The slime and smell is what cost the last one its lower jaw. I picked it up with my hands and got slimed good, latched onto it with the leatherman, it flopped away but left its jaw in my pliers. I've seen some big Alligator gar in pics from Texas and Louisiana, wish we had about a thousand of those brutes. I'm aware that a small population had managed to survive in the slews around the Ohio/Missisppi River junction before this stocking program I heard rumors of but what I am curious about is why they no longer inhabit more northerly waters? Are they not competitive enough? Need stained water? Pollution? What up with that?