River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 2, Episode 5 - Alaskan Horror - full transcript

I'm Jeremy Wade,
biologist and extreme angler,

in search
of freshwater monsters.

I normally track down
these beasts in the tropics.

I've never searched for one
in the subarctic before.

On these lakes deep
in the Alaskan wilderness,

people have been
going missing without trace

for as long
as anyone can remember.

There are native myths of
a monster that's killing them.

People have just disappeared
out of their boats.

Whatever it was in the water,

they were afraid it would
just come up and swallow them.



It has no fear of taking on
boats and their propellers.

There have been many
strange sightings, as well.

He said he could see
on the surface of the water

a large octopus.

He judged the length of the arms
to be near 100 feet.

I'm going to investigate

whether there really is
a deadly monster from the deep

killing all these people.

It's quite possible
this is the biggest fish

that I've ever had
on the end of my line.

One of my obsessions
is tracking down

freshwater monsters
throughout the world's rivers.

But a story of one monster
in an Alaskan lake

particularly
caught my imagination.



There are many myths
of lake monsters

all around the world,

from places
such as Loch Ness in Scotland

and Lake Tianchi in China.

No one's sure these creatures
have actually been seen,

but this monster in Lake Clark
in Iliamna is different.

Since the 1940s,

bush pilots have been flying
over this remote area,

and sightings seem to be
getting more and more frequent.

There are reports of it
being up to 20 feet long.

What are these mysterious
shapes in the water?

And are they causing people
to drown

and disappear into the depths
without leaving a trace?

People have tried to prove
its existence for many years.

30 years ago,

there was even a $100,000 reward
put on its head.

That's half a million
in today's money.

This kind of bounty
attracted many monster hunters,

from serious fishermen

to someone who tried
to lure it out of the water

by playing music.

All these attempts failed,

and eventually,
the reward was withdrawn.

With still no hard proof,

it would be easy to dismiss
this monster as pure fantasy,

but I believe these stories
must have come from somewhere,

and there is something
down there in the depths.

This is my first trip to Alaska,

and my journey starts by going
deep into its wilderness.

I normally fish in the tropics,

and I'm out of my element in a
land of bottomless, icy lakes,

jagged mountains,
and Arctic tundra.

As a proportion
of its population,

more people go missing
in this forbidding landscape

than in any other state
in the U.S.

The best way into this
isolated area is by plane,

threading your way
through narrow mountain passes

where conditions
can deteriorate in a moment.

There are many legends
of this monster.

But between
the smoke of the clouds

and the mirrors of the lakes,
could it actually exist?

My investigation to find out

will focus on two connected
bodies of water...

Lake Clark and Lake Iliamna,

which together cover an area
of over 1,000 square miles...

Roughly the size
of Rhode Island.

The larger of the two,
Lake Iliamna,

is 77 miles long
and 22 miles wide,

making it the largest
freshwater lake in Alaska.

Both lakes reach staggering
depths of up to 1,000 feet.

With such a vast area of water,

I've probably got more chance
of winning the lottery

than catching this monster
on my own.

The best way to start my search

is to gain some local knowledge.

Actually quite a few communities
dotted around the lakes.

These are the people
who will have been here

literally for generations,
and these will be the people

who have the stories
about the monster.

So they're the people
I want to talk to.

People have lived on this land
for more than 7,000 years,

and for centuries,
they've fished these lakes

wearing lightweight waterproof
parkas made from seal gut.

These isolated communities

have a strong ancestral
tradition of myths and legends,

including the lake monster.

I'm meeting up
with the Hill family,

who are Athapaskan
native Alaskans.

They have a fishing camp on the
northern shore of Lake Iliamna.

If you look at the shape
of Iliamna Lake on the map,

it has a shape of a fish.

There's a large head
tapering down to...

- A tail.
- A tail.

And the legend is that's
how this lake was formed.

There was this huge fish
trapped by the mountains,

and when a fish is dying
or laying on its side,

it flops like that
and kind of makes a hole.

Some people say
even the name "Iliamna"

means "a great black fish."

Could this be biting holes
in people's boats?

