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A Texas fisherman only set a new record<\/a> for Corpus Christi Lake after catching a 207-pound alligator, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.<\/p>\n Paul Hefner told KSAT he caught the massive 7-foot, 6-inch fish on April 13.<\/p>\n Hefner’s father, who has been fishing in that area since the 1980s, stood up on the family’s boat and took a photo of him next to his catch to better show the size of the fish.<\/p>\n “Not only were we targeting gar, but we were also targeting flathead and blue catfish. We also broke the Nueces River bluefish record, four separate times,” Hefner said.<\/p>\n He told KSAT that he and his father used nets to catch fish to use as live bait like carp, buffalo and tilapia.<\/p>\n “As an old man once told my father in the 1980s, ‘the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.’ In this case, it was a 12-inch live tilapia that caught the record” , Hefner said.<\/p>\n He credited rains in the area with increasing river flow, which also helped stir up the fish.<\/p>\n “We’re not sure if the extra flow helped the gar since it was in the lake, but maybe the fresh water coming in from the river moved it. I think that was the only fish we caught that day.” , Hefner continued.<\/p>\n He and his father released the alligator back into the river after posing for photos. You can watch a video of the launch at Instagram post <\/a>low:<\/p>\n The world record for an alligator is held by a 327-pound fish estimated to be 95 years old, according to TPWD<\/a>. He was captured in Mississippi in 2011.<\/p>\n To avoid overfishing, the TPWD<\/a> imposed a statewide bag limit of one alligator per day in 2009.<\/p>\n