It's the dawn of a new alligator season.
The swampers of south louisiana
Face a once in a lifetime opportunity
That can make or break fortunes.
You ready? Let's get this party started.
At the end of the season,
A treasure trove of 350 prime gator tags will be awarded...
It's very rare for a block of 350 tags to come available.
Hold on!
...Going to the team with the highest average gator length.
Big gator. Keep 'em coming like that,
We'll be getting some extra tags.
This windfall could change the fate
Of generations to come.
We don't get those tags, this boat ain't here next year.
The hunters are ready to risk it all...
It's do or die time. We have to make it happen.
And go head to head...
Troy is king of the swamp.
This year, we're gonna knock him off his throne.
...To strike swamp gold.
If you don't think this competition ain't serious,
You better buckle that chinstrap up, buddy.
It's fixing to be big-boy time.
Best man wins, buck.
It ain't no doubt about it.
[blues guitar plays]
After 11 months of waiting...
You ready?
Gator season kicks off at last.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
I'm pumped up, man.
I'm ready to go out there and make everything happen,
Take some gambles.
And so does the race
To win the 350 tags up for grabs.
In violet...
Let's get this party started!
Veteran hunter ronnie adams can't wait to get started.
I tell you what.
This extra 350 tags, if we can win them,
That's gonna put me right up there
With troy landry around the 600 range.
I'm ready to be king and knock troy landry off his pedestal.
That's all I know.
Get everything situated before we head out.
Let's get it done.
I got a new deckhand.
Timmy is just an old swamp boy
That's fished alligators all his life.
I can't wait to pick his brain
On some of this alligator knowledge.
Got bullets, got binoculars, got guns.
I'm ready. I've been hunting gators for 30 years now,
And I'm excited about hunting with ronnie.
I'm really kind of excited
To see what kind of fisherman he is.
And check that out.
Here comes the final piece of our puzzle, my baby.
I can see his big old bald head from here.
I see him.
Good morning!
Top of the morning, my baby.
See you got the legend with you.
Oh, yeah, baby.
What we got here, my baby?
Old deadeye jones. Hey, my baby, good morning.
How are doing? Hey, timmy.
-Good morning. -What's up?
This is anna.
I've known anna for a long time.
We've hunted together for a long time.
-I brought the heat. -I love it.
I'm super excited to be hunting alligators with ashley.
She's a great friend of mine.
I'm a little nervous, though,
Because, you know, I gotta show up big time.
The reason I wanted to bring two boats in on this this year
Is because there's 350 tags at stake.
And for us to keep this operation
And you running your own boat, we need these tags.
-Okay. -We need 'em.
Let's get it in here, my baby.
-Teamwork... -Makes the dream work.
-Whoo! -Whoo!
Oh, yeah, my baby.
The first day, I'm jacked up, excited.
-We gotta get 'em first. -That's right.
All right, ronnie, good luck!
Good luck to you, too, my baby.
Any problems, don't hesitate to call.
Look like she can handle it.
I sure hope so 'cause we got a lot at stake.
Ashley, she's been with me four years.
I feel deep in my heart
That she's absolutely ready to be captain.
Hopefully, it's gonna pay off.
-Ready, t? -Yeah.
All right. We looking to take the title king of the swamp.
It's down, t. I think we might have one here.
I thought I just saw a splash, but I'm not sure.
Yeah, the bait's down.
-What is he? -I don't know.
Oh, boy.
-You ready, t? -Yeah, yeah.
Oh, boy, look how big he is.
Golly!
Hold him steady.
Whoo, boy, that's a good one, t!
Hold him.
Boy, look at that big boy go!
Jeez, this is a monster 11.
Get him, t.
Come on, baby, get the shot!
Hold him steady.
Shoot him!
[gunshot]
That-a-boy, baby!
-Whoo! -Booyah!
Dude, this is an 11-footer, brother, all day long.
Cuz, this is a stud. Hold on.
One, two, three.
There we go. Lord have mercy.
Right away we got a big, fat 11-footer.
If we keep rockin' and rollin' like we are,
Troy landry, you better look out
'cause we coming for you, my baby.
Hell, yeah!
It's time to load the boat up with these big boys.
In the swamp around lake verret...
Ready or not, here we come!
...With an imposing 600 gator tags to fill,
Troy and pickle will run 120 lines today.
I'm pumped up, I'm excited.
We coming out the gate, and we coming out the gate strong.
To win this competition, it's gonna be real hard
Just because we got so many tags.
You can cherry-pick what you're gonna catch
When you got 50 tags or 100 tags.
But I don't have 100 tags, I got over 600.
The more tags you fill,
It's a lot harder to keep a good average.
You gotta just set lines and run your lines
And say your prayers that you're gonna catch some big ones.
