Staring down at a straightened-out, 13/0 circle hook — the second in just a week — 23-year-old Paul Hefner and his father, Tim, knew it was time to step up their game. The pair was taking a swing at big alligator gar, and Lake Corpus Christi was most certainly swinging back.
Native to Austin, the tandem doesn’t share your typical fishing bond. No Father’s Day Hallmark card has ever tried to speak to a father and son who spend a month on a boat throwing jug lines and trot lines in the direction of giant catfish and gar while sidestepping the occasional alligator.
Alas, the two have continued defying norms since Paul was old enough to bait a hook, so his impending move to Utah was perhaps the strongest incentive they’d ever had to get on the water.
“Part of the deal with my new employer was that I get to take this month off to go fishing,” Paul laughed. “They knew I was going to be gone for a month.”
The extended agenda was made possible by a family-owned fishing cabin on the Nueces River just north of the lake.
Using a combination of their remaining 13/0 circle hooks and a handful of 20/0 shark hooks, they baited live tilapia on more than 20 jugs and placed them strategically throughout a large stretch of water.
When they came back around to start pulling up lines, Paul started tugging on what at first felt like a problem.
“I actually thought we got hung on a log or something,” Paul said. “We had that huge live tilapia on and when I first pulled it up, it was super difficult, obviously. I figured the tilapia had gotten wrapped around a tree limb or something. I guess it was sleeping or something because I was pulling up dead weight and the first thing I saw was its head. You really couldn’t tell how big it was in the water. It was crazy.”
In fact, it wasn’t until they got it to the bank that they ever suspected the fish was over 7 feet long. But once they drug it up onto shore, they knew they’d hooked up with a fish few anglers could even dream of laying hands on.
They were able to measure the fish at 7 feet, 6 inches, and weigh it at 207 pounds before finally releasing it back into the water.
“It’s certainly going to be hard to top this trip, especially now that I have a full-time job,” Paul said. “But I’m definitely glad I made a point to do this.”
