,
veteran hunter Bruce Mitchell starts a critical mission.
You know where they got them three camps
on the left by Lake Fausse Pointe?
Yeah.
This morning Troy told him
about a community in need of help.
I had two or three calls lately
there's a big alligator right there.
Really?
Every time the kids go swimming,
that big alligator shows up
and they gotta get out the water.
Okay, okay.
I need you to put lines so we can get him out of there.
-No problem, man. -Thank you,
No problem. I'm gonna get that gator, I promise.
All them kids are swinging on this swing right here.
That's what it is.
That's why Troy wants me to catch them big gators.
Them kids are swimming around here.
He's scared one's gonna get ate.
Gonna go ahead. I'm gonna set a line right here.
I done the same thing when I was a kid.
We went swimming every day in the river,
and I know what's it like.
You know, if we had a big gator in there,
you couldn't go swim.
So that's what I gotta do.
I gotta catch this big gator for Troy.
I mean, I'm setting lines both directions right here
for a half a mile,
and if that gator's around, I'm gonna get him.
He can't resist that good smell.
Meanwhile, over in Bayou Tristiss,
Leron Jones and his partner Anthony "Porkchop" Williams
have 20 tags to fill
in a notoriously murky area.
But today Leron has a twist on an old hunter's strategy
he thinks will pay off with big gators.
I was going through my old CD collection the other day,
and as I was flipping the pages,
the sun kept shining on the CD.
And I'm seeing the reflection in my eyes,
and I'm like, damn.
A lightbulb clicked in my head.
That might catch an alligator's attention,
looking like a disco ball on top of that chicken.
So I know it will work.
Alligators are known to stake out
popular bird nesting grounds
hoping to snag an easy meal.
Using that to their advantage,
hunters often rig their lines with white reflective objects,
making it look as if the bait is a resting bird nearby.
Leron's idea is his own take on that strategy.
1993 or 2023? Come on, man.
What he talking about nobody gonna listen to CDs no more?
I got a CD player at home.
I'm old school. And if that was my CDs,
there's no way I'd put 'em on an alligator line.
Meanwhile, over in Maré LeBlanc,
Joey Edgar and his deckhand Zak Catchem
are hoping this year's drought conditions
will bring an old nemesis out of hiding.
Yeah, give me that iron, buddy.
We going to a spot that we usually fish crawfish in.
The alligator that lives there, we call him Crawdaddy.
He's been eating crawfish traps.
In other words, when we're fishing crawfish traps,
he'll bite the trap and break it off the tree.
Damn. To get the bait out or what?
To get the crawfish and the bait.
-Let's see if we can get him. -Yes, sir.
Dad and I have been after this alligator for ten years,
and he's got a good hiding place
because we hadn't seen him nowhere around.
But this drought year's got him vulnerable.
I think Zak and I are gonna have an opportunity at Crawdaddy,
and I'm excited.
We got one crack at him.
If we don't get him while the water's low,
we might not see him for another ten years.
-He's big though, huh? -He's big.
You know I like the big ones, Joey.
Yes, sir.
The hunters set lines here yesterday,
but are starting out on the open water
to see if they can spot the crafty thief.
Uh-oh.
Kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it.
Just as they arrive at the crawfish grounds,
Zak spots a giant in the distance.
Joey, look at this.
I want you to look before he goes down.
-That's him. -Let's go.
All right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There he is.
Now you got him.
Is that him?
-In Maré LeBlanc... -Now you got him.
Joey and Zak hope they've hooked
a notorious gator named Crawdaddy.
Is that him?
That's a crawfish trap.
[sighs] What the hell, dude?
Look right here.
That's an alligator right there.
I don't know if that's him.
-Oh, my God, that's him. -That's him.
-Yup, that's him. -Now, now.
That's him. No!
Oh, my God.
Yeah, he's still there.
What is this now? Oh, my God, another one.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Look how he's busting them traps up.
You in his graveyard right now. You in his playground.
We set on the edge, and he grab 'em
and he just takes 'em to the deep.
Damn, where'd he go?
We lost him.
It sucks when you come so close
to getting a big one, and it gets away.
This might be our only chance at this alligator
for another ten years, so Zak and I gotta
seize the opportunity.