We got our work cut out for us.
We after big, mature alligators.
Pickle: All big boys.
Oh, look over there, look over there.
Look at the bubbles.
I see it.
We're about halfway to the lines,
And I see a bubble trail.
And normally, I wouldn't even tell pee-wee about it.
I'd just pass it up 'cause I wouldn't wanna waste time.
But since this year we're going after big alligators
And we need a good average,
It looked like a big bubble trail.
It looked like a big alligator.
Okay, you saw where he stopped, p.
Good throw.
Oh, I got him!
-Hey! -Oh, no!
No!
Where he's at, pee-wee, where he's at?
I don't see him.
I think that was a big one.
-See anything? -I don't see nothin'.
Oh, he's over there! Front of the boat!
I got him, I got him, I got him, I got him.
Oh, my god!
Uh! It's a big one!
Look, he's pulling this 25-foot boat like it's nothin'.
Ooh! [grunting with effort]
-You got him? -Whew!
Yeah, I got him. He ain't going nowhere.
This ain't no baby.
Jeez!
Show him what you got!
Unh!
[gunshot]
-I love you. -[laughs]
I love you.
Aah! Look at the size of that thing.
This is a wincher.
Just in case we caught a couple of big ones this year,
I put me a winch on my boat.
Pee-wee and I struggled in the past
To pull in some big, big alligators,
So now with that winch, we shouldn't struggle at all.
Should be a lot easier and a lot faster.
Basically, we hunting smarter, not harder.
This 11 and a half footer
Is the perfect start to the season.
Thank god we got the winch.
We can leave him right there.
That's gonna help our average.
All right, let's roll, pee-wee.
In bayou sorrel...
-It's gonna be a good day. -First morning. You pumped?
Oh, yeah.
Veteran swamper willie edwards
And his son little willie
Prepare to start the new season,
And willie has a plan for winning the 350 tags.
All we gonna be doing is treble hooking.
-Treble hooking? -Yup.
We ain't running no lines or nothin'.
Big alligators, that's all we want.
Nothing under 9 foot.
And that treble hook is the only way we gonna do it.
They telling us that they got 300-some tags up for this year
And everything the landowners wanna issue out,
And whoever catch the biggest alligators win the tags.
For my family, it'd be very important.
I mean, that's good money.
It helps us make it through the winter and everything,
And, I mean, it'd help us out big time.
-No baited lines? -None.
Huh. Normally, that's our backup plan, though.
Yup.
Filling your tags with just the treble hook,
No lines hanging or nothing, it's hard.
It's something that you gotta go out there
And you gotta bust your butt every day.
There's a big one, willie.
Gonna be straight down the middle.
Oh, that's a good one.
He goes nine, 10-foot.
Throw way over the top of him, son.
Hold on, let me back up a little bit.
Go ahead, throw it.
Got it?
Ooh, that's a big one.
-You got him. -Yeah.
-In the toe. -Ooh!
He's heavy.
Watch him, he gonna fight.
Hold it right there.
That's a big gator.
He's coming up, coming up.
[gunshot]
[laughs]
That's what I'm talking about.
Ready?
Yeah, that's a good one.
That thing got a tail on him.
With this 10-foot monster in the boat,
The hunters are off to a good start.
First tag of the season. Can't beat that.
It looks like willie's strategy is already paying off.
Keep 'em coming like that,
We'll be getting some extra tags.
First alligator we come to, he's a big one
And we caught him and didn't take long at all.
If we can catch eight, 10 alligators a day
And make sure they're good alligators, we got it filled.
We gonna have a boatload this morning.
Yeah, a real load.
85 miles southeast, outside violet...
Think we're gonna have some good gators on the line today.
About to find out.
First one.
Let's go.
Entrusted with her own boat,
Ashley "deadeye" jones starts her first day as a captain
Already feeling the pressure.
This year ronnie trusts me enough to captain my own boat,
Pick my own deckhand, and go out and run lines by myself.
I'm really, really happy about being a captain,
But at the same time, there's a lot of responsibilities.
I can't stand to let anybody down,
And I really don't wanna let ronnie and timmy down.
I mean, there's 350 tags at stake.
A lot of fish in that water right there.
Mm-hmm.
Got to mean there's a lot of gators.
That's what I'm thinking.
Anna and I have been friends for a long time.
She's an archer,
So that's something different in the gator world.
And she's a great worker.
She keeps a positive mindset.
And all those are really important when you're out here.
-Is that it? -Yup.
Dude, it's down.
I see him, ashley, I see him.
-Watch yourself now. -Okay.
He's looking at us, ash.
Grab that line.
Oh!
Oh, my god. Anna, watch out.
Get the gun. Hurry up.
[snap] oh! He just broke the cane!
