Garzilla Hall of Fame

Gordon Ramsay has built his career on two things: relentless standards and the relentless pursuit of the real thing. Whether sourcing fish from a Scottish loch at 4 a.m. or grinding through service in a Michelin kitchen, Ramsay has never accepted imitation. When he came to the Trinity River as part of the internationally broadcast Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip on ITV, he brought that same intensity to Bubba Bedre's boat. What he found on the East Texas river was something his entire career had prepared him to recognize: a specialist at the absolute top of his craft, on his home water, with 41 IGFA World Records to prove it. When the world's most demanding chef approves of your operation — the industry pays attention.

Gino D'Acampo has built his brand on two things nobody can fake: Italian charm and genuine passion. The man who won I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and became one of ITV's most beloved personalities brought that same infectious energy to the Trinity River as part of the Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip production. The Trinity River doesn't care how many cameras are rolling. The alligator gar doesn't care who you are. Gino learned quickly why Bubba Bedre runs the world's most decorated gar fishing operation — because out here, only real skill produces results.

Fred Sirieix has spent 30 years perfecting the art of making people feel genuinely at home — from the floor of London's finest restaurants to the global stage of television. When the Gordon, Gino & Fred's Road Trip trio chose alligator gar fishing on the Trinity River, Fred brought a hospitality expert's eye to everything he saw. A man who studies service at the highest level found something rare in Palestine, Texas: a guide operation where every detail — from safety equipment to local knowledge to trophy handling — is executed with the same care as a Michelin-rated experience.

This is where it started. Before the world records stacked up, before celebrities flew in from across the globe, before BBC and National Geographic film crews arrived on the Trinity River — Jeremy Wade came to East Texas. The host of River Monsters , one of the most-watched fishing programs in television history, had traveled the Amazon, the Congo, and the Mekong searching for the world's most dangerous freshwater fish. When he turned his lens to North America, the answer was the Trinity River alligator gar — and the guide he trusted to put him on that fish was Bubba Bedre. That appearance, broadcast across 172 countries on Animal Planet, introduced Garzilla Guide Service to the world. The Trinity River has never been the same since.

Steve Backshall has stood face-to-face with black mambas, great white sharks, and saltwater crocodiles across six continents. A man who has spent his career studying apex predators recognized exactly what the Trinity River alligator gar represents: one of the most ancient, most efficient, and least-understood top predators in North American freshwater — a species unchanged for 100 million years. When Backshall chose Garzilla Guide Service to lead his Trinity River gar fishing experience, it was a wildlife expert's validation of everything Bubba Bedre has spent his career teaching the world: that the alligator gar deserves the same respect and reverence as any creature on earth.

Robson Green built a second career chasing fish around the world for Channel 5's Extreme Fisherman series. A television personality who has traveled to every corner of the globe in pursuit of trophy catches understands what separates a genuine fishing experience from a staged one. When his search for North America's most extreme freshwater challenge brought him to East Texas, he found Garzilla Guide Service — and a guide who doesn't manufacture drama, because the Trinity River alligator gar provides all of it themselves.

Richard Rasmussen — known across South America as “O Biólogo” — has built his reputation documenting creatures most people fear and few understand. As a National Geographic personality with a deep background in wildlife biology, Rasmussen approaches every animal with scientific respect and genuine curiosity. The alligator gar is exactly the species that speaks to that instinct: a 100-million-year-old apex predator that has outlasted every mass extinction in Earth's history. When Rasmussen came to the Trinity River to document the gar, he partnered with the one guide in the world who has dedicated his life to understanding them at the deepest level.

Andrew Flair built his massive following by taking his audience to places they've never been and showing them catches they've never seen. His decision to bring his camera to the Trinity River and fish for alligator gar with Garzilla Guide Service was an endorsement broadcast to millions of dedicated fishing fans. Anglers who follow Flair know he doesn't fake enthusiasm. When he shows up genuinely excited on Bubba Bedre's boat, his audience pays attention — and they start booking trips to Palestine, Texas.

Adam J Smith — The Freestyle Fisherman — is one of the most unique voices in the fishing world: an expert angler, a man of deep faith, and the self-proclaimed #1 fishing rapper on the planet. Where most fishing creators bring a camera, Adam brings a camera and a beat — rapping about tight lines, monster catches, and giving thanks to his Heavenly Father for every fish that comes up over the rail. When he came to the Trinity River with Garzilla Guide Service, he did what nobody else has done on Bubba's boat — caught two alligator gar at the same time. That's the kind of story that gets turned into a song. That's the kind of guide service that earns a spot on a man's highlight reel.

Wild Charles has made his name doing things with apex predators that nobody else will attempt — catching alligators bare-handed in Florida, working with crocodiles in Mexico, documenting wildlife in environments most people avoid on principle. A man who handles alligators by hand understands the food chain at a visceral level. When Wild Charles came to the Trinity River, he wasn't arriving as a tourist — he was coming to meet one of the dominant predators in North American freshwater on equal terms. Bubba Bedre put him on the fish. Wild Charles took it from there.

Patrick Jones II plays a position that requires two qualities above everything else: patience and explosive power. A pass rusher studies his opponent, reads every tendency, waits for the right moment — then unleashes. If that sounds like alligator gar fishing on the Trinity River, it's because it is. Jones brought his NFL-level focus to Bubba Bedre's boat and found a pursuit that rewards exactly the discipline his career demands. On the Trinity River, the fish don't care who you are. They respond to skill and preparation — the same currency that earns a Pro Bowl selection.

Trevis Gipson made his name at one of the most physically demanding positions in professional football — defensive end in the NFL. The combination of strength, technique, and relentless pursuit that defines his career translates naturally to the Trinity River. Gipson joined the growing roster of elite athletes who have discovered that landing a 150+ pound alligator gar in the current of East Texas's most storied river is the closest challenge the natural world offers to competing at the highest level of professional sport.