People just wouldn't paint
their boats a certain color,

and you didn't want to paint
the bottom of the boat red.

I guess there's some connection

between painting
the bottom of your boat red

and the boat disappearing.

The red could have attracted
the predatory monster,

thinking it was blood
from some injured prey.

These legends of the monster

are clearly engrained
within local culture.

But I need to find stories
of the monster

that are still
within living memory,

and I found one on Lake Clark.

Pilot and town mayor
Glen Alsworth Sr.

Recalls what happened
to an aircraft mechanic

in the late 1940s.

Gentleman working for us

was trying to catch
these large lake trout,

but he kept having them
break the line.

And so,
being an aircraft mechanic,

he got some aircraft cable,
which is very, very strong.

So, on his normal
sort of lake-trout tackle,

he was just getting
broken off several times?

So, that's when he put
the cable down there?

He kept getting broken off.

The mechanic then fashioned
his own hook

and fixed it
to the end of the cable.

This was then tied
to a washed-up tree stump.

He knew that he had a line there

that fish would not break,
and so he decided

whatever kind of monster
was busting off his line,

that wasn't gonna happen to him
again.

Confident that he'd get
his fish this time,

he left and planned
to come back the next morning.

A neighbor
that lived by the river

observed that stump
passing by against the wind,

and the lake was very rough.

And this gentleman that observed
this was very surprised that...

How could this tree stump
be moving against the water,

against the wind and the waves?

Glen has told me the exact spot
where the stump,

weighing nearly 200 pounds,

was ripped from the shore
and dragged into the water.

I'm going to see what
I can catch at this location.

I've brought a tent with me.

I've also brought my rod,
and I'm gonna be throwing a bait

into this very same area
of the lake.

This is not the kind of rod
you'd normally see

being used in freshwater.

This is sort of
a marine big-game rod.

Normally it would be
put to use pulling in...

shark, marlin, tuna,
that kind of thing.

But everything I've heard
about this place,

there's stuff in here every bit
as big as those animals.

There's a steep drop-off

that's further
than I can cast the heavy line.

So I'm using a kayak

to get my bait to a spot
where a giant might hide.

Something that could drag
a tree stump into the lake

could easily knock
a small boat over.

The water in these lakes
is only 50 degrees.

If I was tossed
into the water here,

my body would seize up
and I'd drown.

In these icy waters,
bodies sink rather than float,

and at depths
of up to 1,000 feet,

mine might never be found.

With the bait out,

the plan is to leave it
lying on the bottom overnight

and see if I can tempt
the monster onto my line.

It's just a waiting game now.

It's getting close to night,

but during the Alaskan summer,
it never gets completely dark.

It's actually very strange
being up in the Alaskan night,

because it's well
after midnight now,

and I can see the far bank.

I can see the horizon there.

I can see the mist
over the mountains.

So, it's a very sort of strange,
otherworldly place.

The bait has been in the water
for over 12 hours.

If the monster
was nearby and hungry,

it would have taken it by now.

There's nothing there.

The bait's still there.

When the weather comes in,

the lakes are covered
in an eerie fog.

I heard this story about
something coming again and again

for fish in the water,

and I went there and offered
a prime piece of fish,

and just nothing doing at all.

The stories I've heard
from the Alaskan natives

shroud these lakes
in myths and legends,

such as if you see the monster,

a tragedy will soon befall
your family.

In conditions like these, the
brain becomes very suggestible,

and it's easy for your mind
to play tricks on you.

I actually thought
I saw something back there,

and I did a real double take,

but I think it was just
the dark, long face of a wave.

And I can really imagine how,

if you're out here any amount of
time, you're gonna see things,

possibly even
if there's nothing there.

This place
has a special atmosphere.

But I'm a rationalist.

I've got to stay detached

and not let my imagination
get in the way.

To move this investigation on,
I need to find out

if people have actually come
into contact with the monster.

Hello, Bill.

I'm meeting up with Bill Trefon,

who is Alaskan native Dena'ina.

His family has been living
on Lake Clark for generations.

I heard that your parents
had an encounter

with some large, unknown
creature in the lake

a while ago.

What did they think it was?

And you've got...
There are pike in the lake?

There are big pike in the lake?

Did your mother have any idea
how big it might have been?

12 feet?

So, going back generations,

people say that if you actually
see one of these big fish,

it's actually...
It's like a bad sign.

Tragedies
like Bill's father drowning

only help to strengthen the
legend surrounding the monster.

But this story has given me
some vital information

as to what it could be.

Attacking a propeller suggests
it is a sight predator.

It's not some
deep-water scavenger,

but is active on the surface.

This all fits
with it being a pike,

which is what Bill's mother
thought she saw.

To see if the pike here

really can reach
such a monstrous size,

I have to catch one.

This is Chinitna Bay, near
where the boat was attacked

and where locals say
the biggest pike are.

I've come across pike
in warm water before,

but I've no idea
how big they can grow

in these glacial conditions.

A pike has hundreds
of needle-sharp teeth

that can cause serious damage

to whatever
it gets into its mouth,

including humans.

Glen Alsworth Jr.
Has seen many times

how voracious the pike
around here can be.

So, you've actually
seen them take birds?

Yeah, yeah.
I've seen them take birds.

I've seen them take baby ducks

- and adult ducks.
- Adult ducks?

I saw one eat a muskrat once
right in this river...

and pretty much anything
they can fit their mouth around.

Right.

If a 4- or 5-foot pike
can eat waterfowl and mammals,

it seems logical that a
12-footer could be a man-eater.

So, what I've got here...

I've got a lure that's sending
out very, very strong signals.

It's a very bright flash and
a very strong, vibrating throb.

And I guess, actually, that was
probably what was happening

when that fish went
for that propeller, as well.

Fish on.
Fish on. Fish on.

And...
Oh, it's a nice-sized fish.

It's a nice-sized fish.
Here we go.

Let's go in again.

That's a nice fish.
Going under the boat.

Don't want to go
out the other side of the boat.

Look at that lovely fish.

Deep, lovely, clear water,

so you can see the fish
really well.

Right.

A lovely Alaskan pike.

Just do a quick measure here.

And... 40 inches.

Lovely fish.

A 40-inch pike is probably
around 20 years old.

A thing about pike...

If there's ever a fish
where the way it looks

tells you about the way it
lives, I mean, that is the pike.

It's, you know, a head full
of teeth at one end...

Not just on the jaws,

but on the tongue,
on the gill rake, as well.

And they have eyes that make
them a deadly sight predator.

You can really see here
these sighting grooves

sort of converging
on the prey here.

So a bit like sighting grooves
on a rifle.

And they can just judge
the distance to the prey.

And they're so wonderfully
camouflaged here,

just blending into weed.

Very long, streamline shape,

and then you've got
the dorsal fin

right at the back of the body,

so you've got
a big propulsion unit.

Soon as that prey comes
within range, it lunges,

and once it's in those teeth,
there's just no getting away.

So, just a perfect predator,
this fish.

There she goes.

I've seen that pike
can certainly be aggressive.

They'll hit a piece
of vibrating, flashing metal

on the end of a line.

I suppose that once in a while,

they might possibly
hit a boat propeller.

But the thing that's bothering
me is that Bill Trefon's mother

talked about seeing something
that was 12 foot long,

and pike just don't
get that big.

They'd be really pushed
to reach even half that length.

And at that size,

they're not gonna be knocking
anybody out of a boat,

and they're not
gonna be posing a threat

to anybody in the water.

So I'm doubtful that
what Bill Trefon's parents

encountered actually was a pike.

But I do believe
that what they encountered

could have been
the lake monster.

But what is there in the water

that can reach
that kind of size?

Something monstrous could have
come in from the sea

and into Lake Iliamna.

Connecting the two
is the Kvichak River,

which is 50 miles long.

Just see some dark specks

on a tiny, little island down
there holed out on some gravel.

And those are freshwater seals.

Now, this is one of very,
very few places in the world

where you have seals
in freshwater.

And it does bring home the fact

that although we call
this expanse of water a lake,

it's just so huge.

And if the seals have managed
to get in here from the ocean,

it does make you wonder what
else might have got in, as well.

Salmon sharks, a close relative
of the great white,

have been seen in the area.

But they can't live
in freshwater,

so that has to rule them out.

But there is one animal
around Alaska's shores

that's big enough
to be the monster

and can survive in freshwater.

Beluga whales are big enough
to be the monster

and can live in both salt
and freshwater.

Could they have swum
up the Kvichak River

into Lake Iliamna?

The shallowest part
of the river is the braids,

a labyrinthine area of channels,

and they'd have to swim through
here to get into the lake.

My pilot, Glen Alsworth Jr.,
knows the area well.

This looks like about, what,

five or six miles,
something like that?

Yeah, there's about five miles

where it's braided this way,

and the deeper channels,
of course.

You can see
the darker blue water,

where the deeper channels are,

then the lighter brown,
where there's more silt deposit.

This water down here... I mean,

there looks to be some
pretty good channels through.

I think, you know,

you certainly got 8 or 9 foot
in places.

I mean, it might come up
to 2 or 3 here or there,

but apparently, people navigate
these waterways with prop boats

without chewing up
their propellers.

So it definitely looks
as if there's enough water

for belugas
to get up into the lake.

The thing about belugas
is that they are mammals.

They breathe air, so they
have to surface regularly,

and in that case,

even with the sparse human
population around the lake,

the sightings would be much more
common than they have been.

Whatever the monster is,

it's something
that stays submerged and hidden

for long periods of time.

On top of that,
the people here...

They know
what belugas look like.

If the lake monster
was a beluga,

frankly,
it wouldn't be a mystery.

I'm drawing a bit of a blank
with suspects so far,

so I'm going to come at this
from a different angle.

I'll investigate the monster's
potential food source.

Legends of the famous
Loch Ness monster

have been dismissed by some

because there isn't enough food
in the lake

to support an animal
of that size.

Is there enough food in
Lake Iliamna to feed a monster?

There is one event each year
in these waters

that could be
what I'm looking for.

Every July,

there is the world's largest
run of sockeye salmon.

I'm normally busy
catching river monsters

in the warmest parts
of the world,

and fishing for salmon
is totally new to me.

This is bear country,

and they depend
on the salmon run for food,

so I'll be
in direct competition with them

for the best fishing spots.

We're only about 65 miles

from where self-styled grizzly
expert Timothy Treadwell

and his girlfriend were eaten
alive by a hungry grizzly.

Carrying a gun at all times

is common practice
in the Alaskan wilderness,

and in case a bear does attack,
my pilot, Glen Alsworth Jr.,

is carrying
a .50-caliber handgun.

The bears may have already
found a good fishing spot.

Just literally, I don't know,
15 feet from where I'm standing,

there's been a steady procession
of fish through,

working their way upstream,

and there's also
some big, dark groups

holding, as well, further down.

So I'm quite looking forward
to getting a line in the water.

There are no bears in sight,

so it seems safe to try
and catch my first salmon.

When sockeye salmon come out
of the sea and into freshwater,

the males undergo
a monstrous transformation.

They develop a hooked jaw

and grow teeth to defend
their spawning grounds.

Not only that,
both the males and females

turn red and stop feeding,

so they won't go
for any bait or fly.

What you're doing
is you're casting out...

We've got a lump of lead here,

and you flick it
45 degrees upstream.

It comes down, and the fish
are all facing upstream,

and the idea is that they've got
their mouths open like this,

and it just gets in their mouth.

That panics them.
They run.

And as they run...
"Uhh..."

That ends up in their mouth.

So it feels like a strike,
but...

And that will be in their mouth
probably like that.

But they're not actually going
for it. That's the theory.

I'm gonna see if I can
put that into practice.

Time to try and get
my first salmon.

There you go.
You got it.

He's off.

I actually hooked one.

That was a real surprise.

I was... The line
just was ticking down.

They haven't really spooked off
too far.

Just ticking down.

It just stopped, and I think
I was a bit too surprised,

and I just pulled.