We gotta do what we gotta do to get him this year
because I think this low water, this drought
has got this alligator pulled out of the deep swamp
and drawn to this hole right now.
That had to be him. He been here.
We never been able to catch him.
Forty miles south, at St. Mary's Seafood,
veteran hunter Daniel Edgar and his grandson Dorien
are still on dry land and already behind schedule
due to surprise engine problems with Daniel's boat.
But the swamp patriarch has a plan.
Got everything wrapped up out there, pa.
Hey, pa, let me ask you something.
I need a favor.
Would you mind if we used your boat?
Might have some stipulations, but I don't mind at all.
[laughs] Have stipulations.
-Oh, my God. -Yeah.
I feel it coming.
Yeah, only stipulation I got
is, you know, I'm the captain and you're the deckhand.
You own the boat. That's fair, pa.
Luckily Dorien's got an airboat while mine's being repaired.
But a man oughta be the captain of his own boat,
so he's the captain, I'm the deckhand.
I got this deckhand thing down pat.
Oh, I know you do.
-I've done it a lot. -I know you do.
I've still got the power.
[both laugh] So once you bring the boat,
we'll get everything transferred, you know,
and get ready, see if we can...
go set some more lines, catch some alligators.
-Okay, pa. -Thanks, thanks, pa.
Thirty minutes later,
Dorien arrives with his airboat in tow.
Well... ha-ha.
Look at this thing, huh? Boy, she's a fine boat.
Let's get this thing loaded up.
Let's load her up, yes, sir.
Our job today is to move to a new area,
set lines, and get these lines put out
and ready to go for tomorrow.
And with my grandpa's boat being down,
it's the next man up, and my boat is needed, you know,
for us to complete the task and do our job.
The late start pushes their entire day back,
so they'll need to work quickly to dodge
a late afternoon storm that'll hit St. Mary Parish.
I know there's a storm coming, so we need to hurry.
I don't have the exact timeframe on when it's gonna come,
but I don't wanna be on this water when that storm hits.
As flatbottom vessels,
airboats are ideal for moving through shallow swamps,
but that design also raises the risk of capsizing
in storms with high winds.
When I'm the deckhand, gators are gonna die.
Let's roll.
Meanwhile, on Graveyard Island,
which is known for a legendary bayou curse,
Troy and Pickle have landed another nice gator.
[slap] Ai-yi-yi. Ow.
[laughing]
[both laugh]
-You okay? -Yeah.
Them suckers hurt, dude.
Hit me right in the head.
You know, we on Graveyard Island,
and it's got a bad reputation.
But it's usually worth it. We usually catch good.
And all of a sudden something hits me in the back of the head,
and it was a carp that hit me in the back of the head.
It hurt. I thought I was going to the doctor.
But it's all good.
I guess my head was harder than fish's.
[laughs]
I thought you had hit me with the pole.
No. No, you'd be on the floor if I hit you with the pole.
-Hey. -Huh?
Looks tight.
Oh, yeah?
Looks tight, my little Peewee.
The line looks tight. The tree's shaking.
Whoo!
Ooh, why you let it go?
He almost got me in the face.
Are you serious?
There you go. That's the Peewee I know.
Show him who's the boss.
Whoo! Lord have mercy.
Whoo.
Try to ease him, ease him.
Take control of the situation.
Oh, yeah.
Bring him up, bring him up!
[gunshot]
All right, we good.
One, two, three.
This eight-footer won't set any state records,
but Troy knows there are giants around here,
and he's not going to let a curse get in his way.
You know, we doing good, but already
things are going rough enough on Graveyard Island.
Wasps are mean. Man, them things hurt like hell.
And then about a 20-pound carp
hit me in the back of the head.
I don't know what's going on here,
but it looks like we're having all kinds of issues here.
There's always something going wrong
since we got to this area.
We gonna stay here now till we finish.
We just gonna try to pay attention.
Good job, P, good job.
Back in Maré LeBlanc,
Joey and Zak are after
a crawfish trap-wrecking monster named Crawdaddy.
He's already escaped them once,
but Joey's got an idea
to turn the tables on the greedy gator.
If we had some live crawfish and put a trap,
oh, we could get him.
He got a fetish for crawfish. He's a crawfish eater. Look.
