Here’s your sign to not move to Florida, or at the very least, be extremely careful if you decide to go fishing in the Sunshine State.
There’s an assumption of risk when you enter the wetlands of Florida. Sure, fishing is a relaxing activity, but it’s not as relaxing when you do it in Florida, where an alligator could always see how dedicated you really are to reeling in fish.
A young fisherman by the name of Tommy Lee was tarpon fishing early in the morning a couple of years ago when he had this incredibly scary encounter. He was apparently having a decent day at his fishing spot, though all of that unraveled when a big ol’ gator decided to give him a scare.
Lee was wearing a camera on his chest during all of this, presumably so he could catch something like this on video. After a couple of casts, Tommy had begun to wind up his spool reel when he noticed an alligator had come up to the water’s surface not too far away from the opening he was fishing in.
The Florida fisherman immediately became concerned just by the presence of the reptile, and can even be heard saying:
“Jesus Christ, I gotta be careful here.”
Tommy Lee was right in thinking that, because as soon as he got that sentence out, the alligator started quickly swimming towards him, and even got up out of the water. The young man slowly retreated backwards down the path he had taken to get there, and at one point fell down as the gator continued pursuing him (I guess the horror movie trope has legs).
Thankfully, Lee was able to put enough distance between himself and the gator, who surprisingly continued to follow him well into the overgrown path. When the fisherman though he was in a safe spot (even though the gator was still only a few yards away), he said this as he used his pole to deter the alligator from getting any closer:
“Well, that puts an end to my tarpon fishing. Wow! Get back.”
The young man continued to retreat down the path and away from the gator, but later on, he for some inexplicable reason decides to go back around the corner of the tight path to check on the gator. Horrible decision, in my opinion, though it did work out.
Lee was able to watch the alligator get turned around and follow the path back towards the opening he was fishing from minutes before, where it splashed back into the water. Even with the gator back where it belonged and the opening ready to be fished once again, Tommy wasn’t taking any chances:
“And I am out of here. Screw that.”
You can watch the terrifying footage at the video link below:
