COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — Was it beginner’s luck? A Georgia man has managed an unforgettable first alligator catch with a huge one on a lake outside of Augusta.
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Tony Trobaugh told WRDW the gator was “8 feet 6 on the money. You really cannot beat that for a first alligator that I’ve ever harvested.”
He said the gator was caught in the Keg Creek area at Clarks Hill Lake in Columbia County.
Trobaugh said the reptile was spotted around the lake and gained social media notoriety because alligators are rarely found on that lake.
He also said this alligator season was his first attempt to hunt gators.
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This year, Alligator hunting season runs from Aug. 14 until sunrise on Oct. 5. Each hunter is limited to one gator and must be licensed, with a valid hunting license, an alligator hunting permit and a harvest record.
Read more about the rules governing alligator hunting in Georgia here.
Though large, the gator was far from being the largest ever caught in Georgia
Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen talked to a hunter back in 2019 who caught a 14-foot-long gator, believed to be the state record at the time.
Derrick Snelson brought in the 700-pound gator on Lake Eufaula in Quitman County. But he had help: a crew of five, and it took them more than five hours.
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