To put his idea into action, Joey pulls over
to bait and deploy several crawfish traps.
This Crawdaddy alligator...
we're gonna play him just like he been playing us
during crawfishing.
When you put bait in it
and it starts filling up with crawfish,
there's a visual effect that these alligators,
especially this alligator, cannot take.
I'll tell you what, a gator's gonna come to that.
No doubt. Then that red color in the trap
and the crawfish moving in the trap.
Yeah, movement and floating dead rotten fish.
-Oh, he's coming -Yeah.
We know this gator likes to eat crawfish.
This thing clearly has a graveyard
full of crawfish traps, so Joey and I are
gonna get a crawfish trap and fill it with bait
and then try to lure this gator out of here.
Just up so we can see him and try to get this rod on him.
This is what's gonna get him in trouble.
I say we hang a few lines around here.
We might get him on the rod and reel.
We might get him on the line with chicken.
But if he's around here,
this'll get him here, this'll get him in.
While they wait for their traps to lure Crawdaddy,
the hunters proceed to running the lines set yesterday.
All right, he's right here.
Pop, coming straight to the tree.
He just sunk right next to the tree. You saw him?
Yeah, I saw him. Yes, I did.
-Oh, that's a nice one. -Hold him, pop!
I'll hold him. I got you.
He doesn't have much to play with.
He's dogged off good.
-Oh, he's dogged off? -Yeah.
-Oh, Lord. -Damn.
Here, I'm bringing him to you.
Oh, Lord, Zak.
Oh, my God!
In Maré LeBlanc, Joey and Zak are mixing it up
with a muddy monster they hope is Crawdaddy.
Oh, my God!
Oh, Lord.
Shoot him.
Come on, get his head up for me.
Aah!
He's digging down there. Oh, my God.
Shoot him.
That's not Crawdaddy, but that's a solid, solid gator.
-All right, you ready? -Yeah.
Catching this eight-footer in the shallow mud is great,
but each minute that ticks by
increases the odds of Crawdaddy slipping through their fingers.
He's a nice alligator to catch on a line,
but we still gotta keep our eyes open for Crawdaddy.
We need to get this done,
because once this water comes back up,
he's going back into the swamp.
He's going back to wherever he's been hiding.
Over in Bayou Chene,
Bruce prepares to run the lines
he set near an outcropping of camps
and a swimming hole.
He hopes to catch a big gator and his posse
threatening the local kids.
This is the camp Troy's been telling me about.
Said they got a bunch of big gators
around these camps right here.
These people got these camps,
they're always down here swimming, cutting up.
They're bringing their kids down here.
And once you get the kids doing this kind of stuff,
that's what they do the rest of their life.
And I wanna get this swing back to these kids.
Let 'em swing.
Oh, boy.
Oh, golly, it's always gotta be thick.
Come on, buddy.
Hold on.
Whoa!
Dang!
Gol!
Whoo!
[gunshot]
That ain't a bad gator,
but he ain't big enough to be the rope swing gator.
Ridding the swimming hole of this eight-foot gator
is good for the community,
but there's still a monster out there somewhere.
I mean, this gator could eat a kid or bite his arm off.
I know that for sure.
I'm taking gators out of here.
This is not the one I'm looking for.
I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make it happen.
If I gotta set 50 lines here, we're gonna do it.
All right, let's go catch some gators.
At least we got one in the boat.
Back in the dark waters of Bayou Tristiss,
Leron and Porkchop baited their lines
with Leron's CD collection,
but so far they haven't caught a single gator,
and Porkchop is losing his patience.
Yeah.
All right.
All right, cuz.
The bass love hitting the spinner bait
because of the reflection of that silveriness in the water.
Alligators, they live in the water like a fish,
so it should work for them, too.
Oh, yeah, it's just a matter of time.
-Cousin. -What up, cuz?
Oh yeah, cousin, all the way down, man.
I'm trying to tell you.
Hold on now, cuz.
Hold on.
I see something.
Give me a shot, Porkchop!
I'mma give you one, cuz.
-It's a big boy, cuz. -Yeah, I see that.
You gotta get him!
Come around me, cuz, I can't get him.
Come on, cuz, hold on.
Give me a shot, Porkchop, come on, man.
He's about to get me!
