UPDATES!

The latest gar stuff to make it to my desk

 

Help with GASS!  

Send any gar info to:

editor
@garfishing.com

 

Forget this year's World's Best Dad competition. Garmaster Bob Roe has it all locked up.

Bob writes:

Ruby reeled in her first gar this evening on our after-supper boat ride. We were just going to take a boat ride but Robby insisted we bring poles and rope lures. I casted out the lure on her Barbie pole for her and she reeled it in. She lost one right before she caught this one. It was 33”. She cried at first and after some prodding we were able to get her to pose with it. We are keeping the streak alive that our kids have reeled in a gar before they turn 3. Next year we’ll start prepping Molly.

 

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GarMaster Bob Roe writes of the 2009 Tonnage Tournament:

My brother and I won our local any-fish most-weight-wins tournament on August 1.  We had 76 pounds of fish, mostly longnose gar, during the 6-hour allotted time frame.  We had to use cutbait to get more than half of the gar because they were not biting the rope lures well on Saturday.  We were also dealing with 15-20 mph northwest winds which were wreaking havoc with our boat positioning.  The biggest gar we had was 50” and 14 pounds. We had 3 other gar over 45” and a 10 smaller ones ranging from 20-41”. This was the first year in over 5 years that we brought any fish other than gar in to the weigh-in. We had 10 freshwater drum and a couple of bluegills and crappies as well. We knew the gar hadn’t been biting well for the past few weeks so we brought night crawlers along to catch other fish in order to bolster our total weight in the end.  This was our first victory since 2005 when we registered 111 lbs of gar and it was our 5th consecutive top three finish in the tournament which usually has 60-80 boats.  All gar that were alive were released and the half dozen gar that didn’t survive were the guests of honor at a fish fry the following day. Find out more at www.garmasters.com

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GASS Science Advisor J. Ladonski answers the hybridization question:

Q: Do alligator and longnose gar mate and form hybrids in the wild?

A: As far as hybridization, there was a paper published about that just last year: "Hybridization between Longnose and Alligator Gars in Captivity, with Comments on Possible Gar Hybridization in Nature", by Steven J. Herrington, Kurt N. Hettiger, Edward J. Heist, and Devon B. Keeney, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 2008; 137:158-164.

Here's the abstract:

Although hybridization occurs widely in fishes, it has never been recorded in gars. Here, we describe the first known hybrids of the longnose gar Lepisosteus osseus and alligator gar Atractosteus spatula from four specimens spawned in an aquarium containing multiple gar species. Genetic analyses of cytochrome b and tyrosinase sequences and a microsatellite locus indicated that the four specimens were hybrid offspring of a female longnose gar and a male alligator gar. The combination of physical appearance, meristic counts, and mensural measurement ratios further discriminated the hybrids from each parent and supported the conclusion of hybrid origin. The four hybrids had body coloration and transverse scale rows similar to those of longnose gar, a snout length and shape intermediate between those of longnose and alligator gars, and two rows of teeth on the upper jaw as are seen in alligator gar. This conclusive evidence of intergeneric hybridization in the gars may provide insights into phylogenetic relationships in Lepisosteidae and hybridization theory and may explain unsubstantiated reports of gar hybridization in nature and the pet trade.

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A Gar Anglers’ Sporting Society Book Review:

Fishing For Buffalo, A Guide to the Pursuit and Cuisine of Carp, Suckers, Eelpout, Gar, and Other Rough Fish

--- Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson

       A few years back, I was planning a family fishing trip to LaCrosse, so I called up the Wisconsin DNR for info. The fisheries biologist was not available so I left my name, number, and my request for gar fishing hotspots.  The next day, I picked up the phone and, without even a “Hello”, a voice says, “Are you SICK in the HEAD?!?”

       No, we roughfishers are not necessarily clinically ill.  However, we do recognize that we are oddballs.  Maybe even eccentric.  Contrarian, perhaps, but we relish in our role.  We see the funny looks we get when we make our way down to the river side geared up for gar.  But we’re catching fish and having fun, so we’re laughing all the way to the bank.

       Buffler and Dickson get it.  The authors of Fishing For Buffalo understand our love for the toothy, the lippy, the whiskered, the big scaled.  Like us, they have tumbled a nightcrawler down a rocky river, thrilled with the mystery of what will hit.   They share in the pride that comes with being able to identify ten different suckers.  With us, they smile at the irony of landing the toughest, iron-plated gar not with the sharpest, strongest hooks, but with no hooks at all.  Their writing shows their deep appreciation for these fish that swim off the beaten path.