I should have sort of actually
tried to set the hook

a bit more on that one.

With this many salmon around,

it's not long before the bears
start returning

to their fishing spot.

Here's a bear just coming out
of the brush on the far side.

Whereabouts is it, Glen?

He's just looking out of
the brush, watching for salmon.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's a very definite
fisherman's posture, isn't it?

Yeah, you can tell he's ready
to pounce down in the water.

Within minutes, three large
grizzlies have surrounded us.

Our day on the river
has suddenly become dangerous.

Grizzlies are considered by some

to be the most dangerous
of all bears.

They can grow up to 1,500 pounds

and run at 30 miles an hour.

Humans are wise
to keep a safe distance.

This is absolutely typical...
You find a good spot,

somebody else comes in,
tries to elbow you out.

But I think...
I think in this case,

I'm gonna make
a graceful retreat.

Once they've moved off a bit,

I can carry on trying
to catch my first salmon.

But these grizzlies
are putting me to shame.

Aah!

Fantastic to see these bears
close up.

I wasn't really expecting that.

You can see
they're semi-aquatic,

but I don't think
this is the lake monster.

But I think you could call it,
in some ways,

a bit of a river monster.

Ah!
There we go.

Believe it or not,
this is the first salmon

I've ever had
on the end of my line.

This is a fish that can swim
hundreds of miles

up these fast-flowing rivers
to get to its spawning grounds,

so it can put up a strong fight.

All right,
the fish has done me a favor.

It actually has turned off
the main flow.

I'm so engrossed
with catching a salmon,

at first I don't notice
our interested onlooker.

Out of the water.
Out of the water.

Let's go.

Okay, okay, right.

I think...

We're gonna go
and break the fish off.

Stand in a group.

Whoo! Whoop!

No.

Hey!
Does he want the fish?

This bear is clearly
not afraid of us,

and that's a problem.

We just break it off.

No! Hey!

We're just gonna
break the fish off.

This is a young grizzly,
but although not fully grown,

it could still attack
and kill any one of us.

He can have the fish.

Luckily, it's more interested
in the salmon than us.

It took my fish,

and a minute later,
it's back for more.

This time, we need to fire
a warning shot.

I am gonna fire a warning.

- He's getting too pushy.
- Whoa! No!

Okay, guys, plug your ears.

Just deep breaths.
Just calm down.

It's all part of the day
in the life of a fisherman

in this part of the world.

Even after a warning shot,
the bear won't leave,

so it's best that my film crew
and I get out.

Be careful.
There is that one deeper...

I didn't quite succeed
in landing my first salmon,

but it's clear that they are
a vital food source

to the whole area.

With millions of salmon
coming in every year

and fish like pike
in these waters year-round,

I'm convinced
that there is enough food

to sustain the monster
I've been hearing about.

Back on the trail
of the monster,

my investigation
has taken a leap forward.

This could be the breakthrough
I've needed.

I'm meeting up
with Robin LeVine,

who saw the monster last year

while coming into land
on Lake Iliamna.

Hello.
Lovely place to work.

Robin's an anthropologist
who works on these lakes,

studying subsistence fishing
by the Alaskan native people.

And it was around here
you saw the monster, as well,

- I gather?
- Yes, the Iliamna lake monster.

She's trained
to observe things accurately,

so has a clear description
of what she saw.

Robin is going to show me

exactly where she saw
the monster from the air.

Well, there's the drop-off,
yeah?

Yeah, you see the clear,
shallow right over there.

- Yeah.
- That's where we saw it.

Right there. It was over
on that very clear patch.

Oh, really?

We probably had
a good 30 to 40 seconds,

maybe longer, to see it.

Initially,
I thought it was a seal,

but almost immediately after
that thought crossed my mind,

I realized it was far too big,
and it moved differently.

It had a long, broad head.

Blunt-tipped nose.

There were very distinct
pectoral fins...

Fins on the side of the fish.

What about the size of this?

As we were pulling in to the bay
where we were landing,

and my friend was coming
to pick us up in his boat,

I estimated that what we saw

was about the same size
as his boat,

and that's 15 to 18 feet long.

