Earlier in the summer, I spent a good bit of time looking for a new gator rod. Unlike many of the TV shows, in Mississippi, you have to catch the gator live, without bait, before harvesting it. The common method for doing this is to throw a snag hook over a gator and play him until he is tired enough to get near the boat and then snare. The critical part of this equation is being able to cast a heavy hook accurately and then have enough rod to hold on. That’s a tough combination. The hook I use is a mustad 10/0 treble with 2oz of lead on it with at least 80lb power pro. Most of the rods that can handle this lure weight cast like a 2x4 which is a deal breaker.

I called Falcon and even though the peacock bass rods are rated for such a lure, there was some doubt about using it for a gator. Well, I can tell you that they are in fact a fantastic gator rod! The Falcon peacock bass rod is now my rod of choice for gators. I didn’t get pictures of the first two gators I caught this year, but here’s number 3 – a 7ft male. We’ve got several weeks of season left and I hope to test it on some really big ones soon. When I do, I’ll let you know. 

Chris Winter