Man captures Florida's longest alligator

TALLAHASSEE - Wildlife officials say an Orlando-area nurse has caught the state's longest documented alligator.

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Robert Ammerman shows his catch.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Robert Ammerman of Pine Hills caught an alligator measuring 14 feet, 31/2 inches long. It weighed 654 pounds.

Ammerman set the new record while hunting Nov. 1, the last day of the state's alligator harvest. The alligator was caught in the Lake Washington area of the St. Johns River in Brevard County.

Ammerman says the alligator pulled his boat around the lake for 45 minutes before he could subdue the reptile.

The previous record was set in 1997 by a trapper who caught a 14-foot, 5/8-inch alligator caught in Lake Monroe.

The heaviest alligator on record weighed 1,043 pounds when it was taken from Orange Lake in 1989 .