In violet, on the first day of gator season...
Oh!
Oh, my god. Anna, watch out.
Get the gun. Hurry up.
[snap] oh! He just broke the cane!
Did we lose him?
Ashley and anna may have lost
Their first big gator on their very first line.
Oh, no.
Shoot.
-That was a good gator, too. -I know.
You think he's still on the line?
I don't feel nothin'.
Be careful, ashley.
You don't wanna get too close to that water.
I got the line, anna.
Awesome.
I got it.
I'm feeling him.
It feel good?
It feels real good.
-Oh, my god. -Whoa!
He's huge.
Look at his head!
-Whoa! -Whoa!
Hold him. Hold him!
Oh!
Give me a shot.
Oh, he's fighting.
I got it.
[rifle clicks]
Oh, crap.
-What's wrong? -It's jammed.
Are you serious?
-Hold on to him! -Whoo!
I don't want him to pop this line.
I'll hold it and you shoot it with your pistol.
All right.
-All right, ready? -Yes.
-Good job. Yes! -Let's go.
-Night, night. -Sleep tight.
We can just crack his head over, we're gonna roll him like this.
Grab his front leg if you can.
Roll him in. There you go.
Got him?
There you go.
-Whoo! -First gator.
This nine-footer is a solid start for ashley and anna
On their first day working together.
Having anna is really nice
Because we work very, very well together.
She's able to quickly react when all the things go wrong,
Does exactly what I tell her to do,
And that's the most I can ask for.
Click, click!
Click! Let's go.
Further west, in amelia...
We got a different situation this season, man.
It ain't all about filling in the tags like we normally do.
You know, we gotta chase the big ones, bro.
Leron and porkchop find themselves swept up
In the battle for the treasure trove of gator tags.
Yeah. Ready to go get 'em, porkchop?
I'm ready to put one in the boat.
350 more tags would be extra valuable for me.
I could make more money and provide for my family,
So that's kind of putting some pressure on me.
We looking for size.
Porkchop, you're funny, man. [laughs]
This season's unique challenge calls for trying something new.
We gotta get the big gators, so I'm willing to take a risk.
-Huh? -It's a little rusty,
But it's sharp. It gonna get the job done.
It ain't gotta look pretty.
We can use the treble hook
Because we're gonna target big-size gators.
The smaller ones we just not gonna go after.
So it allows us to pick and choose.
Me and porkchop combined, we have plenty years
Of alligator experience hunting with a rifle.
But when it comes to the treble hook, we rookies at it.
But it's the risk you have to take.
Once we ambush them gators,
I'm gonna set you up with a good throw, man.
Just be confident in your throw.
I never treble hooked none.
All these years, I just catch them on lines.
But I told leron I'm gonna give it my all,
And, you know, we doing good,
Because that's we need for this year.
There you go, porkchop.
Soon enough, leron's strategy to treble hook
Is put to the test.
-You ready? -Yeah.
I'm gonna ease up right on him.
Get you in throwing distance.
What the hell?
I was excited,
So I wasn't taking my time by rushing.
Dealing with that treble hook, you gotta take your time
Because any kind of way that you step on the line
And you throw it and it shoots back on you, man,
You know, it could come back and hurt you.
-We lost it. -Damn.
Every one I see, we gonna try, porkchop.
Ain't gonna hurt nothin'.
Treble hook idea is pretty good just for the big ones,
But the tags still gotta get filled.
So we still gotta set lines, you know,
The original way that we do,
Putting them in the trees.
Look like we got some tight strings, chop.
-He's trying to pop it. -Get it, get it, cuz, get it.
-Gimme a shot, porkchop. -Oh, I'm gonna give you a shot.
He's coming up, cuz.
Good shot, cuz!
Yes, sir.
That's a hell of a way to start a season right there.
This nine-footer is a great way to kick things off.
First line we checked for the season
Had a big gator on there.
And it's a great start, so we very pumped up about it,
Thinking like, man, if we finish like this,
We gonna be good.
On the outskirts of lake verret...
After starting the day with a monster,
Troy and pickle still have
More than a hundred lines to run.
When you're running lines,
It's a lot harder to keep a good average.
You gotta take everything you catch.
It's illegal to cut anything loose.
But it's up to me where I set my lines.
We gonna catch here, baby, catch some big ones.
So far in this competition,
I think we are doing pretty good.
I think we gonna come out ahead.
But there's always a chance to push it up a little further,
You know, that average up.
It's going way over there.
What we got, pee-wee, what we got?
Oh, god.
Whoa! [bleep]
Big one, pee-wee.
-Might need a bigger boat. -Mm-hmm.
-Aah! -Ooh!
Unh!
Try to keep him on this side. Hold him on this side.
I'm trying.
