A 71-year-old Florida man is recovering after fighting off an alligator that attacked him while he was fishing behind his North Fort Myers home, using quick thinking, his fishing pole, and techniques he said he learned from years of hunting the reptiles, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
James Grayson McMicken said the attack happened on July 3 as he prepared to spend a quiet evening fishing with his bulldog along the bank of a canal behind his home.
According to McMicken, he had made only one cast before the alligator suddenly lunged from the water.
“I started reeling, and it jumped out of the water and grabbed me,” McMicken told KGNS News.
The alligator bit his right leg and pulled him down the bank and into the canal. McMicken said he had only moments to react as the animal maintained its grip.
McMicken said his previous experience hunting alligators helped him remember how to defend himself during the encounter.
“He rolled me down off the bank into the water. I stuck my thumb in one eye, and I just took that fishing pole and jabbed him in that other eye and jabbed him and jabbed him and jabbed him. It seemed like forever, but it wasn’t that long. But then, he turned loose,” he told the outlet.
“I’ve always heard that if you’ve got no other choice, get them eyes, and that’s what got him off of me.”
Once the alligator released him, McMicken was left with serious bite wounds to his right leg. Although injured, he still had to find a way to get back to his house.
He called his bulldog, which remained nearby throughout the attack. McMicken said he used the dog for support to help pull himself to his feet before making his way home.
After arriving at the house, his wife cleaned his wounds before he collapsed into a chair from exhaustion.
Family members then transported him to a local hospital, where doctors treated his injuries with stitches and staples on both sides of his leg.
McMicken said hospital staff were surprised by how he survived the encounter.
“All the nurses on the floor had to come by and go, ‘Wow, you did what?’” he said.
“I’m going to do everything I can not to die. No gator is going to run me off.”
Florida Man just trying to catch a quick bass the other night ended up having to fight off a gator that grabbed him by the leg and pulled him in. Once he handled Wally he rode his dog back in the house pic.twitter.com/4m071VjCcR [2]
— Branch Floridian (@JackLinFLL) July 3, 2026 [3]
McMicken has since returned home and is preparing to begin physical therapy as he recovers from the attack.
Despite the close call, he said he has no plans to give up fishing, although he intends to be more alert when fishing near the canal in the future.
The attack occurred in North Fort Myers, about 75 miles south of Sarasota.
The incident follows two other recent alligator attacks reported in Florida. On June 27, 31-year-old Brittany Clark died after being attacked [4] by a 12-foot alligator while swimming in the Econlockhatchee River with her boyfriend.
That same day, a boy from Pennsylvania lost a hand in an alligator attack while on a family fishing trip at Nelson’s Fish Camp in Marion County, Florida.
Although those incidents have drawn attention, wildlife officials have long noted that attacks involving alligators remain uncommon in Florida.
The state is home to more than one million alligators, and the reptiles are found in most freshwater lakes, rivers, ponds, and canals throughout the state.
McMicken said the experience has changed the way he will approach future fishing trips, but has not changed his determination to continue spending time outdoors.
For now, his focus is on recovering from his injuries and returning to the water with a greater awareness of the wildlife that inhabits Florida’s canals.