Let me bring him to you, cuz.
Oh yeah, that came back though.
-Give me a shot, Porkchop. -I'm gonna give you a shot.
Come on, right there, right there.
[gunshot]
Whoo!
Man.
Yeah, we got him, cuz.
This eight-footer gets their day started,
but it's not the giant they're targeting.
So what if we caught a little small one.
Deep down I know that my plan will work.
If we catch a big alligator or a giant,
I might change my tune, but I'll tell you right now,
uh-uh, it ain't happening.
Let's go set a line, cuz.
There you go, cousin.
Man, put that on there, cousin.
Man, you crazy, man. That's a classic, cuz.
Man, you gotta be kidding me.
Man...
Man, you gotta be kidding me, man.
I got these CD spinners
because they gonna attract the eyes of these giant gators.
Here you go. Take this, cousin.
But also got a lot of history with the damn CDs
that I wanna leave in the late '90s and 2000s, too.
And that's another reason I'm using that stuff for gator bait.
Back in Graveyard Island,
Troy and Pickle have had some strange occurrences
since entering these notorious grounds.
I know you like coming back here,
but it just ain't worth the trouble.
I really feel like we're under attack
back here in Graveyard Island.
We've been hit by fish,
there's wasps everywhere
on every tree back here,
and it's treacherous, you know.
Graveyard Island's really holding up to its name.
I just seen some action. Ooh, look, Peewee.
I saw that tail.
See some action.
Listen, take my long pole.
I don't wanna get too close.
This looks like a nice one.
Feels good?
Mm-hmm, nice one.
Oh!
Whoo! Show him who's the boss.
-Ooh, it's a big one! -Uh!
-It's a big one. -It's a good one, dude.
Whoo-hoo!
Ooh, it's a big one, it's a big one, Peewee.
Aah!
of Graveyard Island,sed ws
Troy and Pickle are wrestling a furious beast.
Whoo-hoo!
Whoo, it's a big one, it's a big one, Peewee.
Aah!
-Whoo! -[laughs]
-Yeah! -You saw the size of that thing?
Let me put one of these on him,
and I'm gonna feel a lot safer.
Okay.
Whoo!
Damn!
It was coming out of the mouth. You might wanna shoot him again.
Keep him away from the boat, keep him away from the boat.
[gunshot]
-You okay? -Oh, yeah.
He almost got me.
We were at the point pulling up our line,
we had the alligator head right on the side of the boat,
and so we in it deep, you know.
And, if this gator goes to town,
he's gonna hurt one of us,
and Mr. Troy's lucky to have his arm right now.
He almost got him. It was a very close call,
and we really need to watch what we do.
When an alligator snaps its jaws,
it really gets in your bones,
and you hear the crack,
and it really sounds like
somebody's mushing bones together.
And that's the best way I can describe that.
He almost got me,
but we got him.
This ten-footer is their biggest catch of the day,
and despite their eerie string of incidents,
may just convince Pickle to keep hunting.
- Yeah. - You definitely don't wanna
pop up in an area where you've heard that
someone has been shot
or, you know,
somebody died of polio in 1913.
But right now we're catching good,
so... the things we do for alligators.
Good alligator.
But he almost got you, though.
Over in Cheveé Bayou,
Dorien is captaining his own airboat today,
but Daniel's having trouble letting go of the reins.
So, we're gonna do a little bit of...
try to see if we can treble hook something.
And then later we'll look for a spot to set some lines.
We're only supposed to be setting lines out,
but I don't think we're gonna allow ourselves
to drive up at St. Mary Seafood
with no alligators in the boat.
We're gonna set our lines,
but we're gonna do a little bit of hunting, too. Have some fun.
Make a circle, pa.
Hey, pa, we don't have time for this.
We've barely been on the water for 30 minutes
and my grandpa's already getting sidetracked.
He's having me go to this place and that place
to make circles, but our mission is
just to put lines.
I know I'm supposed to be the captain today,
but old habits die hard, you know.
And at the end of the day,
I'm respecting my elders and doing as I'm told.
You know, as a grandson, that's what I do.
Hey, now, you remember you're the deckhand, right?
We need to set lines
and get back home before the storm hits.
I know, But he's right there.
Turn, turn hard left.
Straighten out, straighten out.