Whoo!
Ooh! Shoot!
[gunshot]
Whew. [whistles]
Thank god. [laughs]
I think we need the winch, huh?
He's a wincher, oh, yeah.
And there was winch.
[both grunting]
Okay, I got him.
Come on up.
-We hit the jackpot. -Cha-ching.
Oh, yeah, he gonna help our average big time.
This second 11-footer
Proves troy's deep knowledge of the swamp is a real advantage.
Come on down.
Just a big, big old alligator.
That winch is a lifesaver.
My old boat was a volkswagen and this is a cadillac.
But you're missing a couple little key items,
Like a microwave, a fridge.
You know what I'm really missing?
-A good helper. -A good deckhand? Yeah.
[both laugh]
[imitates troy]
Over in violet,
Ronnie has set his sights on becoming king of the swamp,
And he's already put one 11-foot monster in the boat.
This year, troy landry's gonna lose his title.
Yeah.
I need a 10-plus on every line
To keep my average up.
I got to make sure I'm catching bigger gators than troy landry.
You know, at the end of the day,
We wanna be on the top of the leaderboard
'cause these tags mean a lot to me.
Oh, there's one right there down.
Look like the grass is all mashed down.
That's it, brother. We downtown here, bro.
Come on, baby, give me a big one here, t.
He feel heavy, man, real heavy.
-Under the boat? -Yeah.
Timmy! That's a monster, baby.
Ooh, that's a 12-footer.
Oh, look at that big boy go!
He's rolling, he's rolling.
He's gonna pop the line.
-In violet... -That's a monster, baby.
Ronnie and timmy have their hands full with a giant.
Ooh, that's a 12-footer.
Oh, look at that big boy go!
He's rolling, he's rolling.
He's gonna pop the line.
Get that shot on him.
Watch him, t.
Right there, my baby, right there.
Hoo-ooh. He's pulling the skin off.
Get that big one right there, boy.
Get that good shot right there. Ooh-whoo!
Right there, right there. Right here, t.
[gunshot]
That-a-boy, baby.
Booyah! What a gator.
He almost pulled me out of the boat.
You see me like full superman.
He had me like I was on a magic carpet ride.
Whoo.
-That is a hammer, jack. -Yes, indeed.
This beast was a struggle,
But it's exactly what ronnie needs
To become king of the swamp.
All right, t.
I'm stoked about it, I'm jacked up.
I just hope and pray we keep catching big ones like this
The rest of the season.
This don't do nothin' but bump our average up, t.
Yeah it's gonna bump it up a lot.
Our average is going through the roof today.
We loading the boat up with dinosaurs, baby.
In bayou sorrel...
I mean, can't beat that.
Good gators, too. Fine gators.
Willie and his son little willie have a bold strategy
Of going after only the biggest gators with the treble hook,
And so far, it's paying off.
Yeah, we doing good.
Can't complain about that.
Can't complain.
Daddy come up with a good little strategy.
With the landowners giving away them tags and everything,
He decides that he wants to go out there
And strictly treble hook 'cause you can pick your size.
You could put some serious alligators in the boat
With a treble hook on a good day.
-Right there. -Yup.
There's one straight down the middle.
-Oh, that's good one. -That's a big one.
Eight, 10-foot.
He shot straight down, it look like.
I ain't going there, going right over there.
He'll come up in a second.
That's him right there.
You see right at the back corner of the boat right there.
Yeah, I see him.
Ah, he's still there.
Come on!
Need help?
That's a big one.
Big gator, big gun.
That thing's spunky.
Let me get behind you, son.
Right here, right here, right here.
[gunshot]
-Got him. -That's what I'm talking about.
Ready?
This 10-foot gator
Is the sixth the edwards have treble hooked today.
And with an average size close to 10 feet,
They're feeling good about their strategy.
Took a little minute, son, but we got him.
Looking down, all our alligators are over 10 foot,
And it's bringing us up big time.
We got a shot.
That was a big one, too.
Little blood on you.
That ain't gonna hurt.
Hey, you gotta go to bed smelling like an alligator
Or wake up smelling like one.
Oh, no. I take a bath, son. I take a bath.
I take one every morning.
No, every night.
I like my beauty sleep in the morning,
So I ain't got time to do that washing up in the morning.
Back in the marshes near violet...
Gator hunting makes me hungry.
I know. It takes it out of you, don't it?
It does.
New captain ashley "deadeye" jones and her deckhand anna
Have been working hard, and they're ready to refuel.
At least you have a bag
And you don't have to touch your food.
Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna try not to eat with my hands.
But I guess I'm already gonna get salmonella.
I feel like a horse. [laughs]
I think it works. I don't have those kinds of skills.
-Oh, no. -Oh.
