Watch: Giant Alligator Chases Florida Man During Tarpon Fishing

A 22-year-old man had the most terrifying moment of his life when he was tarpon fishing at sunrise in a tropical wetland in Florida in the United States. Everything was going well and he even managed to catch a fish. As he started wounding the spool reel, he noticed a gigantic alligator raising its head out of the water and about to approach him. Stunned, he stepped back but the reptile chased him, a video of the incident showed. “Jesus Christ, I got to be careful here,” said Tommy Lee as he first saw the alligator.

Then he retreated a couple of steps but the angry alligator approached him quickly, forcing him to run backward during which Mr Lee fell down. He collected himself immediately and again ran to escape the predator.

The incident happened on May 8 in Everglades, a natural region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, and the video was shot with a GoPro camera attached to Mr Lee. At one point, the video showed, the alligator had come frighteningly close to Mr Lee and reduced the gap between them to less than 10 feet.

After a few rounds of back and forth, the alligator finally retreated into the water, with Mr Lee again going to the lake to verify its presence.

“I got spooked by him being surrounded by bushes. Alligator could've been anywhere, or there could have been more than one gator. And then he fell. Glad it wasn't a tragedy,” commented Michel Staples-Stumvoll on the video.

“I hereby nominate him for a coveted 'Darwin Award Winner Runner-up' trophy,” said Jay Bee.

A third user, Alex Figueroa, who has a YouTube channel dedicated to Florida's wildlife, said, “This was most likely a female alligator with a nest of eggs nearby and felt threatened by your presence. It was a good thing that you saw it when you did because she could have surfaced at the edge and it perhaps would have been too late for you to escape at that point. She was nice and gave you a warning.”