Stop.
He went down right there.
I don't know how big he is.
-Oh! -Got him?
Okay, okay, okay, okay. Whoa!
Whoa.
You okay?
Yeah, he kept coming towards me.
Had him.
That gator's gone. Just let it go.
While old habits are proving to die hard,
as captain, Dorien knows
they need to do what they came here to do
and get back to St. Mary's before the storm rolls in.
I don't think it's easy for my grandpa
to let it go and let me be captain.
Our main goal is set lines and that's it.
My grandpa's gonna have to understand
the captain goes with the equipment.
Let's go set lines.
In Bayou Chene,
Bruce has caught several gators
on the lines he set around the community rope swing,
but he still hasn't caught the giant
the locals are most concerned about.
Mission for today is to catch this big gator.
I mean, this gator's been hanging around this rope swing.
Sooner or later, he's gonna grab one of these kids.
So I just wanna get this swing back to the kids.
We got a gator up there.
Oh, boy.
Whoa! Gol!
Come on, buddy. Whoa!
Gol, he's like a carp, he's jumping so much.
Whoa! Aah! Whoa! Oh! No!
No, not in the boat, not in the boat.
Don't get in the boat! Crap.
Let me get my gun.
Be real still, gator. Please be still.
Whoa!
I got him back here.
Oh...
No, stay, stay, stay.
[gunshot]
That's what I'm talking about, self-loading gator.
Whoo!
Whoa. Whew.
That was close.
That's a nice one, too,
but I don't think it's the one we after.
One we after is a lot bigger than this.
Getting this daring seven-footer
will keep the kids safe,
but the mission is far from over.
Any gator I take out of here is good,
but my mission is to catch this big gator,
and I'm gonna do it one way or the other.
Dangerous out here.
I'd rather the gators stay out of the boat.
Let me shoot 'em on the outside.
[laughs]
Over in Maré LeBlanc,
Joey and Zak are running lines in hopes of catching
a crawfish trap-obsessed monster named Crawdaddy.
They have five gators in the boat,
but none of them are the one they're after.
-You got him, pop? -No, we missed him.
No?
Oh!
-What? -Oh, my God.
That's not cut, that's broken.
He broke that white rope.
He could tow this boat with this rope, dude.
That's Crawdaddy.
That gator's like that, Joey?
Monster. Strong.
Wait till I tell Daddy that.
This white rope is 1,500 pound test.
It's gotta be Crawdaddy.
This is a big alligator. I told that to Zak.
Our chances are limited,
and he's gonna be hard to catch.
Can't be too far.
He broke the rope, that means he's gotta be
at least, what, within half a mile.
-Maybe we'll come back for him. -Yeah.
Sensing they may be closing in on Crawdaddy,
the hunters proceed to their next line...
Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look.
When they spot their target.
Get him.
Got him.
-You got him? -Yup.
He's coming to me.
Damn, damn, damn.
No, no.
Wait until I can lift him up for you.
There he is, right there. Oh!
Oh!
Get ready, he's gonna come up.
Get ready, pop.
No, no, no, no!
Aah! God!
In Maré LeBlanc, Joey and Zak hope they have
Crawdaddy on their hooks.
Aah! God!
-Still got him? -Yeah.
Yeah, get your rifle.
Oh.
Aah!
Get ready, pop.
-Nice, nice. -Got him.
This is definitely not Crawdaddy.
No. He's a big one.
This nine-footer is their sixth for the day,
but the search for Crawdaddy continues.
That's a big one, but there's no way
that's the one we're looking for, buddy.
Zak's a little disappointed that this alligator was smaller,
but we not giving up hope.
We got a good chance of getting this big alligator.
We gonna get him though.
Meanwhile, in Bayou Tristiss,
Leron and Porkchop have bagged four gators
with their shiny bait,
but Porkchop's not convinced this is a reliable strategy
to bag high dollar goliaths.
We catching some good alligators right now,
you know what I'm saying, we ain't caught a big alli--
we need to catch a big alligator.
We catching a few, but it ain't
nowhere near our personal best.
Man, I don't wanna talk about that, man.
Let's leave that in the past, cousin. [laughs]
Oh, man.
Yeah.
Stay right there. Hold tight.
