NATCHEZ — Earl Stafford caught the biggest alligator gar on record in Mississippi back on May 2, 2003.

But he hasn’t seen it in a while.

When The Dart landed on 26 Oakwood Lane, Stafford told the story about how the gar was taken up to a Sports Center store in Starkville and put on display.

“I’m wondering when they’re going to bring my darn fish back,” Stafford joked. “It was a state record, and it’s supposed to still be.”

The gar weighed 250 pounds and was 8 feet long, Stafford said. But even though it was the biggest one he’s ever captured, Stafford said it’s not the biggest one he’s ever hooked.

“I’ve hooked a lot of big ones on got them up to the boat but wasn’t able to do anything with them,” Stafford said.

But Stafford said when he caught this particular gar back in 2003, he had finally figured out the secret to getting them in the boat.

“You have to knock them in the head,” Stafford said. “It doesn’t kill them, it just knocks them out.”

It would be the last time he ever caught an alligator gar again at the same location, however.

“After I caught it, they turned it into a protection area they’re using to re-stock the lake,” Stafford said.

Even with his success at catching alligator gar, Stafford said his favorite thing to fish for is catfish.

“I asked my daddy one time when I learned to use the rod and reel, and he said as far as he knew, I always knew how to use it,” Stafford said.

“I figure I probably came out with a pole in my hand.”

The biggest catfish Stafford ever caught was 54 pounds, he said. But his wife, Esther, has him beat, even though she hasn’t been going with him that long to fish.

“I’ve fished up and down the Mississippi River my whole life, and I brought Esther there the last four years, and she done smoked us,” Stafford said. “I have five or six fishing buddies (I go with), and she done smoked us all.”

Esther said her husband gives her a hard time about the fact that she one caught a 72-pound catfish.

“He said, ‘I don’t like you no more,’” Esther joked.

And Stafford said he’s not about to see her smoke him when it comes to fishing for alligator gar.

“We won’t take her gar fishing,” Stafford said. “I only go by myself because I don’t want her to beat me.”

Fishing has been hard to come by in recent weeks because of the rise of the Mississippi River, Stafford said. The couple is likely to just wait until the water level starts to drop, he said.

“We’ll wait for the river to go down another two months,” Stafford said. “All it is right now is a waste of money, what with gas and everything. You end up spending $100 and you don’t catch anything.”