You dropped it on the gator.
You gonna eat that cheese-- on the gator?
I'll split it with you.
All right.
I mean, I'm hungry enough, I'll eat it.
This is how we keep disease-free on the boat.
I'm giving you the bigger piece.
-Aw. -[chuckles]
-Cheers. -Cheers.
In amelia...
That ain't gonna help the average, man.
Yeah.
Leron and porkchop are struggling
To catch big gators on their lines.
Might have to swing out the treble hook, buddy.
It's really difficult to treble hook,
But we need to boost our average up,
Try to get the big ones.
He one of them smart ones there, porkchop.
He ain't letting us get close to him, buddy.
Good enough for you?
Do what you gotta do.
I got him, cuz.
Come here, cuz.
-In amelia... -Go on, gimme a shot, porkchop.
-Gimme a shot. -Porkchop is hoping
To treble hook his first gator.
Got him, cuz. I got him, cuz.
Aw, [bleep].
[laughs]
I thought you had him, too, cuz.
Man.
I'll tell you what, though, porkchop.
That was a hell of a hook set you put on him though, buddy.
You know? So that's the way to go, buddy.
You gotta set that hook in 'em pretty hard like you just did.
Porkchop says he wanna use that treble hook.
I told him you gonna need a lot of practice
Since you wanna succeed.
But practice makes perfect.
When it come to the treble hook, we rookies at it.
He seems to be pretty good throwing the hook,
But now he just gotta catch a gator.
In the backwaters of lake verret,
After starting the day catching giants,
Troy and pickle have caught four six-footers in a row.
Our average is really going in the dumps, mr. Troy.
The way I look at it, for every six-foot alligator,
We gotta make that up
By catching an 11, 12-footer, you know.
With the 600 tags that we have,
We can't be catching 10 seven-footers and one 11-foot.
We can't do that.
Ooh, yeah, yeah. Action!
Oh, he's a good one.
-Come on. -It's a good one?
Hah!
Whoa. Watch him, pee-wee.
Show him who's the boss, pee-wee.
-Whoa! You all right? -Yeah.
Whoo, this one's aggressive.
Whoo! Fight him, pee-wee, fight him.
Just bring him away from the boat.
-Ooh, I can't pull him out. -He's stuck?
Yeah. He's under me.
-Unh! -Show him who's the boss.
Whoo!
-Ho! -[laughs]
He's about seven and a half, eight, maybe.
Instead of getting more better, it's getting more worser.
This eight-footer isn't what they were hoping for,
But with only two dozen lines left to run,
There's no guarantee they'll catch any more giants.
We gotta be patient and stick to the plan.
There are monsters in this area, and I know it,
But, uh, we just have to find 'em.
In violet, ronnie's dead set on beating troy
And has a boat full of big gators to prove it.
But there's no time to slow down.
This boat's gonna be loaded down today.
Oh, yeah. It's loaded down now.
I'm having an unbelievable-- a tremendous-type-style day.
But in the back of my mind,
I know troy landry's having the same type of day.
And I know he's catching, but I gotta catch bigger.
What's that on top of the water right there?
Oh, yeah, I see it, on the island.
Oh, yeah. Let's creep up to it just to see.
We got time.
We setting a line
And all of a sudden about 100 yards away,
One of these garfish lines-- it's a orange jugline--pops up.
It's either gonna be a big garfish
Or it's gonna be a big old alligator.
Oh, look at him, he went under.
Keep your eyes open for that jugline, timmy.
All right.
It's been down for two or three minutes now.
There ain't no fish holding it down that long.
Oh, absolutely. That's a stud of a gator, I guarantee you.
Come on, let's go finish running our lines,
And we'll come check back.
The whole time we in there and that jug didn't pop up,
I guarantee you that's an 11-plus gator on that line.
Ain't no garfish in this earth
Gonna keep a jug that big underwater that long.
So I know right away that's a big old alligator.
But I can't see him letting us get close to him.
We was 100 yards away just now,
And he, uh, went under soon as I cranked that motor up.
Yeah, as soon as you cranked it up.
With 30 lines left to run,
The hunters can't waste time
Waiting for the jugline to resurface.
We come tomorrow and got a gator with a jug on,
You know it was him, baby.
That's it.
Over in bayou sorrel...
Willie and little willie are trying to fill all their tags
By treble hooking.
But after a great start,
They're having trouble spotting gators worth the effort.
Six-foot?
Yeah, maybe six-foot.
Hell, no!
If you know what you're looking for,
You're gonna know what size he is once you see the bubbles.
If you see a little patch of bubbles, nine times out of 10,
It's gonna be a little alligator.
I mean, that's something we don't want.
We want something that's nine-foot and up,
10-foot and up.
