FL Man Fought Off Gator Using Fishing Pole, Poking Its Eyes: Reports

NORTH FORT MYERS, FL — In the latest Florida gator attack, a 71-year-old North Fort Myers man is alive after fighting off an alligator with his fishing pole and with help from his bulldog, multiple reports said.

James Grayson McMicken was recently fishing from the canal behind his home with his dog, a nightly routine for the pair, when a gator jumped out of the water and grabbed him by the right leg, WINK News reported.

“I started reeling and it jumped out of the water and grabbed me,” McMicken told WFTV.

When the gator pulled him into the water, his instincts and experience from legally hunting gators kicked in. Because of this experience, he knew that their eyes are the weakest part of their body.

“He rolled me down off the bank into the water. I stuck my thumb in his eye and I just took that fishing pole and jabbed him in that other eye and jabbed him and jabbed him and jabbed him. It seemed like forever, but it wasn’t that long. But then he turned loose,” McMicken said.

Knowing he’d be unable to crawl all the way back to his house, he called over his dog, who let him use her to steady himself and pull himself to his feet, reports said.

After making it back into his house, his wife cleaned his wounds and he was brought to Cape Coral Hospital.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent an alligator trapper to the area of the attack, but as of Friday, the animal hadn’t been found.

This is one of numerous recent gruesome gator attacks across the state.

A 31-year-old Brittany Clark was killed at the end of last month while swimming in the Econlockhatchee River in the Little Big Econ State Forest with her best friend and her boyfriend

The gator bit her on the arms and performed a “death roll” on her, Patch reported.

A 19-year-old Rainbow River snorkeler was also hospitalized last month following a gator attack.

An 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy lost his hand after being bitten by a gator while fishing with his dad at Nelson Fish Camp in Marion County, People reported.

Alligator mating season begins each year in early April, first with courtship, followed by mating in May and June, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

By late June or early July, female gators build a mound nest of soil, vegetation or debris, and deposit an average of 32 to 46 eggs in it.

Incubation takes 63 to 68 days, and hatching takes place from mid-August into early September.

See Also:

• Woman Killed In 'Bizarre' FL Alligator Attack Is 31-Year-Old CA Native: Reports
• Woman Killed, Child Injured In FL Gator Attacks
• Woman Bitten By Gator While Swimming With Kids In FL Lake
• FL Man Bitten By 8-Foot Gator While Trying To Save His Dog
• Alligator Attack On Cow Prompts Closure Of Central FL Conservation Area
• Rainbow River Snorkeler Hospitalized In Alligator Attack