Hold tight, cuz, hold tight, let me grab it,
let me grab this here.
-Got that rope, cuz. -Look like that
-old Luther Vandross, man. -I didn't tell you
to cut the motor off.
-What we got, cousin? -It's a big one.
He a big one.
Oh, yeah, got something, babe.
Whoa! Hold on, baby.
Oh, yeah, cuz, ooh, that a nice shot.
Hold on, hold on, man.
-Give me a shot, Porkchop. -I'm tryin', cuz.
Come on, now, let him wear himself out, cuz.
Give me a shot, Porkchop.
I'm gonna get you a shot, cuz, come on.
Come on, cousin.
Come on, what you waiting on?
-Gotta take it now. -Give me a shot, Porkchop.
Gotta take it. Come on now.
Come on, cuz.
[gunshot]
Good job.
Good job, cousin.
Yeah, we got him, cuz.
Oh, man...
Oh, man, I knew that was gonna work.
Hold on.
With another catch on board,
the CD bait is starting to convince Porkchop.
Booyah, we just caught another gator on the CD spinner.
In order to succeed at being a better hunter,
you just gotta take it step by step.
And to catch big gators, you gotta be creative.
And this idea is working.
It's putting gators in the boat.
Let's go, cuz.
-On to the next one. -Oh, yeah.
Back in Bayou Chene,
Bruce still hasn't caught the gator
scaring the kids away from the rope swing.
I'm gonna find this gator one way or the other.
Rope swing gator got to be caught.
I mean, I've just about run all my lines, I think.
But you just got to keep pushing through no matter what happens,
and you can't quit, can't give up with a gator.
You just gotta keep going and going,
and if you stay persistent and stay on it,
sooner or later it's gonna pay off.
Well...
I know I had a hook right there. I see the line.
Something's on there.
What is that?
What in the world?
Crap, no wonder, it ain't even in the water.
Oh, my goodness, that's him.
That's a big gator. That's a big gator.
Crap.
It's dangerous when you get out of the boat, I don't know.
I got to sneak over there and try to shoot him.
Got bullets in that gun.
Bullets in this gun.
Got bullets in that gun. Okay.
Oh, yeah, I gotta be careful on this one.
Dangerous up here on the hill with him.
I need to get behind him.
He could come at me right now.
Got his eyes closed, I can get behind him.
Oh, my goodness!
In Bayou Chene, Bruce has a land gator in his sights.
Got his eyes closed, I can get behind him.
He could come at me right now.
Oh, my goodness!
[gunshot]
Whoo.
Whew. Oh!
That's what I'm talking about.
I know that's him.
I got him. I got him.
Now, the work begins.
[laughs]
Catching this 12-footer,
Bruce is confident he's finally rid the community
of the monster that's been terrorizing it.
I mean, I'm happy I caught this gator
mainly for the kids,
but it's gonna make Troy happy, too.
And the whole community's gonna be happy
because everybody can go swim now.
You couldn't do it before with this big gator.
Hey, it makes you feel good. You're doing something,
helping people out.
Whew! A lot of work.
Couldn't do it without a winch, though.
Come on in, big boy.
Yes, indeed.
Them kids can swim now.
I got big boy in the boat.
Ain't gotta worry about him no more.
Back in Cheveé Bayou,
Daniel and Dorien have been out on the water for hours,
but despite Dorien's best efforts,
his distracted deckhand has yet to set a single line,
while the storm in the forecast is getting nearer.
We're gonna come real quick
-at a little bit faster idle. -Gotcha.
And we'll try to make him bubble.
Pa, we're supposed to be setting lines.
That's our job today, and we're running out of time.
But I know he's a big alligator.
At this stage, his pride's getting to him,
and he wants to put one in the boat.
But at the same time,
my grandpa's gonna have to understand
I'm the captain of my boat.
We have to set lines, not chase invisible gators.
Can we please just set lines, pa, please?
This is the third slough we've been in?
-Second. -Okay, we got one more.
Let's just go ahead. I'll watch for his bubbles, pa.
[thunder]
You know there's weather coming in, right?
We don't have time for this.
That storm is creeping up on us.
We do not need to be wasting time.
We have work to do, and that storm's coming.
[thunder]
Although Daniel has finally agreed to set lines,
it may be too late to beat the approaching storm.