Keeping it as the size,
We just gotta keep going, pushing forward.
Is that something coming away from that cypress tree?
Looks like it, and he's big.
That thing went down,
Looked like he sucked the water in with him.
Hurry up, come on.
-You sure that's him? -Yeah, that's him.
And he tried to come back up again right here.
Mm-hmm.
-You got him? -Yeah, I got him.
Oh, yeah, we got a big one.
-That's a good one. -12-foot alligator.
Hold him, hold him. Don't let him have slack.
Watch your hand. Watch your hand, watch your hand!
Oh!
-In bayou sorrel... -Hold him, hold him.
Don't let him have slack. Watch your hand,
watch your hand!
-Oh, man! -Willie and little willie
Have a 12-foot monster on their treble hook.
Big old gator.
Snatch him.
That thing got some power.
Come on and get that head up.
There he is.
[gunshot]
Nice one, boy, nice one.
12-foot alligator.
This swamp dinosaur calls for willie's homemade winch
And renews the hunters' faith in their treble hook strategy.
Trying to fill all your tags with a treble hook,
It's gonna be hard.
But I feel like we can do it
If we stick our minds to it and everything,
We go out there with a positive mindset,
We don't let nothin' get in the way,
We'll fill all our tags with big gators.
Big old gator.
They keep 'em coming like that,
We'll be getting some extra tags.
Sounds good to me.
Back in the marsh...
Ashley and anna are midway through their lines
And feeling the toll of running their own boat.
[sighs]
Yup.
There's nothing that exerts more energy
Than alligator hunting.
There's no way to explain it
For anyone else to understand that hasn't done it.
Besides, it takes every single thing in you,
And you have to do whatever it takes.
We're gonna take our turns getting exhausted,
I can promise you.
Yup.
Just gotta stay on each other about drinking water,
And plenty of it.
Our next line's right up here, isn't it?
I see it.
Can you tell if it's down?
-Oh, my god. -Do you see that?
Oh, this is gonna be a big gator.
It's a pole shaker?
Yeah.
Don't let me run up over him.
His nose is under that weed.
Yeah, there's a gator on there.
He's a monster.
Just wanna get all this cleared out so I can see.
-Oh! -Whoo!
Careful, girl.
You got the gun?
Ooh, boy, he's fighting me.
He's gonna pop the line, ash.
-Hold him still. -Okay, okay, okay.
-I got him up. -Anna, he's gonna pop the line.
Oh, no.
Can you get a good shot on him?
-No. -Dang it, ashley.
Whoo!
Whoa.
I got sweat going in my eyeballs.
All right.
He's fighting me.
-Ready? -Yeah.
[gunshot]
-Whoo! -Yes! Night, night!
Sleep tight.
That's massive.
All right, what we're gonna do is
We're gonna pull his head over.
I'm gonna get on him as hard as I can on his head
And just put my body weight on him.
Catching a gator this big
Will help the hunters' average,
But getting him in the boat is gonna hurt.
Got it?
Uh! There you go.
Keep going.
I'll grab his other leg.
Roll him.
Uh!
Unh!
Dang it, girl. Whoo!
Feel like I'm about to throw up.
[retches]
[vomits and spits]
[coughs]
How nice.
I'm pretty sure I surprised anna.
[coughs]
But it wouldn't be gator season
If I didn't throw up at least once.
It's either gonna be from the heat or just exhaustion.
And I just threw up and kept working.
All right.
Whoo. [sighs]
He took everything I had,
And then I gave him some more.
That's chum in the water right there.
Whew.
In the swamp around lake verret...
As they pull the last of their 120 lines,
Pickle and troy are catching big gators again.
We catching some big alligators,
And it's really bringing up our average.
We had some small ones that we had to make up for,
But I think we doing all right now.
But they want one more giant to cap the day.
We gotta catch a monster.
That would help us out a lot, a real big one.
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Oh, I see some action.
I see some action. Action, pee-wee!
Oh, oh, lord have mercy.
♪ pee-wee
Way to the left.
Oh, he's on there.
-Huh? -He's on there.
-You got something? -Mm-hmm.
He's pretty heavy.
He's pulling?
Uh-huh.
Watch him, p, watch him.
-Uh! -Watch him.
Coming under the boat.
Whoa! Watch it, pee-wee, watch it!
Near lake verret...
...A gator has pickle on the ropes.
Watch it, pee-wee, watch it.
He wrapped around you?
-Yeah. Big time. -Around your leg.
-All right? -Whoa, whoa!
Grab the gun, grab the gun. Hurry up. Grab the gun.
It's a big one, it's a big one.
Dude, I thought he was pulling you in.
Oh, he would've got me.
I thought he was pulling you in, pee-wee.
Ooh, it's a big one.
Whoo! Ooh!
