This was the headline on a story in the paper:
MISSISSIPPIAN NETS 'MONSTER' ALLIGATOR GAR. An entire half page was devoted to this story. An alligator gar is an ancient species of fish, a holdout from the age of dinosaurs. The accompanying photo shows this fish, it's long alligator looking snout and jaws with rows of sharp teeth, its dark scales, and find it remarkable how much it resembles its namesake.

It was caught by a commercial netter in Lake Chotard in Issaquena County, when the beast inadvertly became tangled in the fisherman's netting. It is the largest alligator gar recorded in the world, weighing 327 pounds, and biologist estimate it to be between 50 and 70 years old. I wish the fisherman would have cut it loose and let it go. Something that old and wonderful should have been allowed to live.

Coincidentally, a few days later I was waiting in the passenger seat of a friends car while she went in the store. Parked three spaces over was a kid sitting in the back of a pickup truck with fishing gear stashed to one side. He reached in a cooler and pulled out a small alligator gar about a foot and a half long, and held it squeezed in his hand as the fish flopped around feebly; its distinctive snout gaping for air. Having not seen, heard, or even thought of an alligator gar in my life, here within a short span was the story in the paper and a look at a live one. Maybe their numbers are increasing.

susil