NARRATOR: Reeling from the damage
of Hurricane Ida, Ronnie and Ashley
are way behind on filling their tags.
I'm blessed this year with 200 tags.
But man, I've been thrown a lot of obstacles.
And you know, I'm trying to do as best as I can to catch up.
But it's hard.
It's really hard.
Mr. Troy and them's on their way.
They should be here any minute.
So I reached out to a good friend
of mine, Mr. Troy Landry.
I gave a phone call to Mr. Troy and told him
I'm behind schedule right now for us filling tags.
I asked him could he give me a hand.
He didn't even hesitate.
He said, I'll be there.
Tell me a day.
What y'all say, my baby?
Chicken too.
I'm glad y'all made it down in this neck of the woods.
Hey, ma'am.
Good morning.
You know, we always try to help other people
when they need help.
And there's been a few times where
we needed help, where other people come and helped us.
Well, Ronnie and Ashley is closer to the coast
than we are, and they got hammered.
And we didn't have that much damage over here.
We were very lucky.
So we actually caught up on our tags now.
So I feel in my heart we should go over there and help
them for a couple of days.
And that's a good way to live your life, you know.
You help your neighbors or help other people when you can.
RONNIE: So what we got here, Mr. Troy and Jacob, is--
TROY: We all, this is all your property?
RONNIE: All my properties.
TROY: That's the main thing.
All this.
I literally put out 150 lines in the one area,
but got them spread out over about a seven, eight-mile span.
And we're going to break it into three sections.
Everybody, I have between 50 and 60 lines to run.
I told Mr. Troy and Jacob I need all the help I can because I'm
so behind on my tags.
Guard that with your life.
OK, man.
That looks simple enough. - That's it.
All right.
Sounds good to me.
Yeah.
Give me your hand, guys.
Real quick.
Lord, please look over everybody today, little safe day.
Teamwork makes the dream work, my baby.
Amen.
All right, let's get it done.
All right, Peewee.
Let's go through our list.
We got bait.
We got the gun.
We got bullets. - Hooks.
We got the treble hook.
We're good.
NARRATOR: With no time to spare, Ronnie guards Troy and Pickle
to their first set of lines.
That's the first line right there?
Right there.
That's where y'all start.
Then goes in there and makes a big horseshoe.
That little bayou right here?
Yes sir.
And then kind of spread out catty-cornered.
All right, buddy. Good luck.
Y'all good?
You got bullets?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Good luck, guys.
All right.
Thank y'all again.
All right.
All right, y'all.
Peewee, I'm kind of blind.
You're going to have to help me look.
All right, first line's right here on the left.
All right.
Still hanging?
Yeah, still hanging.
Look at that weather over there.
Storm after storm after storm.
We can't catch a break this year.
You know, we're in South Louisiana,
right along the Gulf.
And the weather can change in 30 minutes.
It can go from a beautiful sunny day to 20, 30 minutes later,
have a thunderstorm build up right over you.
We're starting to get bad weather here where we at.
All right.
TROY: Tell me what to do.
I don't know yet.
Hold on.
TROY: Might have to take my pole.
Look over there.
We got something.
We got one.
A nice alligator.
PICKLE: We do. We got one.
But where's--
TROY: We got to find the line.
I don't want to get too close and cut it with my propeller.
PICKLE: Yeah, I can't find nothing.
TROY: Throw the hook right here.
That's one way to do it.
You got something.
I feel like a hook.
Yeah.
You got it?
I got it.
TROY: Don't let it go.
Why you let it go?
PICKLE: I had to.
TROY: No you didn't have to.
PICKLE: Yes I did.
Do not let that line go again.
Did you see the size of this thing?
No, I didn't see the size of it.
- You fight him. - It don't matter what the size.
Bring it up. We're going to shoot it.
Got him?
Come on, Peewee.
Show them who's the boss.
It's a big one.
Go on, shoot him.
That's a big one.
First one of the day.
Yes, indeed.
Wow.
NARRATOR: Catching this 11 footer is a good start,
but mother nature may have other plans.
That's a big one.
This alligator is a nice gator.
But we're trying to work as fast as we can.
The wind, you can see the wind starting to pick up.
And the clouds are rolling in.
We're starting to get some rain bands coming in.
It's getting closer to us now because you
can see the weather's deteriorating very fast.
Everything looks the same out here.
But as far as your eyes can see is the same.
Nothing's different.
No, I don't see no poles.
I don't see no flags.
I don't see nothing.
Peewee and I are struggling to find Ronnie's lines
because all he's got is a pole.
He don't barely have any ribbons on them.
And we're not used to running his line.
So I don't know where to look for his lines even.
Look, I got a line right there.
We found one.
TROY: See the next one?
We found one.
Right there.
He going to get dead.
From what I learned so far, these alligators
go straight to the grass.
TROY: Watch it.
Lord, this.
TROY: Bring him up.
Bring him up, Peewee.
It's a big one.
Get him.
Good job.
That's a good one.
You're a hell of a shot.
What?
You saw that, with my eyes closed.
NARRATOR: This filled tag will be
a boost to Ronnie and Ashley, but the rain is coming in fast.
Look at the weather, dude.
Look at the weather.
But it's too far to go back.
We're in the middle of a bad storm now.
Thunder and lightning, no trees around.
Peewee's scared to death.
My boat is aluminum.
She thinks it's a lightning rod in the middle of the marsh.
And it might be.
I don't know.
And the last thing I want to do is get Peewee hurt in my boat.
But the end of the day, we're here to help Ronnie fill tags.
Whatever we catch, we catch.
Hey, hey.
Get it way over here.
Oh, it's a big one.
Looks like a big one.
It's a big one. It's a big one.
I knew it. I told you that.
He's going to take the boat.
Put another one in there.
Put another one.
Shoot him.
It's a big one.
OK.
Get your thing.
Uh-uh.
Dude.
You think we can handle him?
NARRATOR: Troy and Pickle manage to fill another tag,
but the storm is picking up.
TROY: OK.
You all right?
Yeah.
TROY: You OK?
Lightning was hitting all around and it's scary.
You got a big aluminum pole 20 feet long
you're sticking in the air, and if that's not a lightning rod--
so we're trying to hurry up, pick up these lines,
and get off the water.
We're in the middle of a bad thunderstorm,
with a lot of lightning and heavy rain.
And it was already we're having trouble
this morning before this thunderstorm
looking for some of his lines.
And now I can't see my hand in front of my face,
it's raining so hard.
NARRATOR: With nothing left on the lines,
Troy and Pickle make a hasty retreat.
TROY: You ready?
PICKLE: Absolutely.
Let's get the hell out of here.
Peewee and I, we're going to haul tail.
We finish running the line, we're
going in, getting out of this weather before, you know,
she's going to have anxiety and have
nightmares about this [bleep].
The things I do for my buddies.
Holy smokes, a mother-fricker.
PICKLE: A mother-fricker is right.