Aah! He's pulling us everywhere.
-Can't manhandle this thing. -Uh-uh.
Oh, my god.
We're running out of line.
All right, p. Pop him.
Shoot, shoot, shoot!
Ooh-hoo-hoo, that's what I'm talking about, baby girl.
I think we're gonna use the winch, huh?
Yeah.
Landing this 12-foot swamp beast
Is the perfect way to end day one.
Oh, yeah, pee-wee!
Pee-wee and I are on a high right now.
We pumped up
And we think we could conquer the world right now,
We so excited.
And this big one helped our average big time.
It's gonna help us.
Hey, good job.
Back in bayou sorrel, willie and little willie
Have already treble hooked seven large gators,
But willie wants one more to stay on pace.
We got some good ones, got some of them big ones.
If it stays like that, we'll be getting some extra tags.
Oh, yeah. That's what I want.
Extra tags, more money.
Today we've been going pretty good.
We got seven in the boat strictly treble hooking.
If we can catch eight, 10 alligators a day,
We got it filled.
You gotta make sure you get your tags filled.
You don't get them filled,
You won't have any tags to fill next year.
Look, see something swimming down the middle. See?
Yeah, I see him.
-He's moving, huh? -Oh, he's rolling.
He knows what he's doing.
That's him.
Right there.
Throw it on him, willie, throw it up there.
Hit him hard.
You got him?
Yeah, I got him.
Nice gator right here, willie.
Good 10-foot.
Coming underneath the boat.
Whoa, whoa.
Pull it, pull it. Snatch him.
Come on. Come on, come on.
Ready?
Good gator.
I'll take 'em like this all day long.
Oh, yeah. We got eight alligators, eight giants,
And can't ask for no better.
We just gotta get that many alligators a day
And make sure they're good alligators.
That treble hook will get that average size up.
We gonna do the same thing tomorrow,
Strictly treble hooking.
Catching these kind of alligators,
We'll be in the competition for sure.
For opening day,
That's some pretty good alligators right there.
Can't ask for no better.
In the marsh outside violet...
Ronnie's determined to dethrone troy landry.
T, his days are numbered.
[both laugh]
An unexpected stroke of luck
Might just help him reach that goal.
Look, look, it's the jugline.
Yes!
The orange jugline is literally by the cane pole
That I got the line set on.
Whatever was on that jugline,
I hope and pray it's on the other end of this line.
He done lost his thing. He's out.
He got one hook out and got another one in him.
Give him to me, baby.
-I can't pull him up. -Oh, yeah.
Golly!
Timmy, that's a monster, baby.
Get the shot!
Watch him.
Come on, t, get him, get a shot on him.
Hold him steady.
T, take this line and wrap it around that cleat.
Quick! We got moby dick on this bad boy!
-In the marsh... -T, take this line
And wrap it around that cleat.
Ronnie and timmy battle a giant.
We got moby dick on this bad boy!
Golly.
We can't lose him, t.
Soon as you get a shot, kill him.
He's gonna pop the line.
He's all out.
Shoot him, t. Oh, god!
Come on, t. Oh, my god, dude.
This might be a new record in louisiana.
[gunshot]
Whoo!
Oh, my god.
-Oh, my god. -You all right?
Dude, he almost ripped my finger off.
That was two minutes of chaos, baby.
Ooh, man.
One, two, three.
There we go.
This mammoth 12-footer
Could be exactly what ronnie needs
To become the king of the swamp.
I got him, t, roll him in.
Our average just blew through the roof.
I should be doing the second line down bourbon street.
♪ oh, when them saints go marching in ♪
I'm stoked.
I feel like I'm on top of the leaderboard
And we gotta stay there.
Troy landry better not slip up,
Because I'm coming for that title.
New governor's in town by the name of ronnie adams.
Eight miles away in the marsh,
Ashley's first day as captain has been solid, but exhausting.
Gator hunting takes everything you've got.
Yeah, it does.
And more, you know. You gotta dig deep.
Being a captain, it's a lot of pressure.
It's a lot of responsibility
And it's a lot different than what I'm used to.
I used to be able to just bring my gun and ammo box and be fine,
And now it's everything but that.
-Check and see if it's down. -Okay.
It's the one that we tied to that tree, remember?
Yeah. It's down.
Watch yourself.
All right, I think got-- I got enough, ash.
You got him?
Okay, let me grab it.
He got all up in that tree, girl.
Oh, yeah, this is a good one.
This is a big gator.
Oh!
Oh, my god.
He's going under the boat.
We gotta have enough slack to get him up.
Yeah.
He's all tangled up in this tree.
Just be careful, ashley.
Oh, my god!
Ashley! Oh, my god!
Get in the boat, get in the boat.