18 feet is the same size
as three of me end to end,

and much bigger

than what Bill Trefon's mother
saw attacking her boat.

It looked so normal.

I've seen beluga from the air.

I've seen seals from the air.

It looked a part
of the natural environment,

and I was sure there was
some obvious explanation

for what we saw.

This is the breakthrough
I needed...

A graphic description
of its shape

from somebody who saw it
very recently

and who observed it clearly
for some time.

And from her description,
the thing that struck me most

was how much
she emphasized its fins.

Now, on a normal fish
seen from above,

like the salmon,
you don't normally see the fins,

because they're tucked in
or folded away.

But there are certain fish

where particularly the pectoral
fins behind the head

really stick out...
A bit like wings almost.

This is a crucial bit
of the description,

and I now really do think
I have my prime suspect.

I've now got a strong suspicion

that the monster
I've been looking for

is a white sturgeon.

It's a living dinosaur
that has changed very little

over 65 million years.

Their range is all along
the West Coast of North America

from mid-California
all the way up to Alaska.

They can survive
in both salt and freshwater,

and I've also seen how the river

that connects
Lake Iliamna to the sea

is easily deep enough
for them to swim up.

Even though
they're bottom-feeders,

they have
an interesting behavior.

They can jump out of the water.

In recent years,
a close relative of theirs,

the gulf sturgeon,

has been seriously injuring
people in Florida.

Could jumping white sturgeon
in Lake Iliamna and Lake Clark

be the basis of the myths
of fishermen going missing?

Could they be causing people
to disappear,

knocking them out of their boats

and into the freezing water?

To prove my case,
what I need to do

is to get my hands
on a big sturgeon.

However,
what we're talking about here

is an absolutely immense
body of water

where nobody has ever caught one
and where the sightings are...

You know, they're less
than once a year.

So, to get one on the end
of a line...

You know, if I had 40, 50 years,
I might be within half a chance,

but realistically,
it's just not gonna happen here.

My challenge has always been
to catch this monster,

and by hook or by crook,
I'm going to get one.

With the odds
stacked against me here,

I'm leaving Alaska and going
down to the Columbia River

on the Oregon-Washington border.

Here, they have a large
population of white sturgeon,

and I'll have a much better
chance of catching one.

This will be
another first for me.

I've never caught
a white sturgeon before,

and I hear they can put up
an incredible fight.

This line, although
it's very fine, is actually...

It actually has a breaking
strain of 100 pounds.

It's braided line.

The thing about this is, though,
it's nice and supple,

so, you know,

that's not going to sort of
drag a lot in the water.

But another thing about it
is it's got...

Well, it's got no stretch...

Virtually no stretch compared
to nylon monofilament,

normal fishing line.

And what that means is if I hook
a big fish with this,

I haven't got
that elasticity of the line.

You know,
I'm gonna feel everything

very, very directly up here.

So it's gonna be quite
a physical struggle

with the fish on this gear.

So, just one final detail.

What we're using here
is a barbless hook.

There's no barb on there,

and that's very much about just
sort of looking after the fish.

Let's go quick.

We're on the back end.
We're on the back end.

I'm going to drop this bait
into about 80 feet of water.

So, there we go.
It's fully rigged.

I think it's still sinking.

It's going down
in 80 feet of water.

And that will just bump...
We just bumped the bottom there.

Bring it in there.

Close it up.
That's fine.

Oh!

That's a bit of a knock
again there.

Bit of a knock.

There's something
definitely interested there.

It's at that point

where all your imaginings
about what's under the water...

They are... Well,
they're starting to take shape.

Whatever it is,
is on the end of that line,

but that line is so fine.

The water here is pretty deep...
70 foot or so.

I'm attached to something.

There it is! There it is!
There it is! There it is!

My first white sturgeon,

and the animal
I think can easily grow

to become a lake monster.

It's a bit of a tug-of-war this,
so I just bring it up,

and then...

Hook out.

While taking the hook out,

my chance to finally see
the monster up close eludes me.

