Men catch 697-pound gator; set Mississippi record

FITLER, Miss. (KABC) -- A Palos Verdes man and his friends managed to reel in an alligator weighing 697.5 pounds -- a new record in Mississippi.

The group first spotted the gator on Sept. 21. The alligator went under water, so Tom Grant of Cleveland said he threw his cast in his general area and was able to hook him.

Grant, Kenny Winter and Jim Reed, both of Greenville, and Michael Robbers of Palos Verdes got more hooks in the gator as it headed for deeper water. It stayed at the bottom for a while, and then when it surfaced, it came up under the boat.

"Depending on who you talk to, he either rocked us or almost sank us," said Reed.

It took an hour and a half of pure tug-of-war and chaos before the team finally got the gator restrained. By the time the gator was captured, it was Sept. 22.

The gator broke the state's old record by 7 pounds. The alligator measured over 13 feet long.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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