Ashley!
Get in the boat, get in the boat!
Oh, my god.
Oh, that was close.
-That was really close. -That was extremely close.
You were about to get eaten by a gator.
I was right there beside him.
Who the [bleep] are you? Oh, my god.
Don't do that. Jeez!
It was a very, very scary situation.
And in the moment, I just thought to myself
I need to get into this boat as fast as I got out.
I gotta kill that gator.
All right, here you go.
Get it. Get revenge, ashley.
Now to get him in the boat.
One, two, three.
You going that way?
-He's doing that. -Oh.
Here, I'm gonna get over there.
-You got him? -Almost.
The hunters have had an unforgettable first day
As captain and deckhand.
Good job, anna.
I didn't even realize how hard it was gonna be as a captain.
And anna really proved herself to me.
I know that she is perfectly capable
Of finishing the season with me.
And we both really pushed through and gave it all we had.
75 miles southwest in amelia...
After struggling all day,
Leron and porkchop are determined to catch a giant.
You know, a lot of things work out
When you just keep pushing,
When you just never quit.
You just gotta do your best.
Oh, man!
Oh, my god!
In amelia...
Oh, man.
Leron and porkchop just had a giant
Break off their treble hook.
Oh, my god.
Got him, cuz. Come on.Yeah, get him.
Come on now. Come on now, get him.
Come on, man.
Hit him.
This 12-foot colossus
Will instantly bump up the hunters' average on day one,
And it's an unbelievable trophy
For porkchop's first treble hook.
Oh! Aah! [laughs]
Damn, porkchop, you done found trouble, boy.
You done found trouble, boy.
Whoo!
What I told you, boy? Why'd we come here?
-What were we looking for? -Trouble.
We were looking for trouble, right?
I must admit,
Even though you barely had him hooked--
That's why I had to hurry up and come shoot him--
But you hooked him.
We looking good, porkchop.
We looking good, boy.
Oh, man. Whew!
You know, I was pumped up. I was excited.
With that treble hook in your hand, whoo, man,
He'll take that boat, have that boat going all over.
But, you know, hey, once you got him and you hold him,
You know, you gotta get him.
But on the treble hook, whoo, that alligator end up nice, man.
We asked for trouble, and we got trouble today.
Oh, man.
Whoo!
Back at the violet boat launch...
-Not a bad day, timmy. -Yeah.
It's a great first-day haul for ronnie and timmy.
After day one, I know team adams is on top of the leaderboard.
I'm excited. I can't wait to find out how ashley's doing.
I just hope and pray she pulls her weight
And brings it to the table.
Lord, I hope y'all brought it.
Because I'm gonna tell y'all right now,
Whatever you've got,
It's either gonna bring our average down
Or it's gonna boom us up.
What we got, baby?
Gonna love this.
Oh, no! Come on!
Yo, che, look at the size of this motherhumper.
Give me some of that, baby.
How many y'all got total?
We got only three total, but an average of 10 1/2.
Let's get him out. Let's see what he's about.
Y'all relax. Y'all had a rough day. We got y'all.
With a load of big gators,
Ronnie, ashley, and their new deckhands
Prove they're a force to be reckoned with.
Hey, listen, with one or two of these a day,
Troy's gonna be knocked off that plateau.
-You heard me? -Yeah, we're winning this.
Oh, yeah.
Back at duffy's...
Yes, indeed! Look at them big alligators.
A long day.
Yeah, well, we had a pretty good day today.
Can't complain.
Big gator right there.
Y'all got a good average. Y'all did good.
-There you go, sir. -Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you.
There's always a lot of competition out there.
That's what keeps me going.
Whoever works the hardest is gonna be the most successful.
That's how I look at life.
I don't want y'all to have too good of an average now.
You might make us look bad over here.
Nuh-uh, never.
After day one, willie leads the pack
With a nine-foot/nine-inch average.
Troy is second with a nine-foot/four-inch average,
But ronnie and ashley are right behind in third.
One of these days,
Somebody gonna knock me off of the throne.
But I don't know if it's gonna be this year.
Man, y'all need a bigger boat.
We win this competition,
We gonna have a bigger one next year.
[all laugh]
Coming up this season...
We got a lot of gators to catch.
Watch him, watch him, pee-wee!
Get him. Shoot! Uh!
Watch him. Don't let him get you.
Get him, jacob, get him!
[rifle clicks] oh--
This is insane.
Oh, my god. He's gonna flip us!
No! Aah! Hold my legs.
That's one pissed-off gator, porkchop.
Anybody's game now, zak. We got a chance.
Where's the next gator at?
Right under the eye.
[gunshot]
Holy moly, I can't hold him.
Holy smokes, that's a big alligator.
Watch out, anna!
Holy cow.