Fisherman hooks gator in Buffalo Bayou

HOUSTON – It was supposed to be a normal day of fishing for Katy's Kyle Naegeli, but what he had on the end of his line was no catfish.

Naegeli recorded the entire catch on his GoPro camera.

On it you hear him say, "Oh my. A freaking gator! Oh my gosh! What the heck?!"

That's right.

When the 19-year-old went fishing in Buffalo Bayou in Cinco Ranch last Monday, he caught a 7-foot-long alligator.

"I was freaking out," Naegeli said. "I was like, 'What are we going to do with this thing?' Because it was pulling line. I didn't know what to do."

Naegeli and a friend had been fishing in the bayou for less than an hour. Using live blue gills for bait he had already caught a good-sized catfish.

Fifteen minutes later, it felt like he had one that was even bigger.

"What the heck? That's a gator," Naegeli can be heard saying on the recording. "I thought I had a big catfish."

The gator held onto the line for a few minutes -- even got close for Naegeli's GoPro camera. The plan was to cut the line but the gator ended of breaking it itself.

"The gator, it really wasn't pulling that hard when I got up to the bank, but it was heavy," Naegeli said. "So the bank was like a 10-foot drop-off so there was no way I was going to haul him up the bank."

Naegeli said he's been fishing since he was about 2 years old. He said this is the second time he says he caught an alligator, but the first one was only 3 or 4 feet long.

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Emmy Award-winning anchor, husband, dad, German Shepherd owner, Crossfitter, Game of Thrones junkie, chupacabra hunter.