{"id":251531,"date":"2026-04-15T21:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251531\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T21:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:50:11","slug":"texas-fisherman-reels-in-alligator-at-lake-arlington-fined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251531\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas fisherman reels in alligator at Lake Arlington, fined"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

A screenshot of a Facebook post from Mark Everett, showing him catching an alligator in Lake Arlington.<\/p>\n

Facebook screenshot<\/p>\n

A local fisherman caught more than he bargained for last month on Lake Arlington when he reeled in an alligator \u2014 and a fine \u2014 instead of catfish, he told the Star-Telegram\u2019s news partners at WFAA.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Everett was out fishing for catfish at Eugene McCray Park at Lake Arlington March 22 when he felt something big on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unreal experience\u2026 It was really, really weird,\u201d he told WFAA. \u201cI was on the side of the boat like this, and I pulled it on up \u2014 and it was a dang alligator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd25 In case you missed it… <\/p>\n

Everett said he recorded video of the alligator and posted video online, including a livestream. He later released the gator back in the water where it was caught.<\/p>\n

However, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says Tarrant County game wardens investigated the incident. Officials say Everett removed the animal from the fishing line and brought it to shore.<\/p>\n

Then, he livestreamed the gator on shore for about two hours, feeding it and encouraging other people to pose for photos with it.<\/p>\n

Officials cited Everett for illegal possession of an alligator, intentional feeding of a free-ranging alligator and not having a hunter\u2019s education certificate, according to WFAA. He also received a warning for hunting without a license, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Unintentionally catching an alligator while fishing isn\u2019t considered a violation, as long as the animal is immediately released, according to TPWD. But intentionally feeding an alligator is a misdemeanor<\/a>, carrying a fine of up to $500.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time alligators have been spotted in North Texas. Another gator was spotted on Lake Arlington back in 2018<\/a>, and one alligator made its way into Coppell in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See WFAA\u2019s video interview with Everett below. See tips from TPWD about dealing with alligators here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Jake Harris<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Jake Harris is the Service Journalism Editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has spent nearly 10 years working as a digital producer across newsrooms in Texas. He mainly writes about pop culture and local North Texas happenings and occasionally writes concert reviews.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A screenshot of a Facebook post from Mark Everett, showing him catching an alligator in Lake Arlington. Facebook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-251531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}