'Bigfoot' Sighted By Tampa Fisherman?

Alligators and manatees aren’t the only awe-inspiring creatures to call the Hillsborough River home. Bigfoot also resides in the Tampa area.

That’s the contention of a 66-year-old fisherman who reportedly spotted the fabled creature bathing in the river’s cool waters a few days after Christmas.

John Rodriguez managed to snap a shot of the creature and forwarded it along to Huffington Post reporter Lee Speigel, who covers unusual phenomena, such as UFO sightings, for the publication.

“I heard a squishing sound, looked over and saw this thing walking through the water and crouch down in the duck weed,” Rodriquez wrote in an email to Speigel. “It did not look like a guy in a suit -- it was definitely an animal. I took this picture and got out of there as fast as I could.”

While Rodriguez’s photograph is quite clear, skepticism about its authenticity abounds, MyFoxTampaBay reported.

“Personally I think it is a gorilla suit,” Big Foot on the River bartender Jennifer Watts told the station.

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That contention is also held by “Fact of Faked: Paranormal Files” lead investigator Ben Hansen, the Huffington Post reported.

“Thanks to the clear photo, I’m excited to announce that the photographer has captured a real-life... gorilla in a Bigfoot suit,” the Post quoted Hansen as saying.

Rodriguez, however, says he did not Photoshop the image.

“From the very beginning he has not given the impression that he’s looking for any kind of publicity,” Speigel told Fox news.

Even so, the writer points out definitive proof of the creature’s existence remains elusive.

It’s that proof two North Florida men hope to find using a $100,000 grant from Spike TV. David Lauer and Stacy Brown won the money from the network’s “10 Million Dollar Big Foot Bounty” program last year. It’s their hope to prove once and for all that bigfoot is real.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lurking in the Hillsborough River? Tell us by commenting below!

MyFoxTampaBay screenshot