Florida man fishing at Alligator Lake reels in alligator instead

LAKE CITY, Fla. – A man angling for a fish in Columbia County’s Alligator Lake reeled in an alligator instead.

The man was fishing in the 800-acre lake outside Lake City this week when he felt something tug on the end of his line. To his surprise, it was a baby gator that emerged from the water.

Deanna Abernathy shared images of the gator with News4Jax. They show the fisherman posing with his catch and then later setting it free so it could return to the water.

Incidentally, Lake City was once known as “Alligator” when settlers first moved to the area in the 1800s, according to a town marker.