Matt Hughes didn't become a two-time UFC Welterweight Champion by accepting anything less than total mastery of his craft. Over a 14-year professional career, Hughes built a reputation as one of the most technically complete fighters the sport has ever produced — a man who never stopped preparing, never stopped studying, never stopped competing. When Hughes came to the Trinity River to hunt alligator gar with Bubba Bedre, he brought that same championship mindset to the water. What he found was a guide who operates at the same uncompromising level in his world that Hughes operated in his — a man who has turned the pursuit of the alligator gar into a discipline as exacting as any combat sport.

Sommer Ray built one of the most engaged fitness followings on the internet by keeping it authentic — real effort, real personality, zero pretense. When she chose to spend a day on the Trinity River hunting alligator gar with Garzilla Guide Service, she brought that authenticity with her and introduced the world's #1 gar guide to an audience that had likely never thought about freshwater fishing. For her followers — 36 million strong — Sommer Ray's presence on the Trinity River was their first encounter with the most extraordinary freshwater fishing experience in North America.

Nastya Ivleeva is one of the most-followed personalities in Russia and Eastern Europe — a social media force whose reach extends across an entire continent. Her visit to the Trinity River and Garzilla Guide Service brought alligator gar fishing to an international audience that most American outfitters will never reach. When someone with 17 million followers documents their experience on your boat in Palestine, Texas, it becomes a permanent piece of content reaching an audience that had never heard of the Trinity River — until that moment.

Mark Estes and the Montana Boyz have built a loyal following by showcasing the American outdoors to a generation that grew up online. His trip to the Trinity River with Garzilla Guide Service brought alligator gar fishing to a younger, digitally-native audience — proof that a 100-million-year-old fish in an East Texas river has the power to stop any scroll and captivate any generation. When you put an authentic content creator on the water with Bubba Bedre, the result is exactly what you'd expect: something nobody forgets.

Johnny Morris built Bass Pro Shops from a single bait counter in the back of his father's liquor store into one of the most recognized outdoor retail empires on earth. He has spent his entire adult life around fishing — promoting it, funding it, celebrating it, and building world-class institutions to preserve it for future generations. When a man with that depth of experience in the American outdoors chooses to spend a day on the Trinity River hunting alligator gar with Bubba Bedre, it carries the weight of a lifetime of expertise behind it. Johnny Morris has seen every fishing operation in America. He chose Garzilla Guide Service.

Lieutenant General Leroy Sisco spent 42 years in service to the United States Army before dedicating his retirement to supporting America's wounded warriors and their families. Through the Military Warriors Support Foundation, General Sisco has delivered over $232 million in mortgage-free homes to combat-wounded veterans. A man who has given his life to service — first to his country, then to its heroes — understands what it means to be on the Trinity River with a guide who has dedicated his own life to his craft with the same level of total commitment. Garzilla Guide Service is honored to have hosted General Sisco on the water.

The Earnhardt name is the most recognized in NASCAR history. Jeffrey Earnhardt carries that legacy on the track and off it — competing in a sport where precision, nerve, and the willingness to push to the edge define the difference between champions and the field. When he traded the cockpit for a fishing rod on the Trinity River, he found that alligator gar fishing rewards the same attributes: total focus, the ability to read the moment, and the nerve to hold steady when a 200-pound prehistoric fish begins to run.

Cody Cannon and Whiskey Myers didn't become one of Texas's most celebrated bands by chasing trends. They built their following by being exactly who they are — East Texas roots, hard-living honesty, and music that sounds like the country it came from. When Cody came to the Trinity River with Garzilla, he wasn't doing a promotion. He was doing what East Texas men have always done: getting on the river and going after something worth catching. This time it just happened to weigh over a hundred pounds and have been swimming that same stretch of water since before either of them were born.

Gil Moore spent 50 years making some of the loudest, most powerful rock music Canada ever produced. As the drummer of Triumph and the founder of Metalworks Studios — where artists from Drake to Guns N' Roses to Katy Perry have recorded — Moore has lived his life at the intersection of raw power and meticulous craft. A man who knows what it feels like to be locked in with a genuine force of nature — whether it's 80,000 people or 180 pounds of alligator gar pulling against a heavy line — recognizes mastery when he sees it on the Trinity River.

Cyril Chauquet has dedicated his filmmaking career to documenting the world's most extraordinary freshwater fishing — places where the fish are so large, so rare, and so demanding that they require a filmmaker with genuine angling expertise to capture them honestly. His decision to bring his lens to the Trinity River and document the alligator gar with Garzilla Guide Service placed Bubba Bedre's operation in the same category as the world's great big-fish destinations. The film brought serious trophy anglers worldwide to the Trinity River — many of whom have since booked their own trips.

Dr. Ivan Rusilko has lived his career at the intersection of peak physical performance and elite medicine — first as a competitive bodybuilder who won Mr. USA twice, then as a physician to some of the most high-profile athletes and celebrities in the country. Featured in Forbes, GQ, and Men's Health, Rusilko understands what it means to operate at an elite level in a demanding field. When he came to the Trinity River with Garzilla, he found that no amount of physical preparation fully readies you for the first time a prehistoric 150-pound gar takes your line and runs.

Ruslan Shayekin has built one of the most impressive interview platforms in international business media — a podcast that has hosted CEOs, world leaders, and industry titans across 85+ episodes and drawn millions of listeners globally. A man whose career is built on identifying extraordinary people and extraordinary stories recognized both in Bubba Bedre and the Trinity River alligator gar. His visit brought Garzilla Guide Service to an international audience of business and entrepreneurship followers who understand exactly what it takes to build something the world has never seen before.