Hold on. Oh!

That was a very, very brief
contact with the animal there.

I was leaning over the side.

I couldn't reach out
as far as I wanted.

The sturgeon are clearly here,

and that one
was about five feet long,

but I want a larger one.

White sturgeon can grow
to about 20 feet.

In there.

It's not long
before I get my next bite,

and this one feels much bigger.

And this fish
could be bigger than I am.

When the fish wants to go,
I'm letting it go,

but I'm letting it go
under pressure.

It's having to work
for the line it takes away.

And then when the fish
takes a bit of a breather,

I'm hoping, you know,
in those little gaps,

I can gain a wee bit of line.

I think we might have to...
Might be an idea to cast off.

Jack, I think it might help
if we cast off.

Here we go.
We're on our way.

This is a long, long run.

We're running out of line here.
We're running out of line.

Let's go quick.

We're on the back end.
We're on the back end.

Wait a minute!
Wait a minute!

That's the end of my line there,
off the reel.

I want to get that proper line
back on the reel.

Right, there we are. We got
the line back on the reel here.

That was hairy.
I was watching my line going.

That line's coming up
in the water.

There's the fish.
There's the fish. There it is!

There we go.
There we go. There we go.

There we go.

Oh!
I'm seeing the fish now.

That is certainly a big fish.

It's taken me half an hour
to bring the sturgeon in.

Knowing that this
is only around half the length

they can grow to,
I now totally believe

that a larger one could drag
a tree stump into the water.

That was a tiring fight.

I've caught some big fish
in freshwater.

This is probably the biggest
freshwater fish I've caught.

About 300 pounds, this one...
You know, a real monstrous fish.

That's actually
105 or even 106 inches.

That's 8 foot, 10 inches.

Nearly 9 foot.
Nearly 9 foot, this fish.

That's quite a haul.
That's 1½ times me.

At 9 feet, this fish
is roughly 80 years old.

But they can live to over 100.

Fish looks big in the water.

But these things grow to
20 foot, possibly even more.

And, I mean, just imagine
seeing that in the water.

I mean, you could be forgiven
for saying that was a monster.

Up to 20 feet long
matches all the descriptions

I've heard about the monster,
including Robin's.

Plus, the pectoral fins
and the long, streamlined body

fit how she described
what she saw.

But what about the teeth marks
on the propeller?

Just take a little look
at the mouth here.

Although it's...
You could say it's predatory.

It's eaten
quite large, dead fish.

There's no teeth in there
at all.

I can put my hands in there.

See, it's very telescopic.

You can imagine that
just extending

and literally just sucking in
a small fish.

Having only gums

means it couldn't have been
teeth marks on the propeller.

But I think I know
what caused them.

What's interesting
about a sturgeon...

It hasn't got a bony skeleton
the way we have

or the way most other fish
has... It's just got cartilage.

But what it has got...
It's got bony plates

on the outside of the body...

Not totally covering it,
but just in rows.

And these are
some form of protection.

They really are sort of
quite tough bits of bone.

There we go.

And also a very bony head,
very bony gill flap, as well.

I believe Bill Trefon's parents

actually ran over
a white sturgeon

and the propeller going over
its bony plates

caused what looked like
teeth marks.

It may not have any teeth, but
this mouth is perfectly formed

for being a bottom feeder,
eating mollusks and small fish.

This would explain

why it is so rarely seen on
Lake Iliamna or Lake Clark...

Because it spends
most of its time

in up to 1,000 feet of water.

On the rare occasions when
they do come to the surface,

this could be what is causing
some people to disappear...

Their jumping.

Nobody knows why
they jump out of the water.

Maybe it's a panic reaction
to being disturbed.

But when they do,
an airborne giant

could easily knock
somebody out of their boat

and into the icy depths.

This all makes me convinced
that the Alaskan lake monster

is actually a small, landlocked
population of white sturgeon.

But, I mean, so impressive

just to get close
to an animal like that

and to actually touch it
and look at it close up.

And I really think that
for a few moments there,

I was actually in the presence

of the creature
that is the lake monster.