A huge gator caught in a south St. Petersburg lake Wednesday night may be one for the record books.
Jovan Johannessen, with his father’s help, captured a gator measuring 13 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 770 pounds.
The gator lived in a south Pinellas lake near a children's park and homes.
Johannessen said he'd been watching the alligator for three months and the giant lizard put up quite a fight when he went in for the catch.
"I would pull him back to me, to the bank to try and get another line into him and he would take off," said Johannessen. "Then he pulled me into the water two different times, I went in past my knees on the second time, that wasn't too fun. It was literally a tug of war for about 45 minutes."
Johannessen said the catch was quite a struggle.
"I had gloves but they were in the passenger's seat of my truck, a little too far to get them. It was either lose a little skin or lose the alligator, so I chose to lose a little skin," he said.
After police checked his permits and tags, the Johannessens only ran into one issue - loading it.
He said with the help of some onlookers, they were able to load the gator into their truck.
Johannessen said he and his father have been hunting alligators for nearly 10 years.
He checked with the FWC, who said it was the eighth largest gator ever caught in Florida.