Gar Bonus:
Gar Angling's Unexpected Catches
Casting a spinner for shortnose and spots in a muddy southern stream. Suddenly it’s ripped away, burning drag. Then, a 15-minute fight where the unknown opponent wins Rounds 1 through 12. Once you get her to shore, you see that your worthy adversary is not a brawny spotted gar like the others before it, but is a muscular, 8-lb bowfin. Disappointed? If yes, you’re missing something about fishing. In any fishing, catching the sought-after quarry is not the lone pleasure. An angler should appreciate all parts of the endeavor. The camaraderie. Communing with Nature. Living on beef jerky and Gatorade for a week.
Lures or bait intended for the King of Sportfish are many times taken by one of his subjects. So, in gar fishing, there is often a lagniappe, as the Cajuns say. A little extra. A bonus. The more negative term, “by-catch”, from the commercial fishermen who fish to live. For us sportfishers, a day full of gar is a riot. But a few surprises can make a day especially memorable. Like a feisty northern pike slamming the tar out of a Lambo Lure or a tremendous channel cat racing off and staying deep with a shiner meant for longnose.
Regional Field Editor Shortnose Tom landed the biggest fish of his life while targeting gar on Illinois’ Big Muddy River. A 22-lb bighead carp made the mistake of brushing his tail against the extra-sharp trebles of Tom’s spinner. And the fight was on with Bighead having his way with Shortnose for the better part of 20 minutes. On the same lure the year before, another gar angler tied into an 11-lb grass carp. Sure, these fish were tail-hooked and though a foul-hooked fish is never a goal, it did make for wrist-racking fights with the scales tipped in favor of the fish. Both fish were released unharmed.
GASS has records of over 15 species caught as “a little extra” including the above-mentioned bowfin, bighead carp, and grass carp along with white bass, paddlefish, goldeye, buffalo, northern pike, crappie, largemouth, mooneye, catfish, drum, and smallmouth bass.
Enjoy gar fishing and enjoy gar fishing’s lagniappe.
-----by W. P. Meyer