Anyone ever catch a gar?

[jasonh]

I went out the other night fishing and wound up in a cove. As it started to get dark, the place came alive with big gars rolling the surface all around us. They would not touch a lure, but they did walk off with large treble hooks of chicken liver suspended by a bobber. Every time I or my buddy set the hook, either it would pop free or hang for maybe 5 seconds before the hook came out.

I even waited for the bobber to move quite a ways away before raring back on the rod but nothing seemed to penetrate their bony mouths. We basically wanted to just catch one to be able to say we did.

Is there a trick to catching these?

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

Let them roll with it or tie you a piece of nylon rope on with the hook.
Once they sink them toothers into the nylon, you got one.

 

[i386]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

^^^^ Yup

Gar fishermen keep welders gloves on the boat, and a little wooden rig to clamp the fish in while they remove the rope. They even use a brush to get the rope out of the teeth. Seriously.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

As a id, I used to catch them by the hundreds and feed them to gators.
We used a tree of trebbles. They would usually get their gills snagged.
Bt at 20-30pounds apiece, they sure fought like thedevil.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

We snagged one years ago and kept the head. My friend put it in his garden and the bugs cleaned it off. He then boiled it and finished cleaning it off then coated it with clear spray paint. Makes a very interesting display piece on the self in his gun room.

They are not friendly one you get them in a boat.

 

[i386]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

We snagged one years ago and kept the head. My friend put it in his garden and the bugs cleaned it off. He then boiled it and finished cleaning it off then coated it with clear spray paint. Makes a very interesting display piece on the self in his gun room.

They are not friendly one you get them in a boat.

Not at all. My fist experience with them was mullet fishing with a gill net in the mouth of the Apalachicola river. Let me tell you, when you get a gar in your gill net you have had a bad day.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

I've caught gar before, and like my father always told me, if you see a gar chasing your lure pull it in quick, as those razor sharp teeth will make quick work of your monofilament line. We've since switched to spiderwire but still I try to avoid them at all costs.

It's a trash fish that's not even very fun to catch due to it's long side to side head throws. Feels like a human is on the other end messing with your line! LOL

 

[57whitehouse]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

my sister and i were snag fishing for blue gill in a river near Tulsa, when she got hung up on a branch or something. I took over the rod and tryed to get it loose. It was 100lb test so i gave it some good pullin' when finaly it seemed to pull the branch loose from the bottom.

Sure enough it came floating to the top, so i justed pulled it in slowely. About 10ft from the boat, that branch with the alligator mouth flipped back and forth 2 or 3 times, threw my hook and swam off.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

Pulled one out of Santee Copper a few years back. We were running cut bait on spider wire. Dam UGLY toothy bass turd. Good sized though went just over 36" nose tip to tail. Last seen spiraling into the abyss from apparent head trauma.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

I always kept a couple strong short tree branches in the boat with me and when I would catch one, I would pry one of the pieces of wood in there and turn it loose.
Talking about a show.
Man they can really jump, Till they drown.

 

[jasonh]

Re: Anyone ever catch a gar?

Yeah, I definitely would not get it in my boat had I actually caught one. I'd just cut the line. We were bored since no real fish were biting and figured, "what the hell, let's see if we can catch one of those".

I heard of some guys around here going out at night to bowfish for them. That sounds like fun!