Back in Graveyard Island,
Troy and Pickle have been attacked by wasps,
jumping carp, and a monster alligator,
but they've still managed to catch ten gators
in this cursed honey hole.
Now the King of the Swamp wants one more giant
to make it worth all the trouble.
We gotta be patient and stay focused.
This is a good area.
And it look like we always struggle
when we come here, look like we always have issues,
but we catch good here.
You know, I got a game plan,
and I gotta stick to my game plan
no matter what it takes.
What you see, P?
Line's going to the back.
Watch that one behind you.
[thud]
[bleep]. Now we're in trouble.
In Graveyard Island, Troy and Pickle's
misfortunes continue.
[thud]
[bleep]. Now we're in trouble.
What happened?
I bent something, bent the shaft or something.
It looks bent.
I just bent my steering rod backing up.
I backed up into a stump.
And I can't turn the motor.
I don't know how I'm gonna finish
running my lines with this thing.
Either I have to try to straighten it out,
or I'm gonna have to go home.
There's no way I can finish
running the lines like this.
No way.
The steering rod
allows the boat driver to choose direction.
Without it, the boat cannot change direction
and is rendered useless.
What was that?
Oh, oh. I got it now.
I hit the sweet spot.
I think I fixed it, Peewee. Look now.
Yeah, we can smile now.
Oh, line looks tight. Look right there,
-right in front of you. -Oh, now I see it.
Think you need to slow down a little bit.
Bring him up.
Whoo!
Watch it!
Whoa!
This a man here, bro.
Oh, yeah, fight him, Peewee, fight him.
Oh, watch it. He's gonna pop the line.
Whoo! Bring him in, bring him in.
Hurry up. Bring him close.
Shoot him! Shoot him!
Good job, Peewee, good job.
Whoo!
Tell me when. One, two, three.
We gonna lose him.
-One, two, three. -You got no slack to play with.
All right, he's in. I cut it.
That's good.
Good job.
Good job, Peewee.
This ten-foot beast is
their best catch of the day,
and Troy is happy to end on a high note.
We did real good here.
Graveyard Island has turned out to be a little honey hole.
We did struggle. We had a lot of problems here,
but it paid off.
In the long run, it paid off.
I'm glad we decided to leave the lines.
I'm just ready to get out of here, to be honest.
Back in Bayou Chene,
Bruce is riding high
after freeing a local swimming hole of a menacing gator...
Yee-haw!
And he's ready to test it out.
I'm sure glad to catch that big gator.
Them kids can swim now.
We got rid of the big one. I'm gonna call the kids
and let 'em know they can go swim now.
That makes you feel good, you know.
You're really helping people out over here.
And now that the swimming hole's safe again,
I know just what to do.
Yee-haw!
Whoa! Whoa!
Whoa!
Hot as it is out here, I think I earned that swim.
And I ain't swung on a swing like that
in probably, oh, 40 years. [laughs]
It feels good, though, to be able to catch
a big gator like that and get it out of
these people's way.
I guess I should've thought about my boat.
Hah! And my shoes.
Oh.
Over in Bayou Tristiss,
Leron and Porkchop are filling their boat
with their musical bait,
but they still haven't caught a giant.
You gotta make them curious and hungry at the same time.
Oh, yeah, on to the next one, cuz.
Porkchop, he starting to believe now.
He got this faith that these CDs are working pretty great for us.
We got only a few more lines with the CD spinners on it,
and hopefully one of 'em gives us our personal best.
Got more than a CD on there, cuz.
Whoa!
Don't let him pull you in the water now, cuz.
Oh!
I got him, cousin, I got him.
-You got him, cuz? -I think I got him.
-Oh! -Don't let him pull you, cuz!
Hold on. Watch out, cuz.
Oh!
Come on, cuz, get him. Look where the hook at.
Aah!
Look, he's heading around back, cuz, shoot him!
-I'm trying! -He's about to pop the rope!
In Bayou Tristiss, Leron's CD spinners have landed a giant.
Come on, come on.
Come on, cuz, you gotta get it now.
[gunshot]
Good job, cuz.
Man.
-It's a big boy, cuz. -It's a monster.
Aah.
Aah, all right.
Aah.
