Kicker: The eyes have it

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

NICK EICHER, HOST:Florida man James Grayson McMicken made one cast into the canal behind his home in North Fort Myers.

Then he got a bite, but not the one he wanted.

An alligator jumped from the water, clamped onto McMicken’s right leg and dragged him down the bank. Audio from WINK-TV.

MCMICKEN: I’m going to do everything I can not to die.

McMicken has hunted gators before, so he knew how to survive.

MCMICKEN: 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 ... then he turned loose.”\

McMicken needed stitches to close up the deep wounds to his leg. He’s now starting physical therapy—and hopes to get back to fishing sometime soon—as the fisherman but not as the bait.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.