Can you imagine what it would feel like to get bitten by a monster fish such as an alligator gar? World records for these river monsters show that they can weigh up to 300 pounds and grow up to eight feet long. Even the smallest ones look ominous with their long snouts. They're pretty popular with catch and release anglers who look for adrenaline-pumping experiences during freshwater fishing trips. And although getting bitten by them is actually uncommon, it's not impossible. That's what Joanna Garcia discovered when one bit her foot, painfully latching on before she could shake it off.
Alligator gar is pretty common in East Texas according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and alligator gar fishing is best in the Trinity River. But Garcia wasn't fishing, just setting up a canopy with her sister-in-law in the shallow waters of Sunrise Beach at Lake Corpus Christi. She was celebrating the 4th of July with her family and friends when she felt something chomp down on her foot. She started frantically kicking her foot hoping to shake off whatever caught on, and her sister-in-law started doing the same out of fear of not knowing what was happening. Her sister-in-law then saw a small alligator gar, only two to three feet long, come out of the water and then swim away. It had gotten Garcia's ankle and sole, and from what Garcia understood, the pressure amounts to almost 3,000 pounds per square inch. She told Kris 6 News, "It was full pain immediately, there was no little bit, it was just clamped on, and as I shook my foot, I think that's where more damage was done."
Garcia had no idea that the fish was next to her when the incident happened, figuring that she stepped near its snout and either startled it or it thought her foot was food. Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Lerrin Johnson also told Kris 6 News that the fish thought it was probably either dinner or a fear response. Garcia, being a good sport about it, doesn't blame the animal at all for her wounds even though it kept her in bed for the rest of her day while the festivities continued. But thankfully the wounds weren't too bad, and she's been cleaning and treating them with antibiotics.
Maybe Garcia wasn't too concerned about her wound because the fish that bit her was small. But in Texas fishing, the biggest of the animals have been known to be so strong, they can pull boats around. I'm sure no one wants to get bitten by one of those.