Hold up, cousin.
-Aah. -Get off my foot!
Don't worry about that rope.
Don't worry-- you just hold it.
Turn him, see?
I mean, grab that leg.
Now, grab that back leg.
With this 11-footer on board,
even Porkchop has to admit
the CD bait paid off in the end.
The good thing about setting goals
is they help you improve, even if you fall short.
It just motivates you to be a better hunter
because you're coming up with a game plan.
Everything starts with an idea,
and when you take the idea and put it out in the physical
and you actually see it working,
that's the beauty of the whole situation.
-Oh, yeah, cousin. -That's the proof.
Over in Maré LeBlanc,
Joey and Zak are on the trail
of a monster gator called Crawdaddy.
So far, it has escaped them, but they're heading back
to check the crawfish traps they set earlier to lure him.
We out here after Crawdaddy,
and he's like a ghost in the swamp.
He's like a legend in the swamp.
Dad and I got after this alligator years ago.
If I can get this alligator,
you know, that'll put a little shine on my name.
And I think it might make Dad
a little jealous, too, at the same time.
Oh, Lord, that's him. That's Crawdaddy.
That's far.
Got him. Aah!
That's Crawdaddy.
Aah!
Boy, this thing can move, pop.
Damn.
Got him.
This is a big sucker right here, pop.
I'm ready for him.
That's it, that's it.
-Damn. -There he is.
That's what I'm talking about.
There he goes, right under the boat.
No, no, no!
There he is, there he is.
Get your gun.
I got it, I got it.
Oh!
He's huge. Damn.
Whoa! Hold on, pop. Oh, my God.
Shoot him, pop, shoot him!
Hold on to that thing!
[gunshot]
[laughs]
Got that S.O.B., huh?
That's Crawdaddy, man.
I'm a little worn out, but we got him.
That thing's gotta be so fat because it has
tons of... wire in it from the crawfish traps.
That thing was made of metal.
He ain't gonna be eating no more traps.
That's done.
Dad's gonna be proud that we got this alligator.
-There it is. -Good job.
There it is. All right.
With Crawdaddy in the boat to join more seven gators,
the hunters can declare their day a success.
You gotta have patience.
You know that you gotta get your job done
and you just can't give up, and you gotta persevere
and try, and today was a great payoff.
[thunder]
Oh, we gotta come out.
Big weather coming in now.
As the duo arrives back in Franklin,
the storm that was threatening the area all day
has descended on the coastal area
of St. Mary's Parish,
but Joey and Zak make it out of the water just in time.
Damn, pop, we barely made it out of that.
-Oh, my God. -That lightning is crazy.
Oh, my God.
From extreme heat to weather like this,
that's unreal.
But while one Edgar team escaped Mother Nature,
the other was not so lucky.
A violent gust of wind caused Dorien's boat to capsize.
Hold on, pop.
He's in the water, pop.
-Huh? -Dorien is in the water.
Oh, my God.
Heading back in to the landing,
as soon as we pulled up,
the storm hit.
You know, 50, 60 mile per hour gusts.
When I went to turn,
I can feel the wind scoop up the boat.
It spooned us, rolled us to one side,
let go of us, rolled the boat.
Dorien's airboat is almost completely submerged.
Nearby fishermen offer a helping hand
to assist the young captain.
Pa, go ahead, hook his cable to your deck.
We would've been on the trailer.
I wanted to check one more location.
If I wouldn't have done that, we would've had the boat
-on the trailer. -It caught us.
Right there. One minute.
One minute, we would've been out.
This wouldn't have happened if we wouldn't have been
messing around, going slough to slough
trying to catch alligators.
I mean, if we would've been to the landing
two minutes earlier, this would have not happened.
Now you're coming off it.
This is my fault.
Staying out there too long.
I really wanted to get to this alligator,
and I knew that we needed to go in
because of the weather,
but being who I am,
my nature is to push.
That's who I am,
and today it proved to be a bad thing.
This should've never happened, man.
For real.
I don't have kids, but I feel like I lost a kid,
you know, and it's a very hurtful feeling.
I'm gonna have to do everything my own
and work all night, all day, to try to save this boat.
We'll see what happens after that,
but I definitely need a day just to regroup,
figure out everything, and decompress a little.