BEACON JOURNAL (Akron, Ohio) 19 July 07 Something fishy going on at Summit Lake - Teen angler reels in gator - Youngster hooks reptile, now a Humane Society resident, on his third try (Jim Carney)
It came from Summit Lake.
And Robert Pendleton Jr., 14, described the catch as a ``cool'' fishing experience.
It was a frightening one, too.
Robert caught a 4- to 5-foot-long alligator -- ``Buckeye Gator'' -- from a fishing spot along Summit Lake Boulevard in Akron on Wednesday.
His brother Danny, 10, cast his fishing line into the water during a routine trip to Summit Lake when he thought he saw the head of an alligator.
``He got scared and dropped his pole and ran,'' said Robert, an eighth-grader at Margaret Park School. ``Then he called me over.''
Robert got a look at the alligator head and decided to throw a line its way.
``It snapped at it and I missed it,'' he said, ``and it swam over by the other side of the bushes, and I went over and it snapped at it again. And the third time, it moved over a little and he bit it and caught my lure in his mouth.''
Robert then started to reel the reptile in -- slowly.
``He was bending my pole and it was hard to get him,'' he said.
So Robert asked Danny, a sixth-grader at Heminger Elementary, to run home across the street and get a big bucket to put the reptile in.
As Robert was reeling it to shore, his mother, Lori Pendleton, called Akron's Animal Control Department for assistance.
Jim Farrance, an animal control officer for the city, arrived and pulled the alligator out of the water. He put it in a cage and took it to the Humane Society of Greater Akron on Quick Road in Boston Township.
Robert said the whole experience was both scary and good.
``It was cool,'' he said.
Before the capture of the gator, Robert said, the biggest thing he ever caught was a 7-pound bass in southern Ohio.
Stephani Palumbo, Humane Society director of operations, said there are some who believe the reptile is an alligator and others who think it might be a caiman.
Whatever it is, it was placed in a child's swimming pool while officials make contacts to determine what to do next, Palumbo said.
It is the first alligator ever brought to the shelter, she said.
It was ``a little wild when they pulled him off the pole,'' she said. ``He was agitated at first. As soon as he got in the pool, he chilled out.''
The gator has ``beady cat eyes,'' making him a little intimidating.
While his origins might never be known, there is one thing certain, she said: Robert Pendleton Jr. will always have a great fishing story.
Robert, however, wasn't so sure.
``I don't know,'' he said.``Life is not over yet.''
Teen angler reels in gator