       Fishing For Buffalo, the roughfishers’ bible, first published in 1990, tragically went out of print years later.  But the right-thinking folks at the University of Minnesota Press have now re-released this monumental work. Just like us anglers who are not restricted to one species, Fishing For Buffalo  is not restricted to one aspect of roughfishing.  Buffler and Dickson delight in the many fascinating facets of suckers, carp, catfish, sturgeon, bowfin, and drum. This book is packed with legends and lore, tips and techniques, ecology and biology. It is full of charts and maps and photos and artwork. Fittingly, they devote an ENTIRE CHAPTER to our favorite prehistoric piscivore, the gar! And, beyond being informative, Fishing For Buffalo is flat-out fun to read.  Bottom line, I am a sucker for this book.  There is simply nothing to carp about.

       But I fear that my praise to this point has been far too subtle.  Allow me to make my view more clear: I believe Fishing For Buffalo is the reason humans developed a written language.

       Find out more at: www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/buffler_fishing.html

 

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From Lindsey Lewis of the US Fish and Wildlife Service:

I am the lead biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Arkansas for alligator gar.  I just found your website and I'm very impressed with the site, the information available, and you and your member's interest in the conservation of gar.  We have a website of our own that I would like to share with you for posting to your links and I plan on posting a link to your site as well as soon as I can.  I will also be responsible for developing the alligator gar technical committee website in the near future to collect and disseminate information critical to alligator gar conservation. Thanks for your interest in gar conservation and sport fishing.

www.fws.gov/arkansas-es/A_Gar/

Lindsey Lewis
Biologist

US Fish & Wildlife Service
Arkansas Field Office

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Yet another reason I run the garfishing.com site: So innovative anglers like Doug Jeffries of Lexington, Kentucky can share their unique contributions. The talented Mr. Jeffries has created a device to land longnose with less harm to gar or angler. Behold, the Garminator!

Basically to use the Garminator you float it beside your boat, (I attach mine to the cleat closest to me by wrapping the cord around it a couple of times.)  The two 'swim noodles' keep the Garminator floating just below the surface and level.  Once you have your gar at your boat you grab the leader (I use 30" leaders) and just guide the nose of the gar into the Garminator via the 'V' shaped guide at the open end. You then guide the fish down the length of the PVC pipe until its mouth comes out the other end. Once the fish is in, you simply unwrap the rope from the cleat and pick it up. Now the gar can't really thrash about because it is confined and you don't have to worry about the teeth as much. (You should still be very careful though.)

Items needed to build (available at many hardware/home improvement stores)

          1  NDS Green Atrium Grate   (found in the plumbing/PVC section)

          1  2' length of 6" pvc pipe

          1  5' length of nylon rope (you will have to adjust to fit your boat)

          1  kids swim noodle

         9  zip style wire ties

How to build.

1. Cut the pvc pipe length wise twice (just enough to leave about a 1/2" gap when you are finished) This is the 'fishing leader slide gap.'

2. On one end of the pvc cut a large V shaped notch as an entrance for your leader to slide in to easily.

3. Drill six holes on each side of the leader slide gap to attach your swim noodle. (They should be evenly spaced for proper floatation)

4. Insert the Atrium Grate into the end of the pvc without the V notch.

* The following 2 steps involve drilling holes that will be used to attach the grate to the pvc pipe.

5. Drill 2 holes through each side of the leader slide gap making sure to drill through the Atrium Grate also.

6. Drill 2 holes in the PVC and Atrium Grate on the opposite side as well.

7. Attach the grate to the pvc pipe with 3 zip ties.

8. Cut the grate in such a way that the leader slide gap is open from end to end.

9. Cut the center section of the grate out so the gar can stick its face through the hole. (This is a solid section that would have been on top of the grate if it was installed in the ground.)

10. Drill and attach the nylon rope on each end of the pvc pipe.

11. Cut to length and attach the swim noodles with zip ties.

12. Drill several holes in the opposite side of the leader slide gap in the pvc pipe (these will be used to aid in draining the water when picking the garminator and gar out of the water.

Sounds a lot more complicated than it was. I spent about $20 and 1 hour and it was finished. It worked perfectly the first time I used it.

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'Gator Gar Angler Steve Edgar writes:

Great looking web site! Here are a couple of gar I caught this year from the Oklahoma side of the Red River. The one I'm holding by myself is pushing 200lbs; huge girth and well over 7ft long. I caught 40 gators this year most over 100lbs.

All my fish were released unharmed.

 

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25-pound Longnose Gar Sets New State Record

Kelly Williams holds up the latest record-breaking freshwater fish - a 25-pound longnose gar caught from the Intracoastal Waterway at Coinjock on Jan. 30.

RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 3, 2009) - A 16-foot Shakespeare Wonderpole, a tube jig and an I-phone helped Kelly Williams land the latest North Carolina Freshwater Fishing State Record.

The Virginia Beach angler reeled in a 25-pound longnose gar, measuring 53 _ inches in length and 18 _ inches in girth, from the Intracoastal Waterway near Coinjock on Jan. 30 while fishing with his neighbor Glenn Cooper.

Williams and Cooper were fishing for striped bass in about 6 feet of water when Williams hooked the monster gar. After a brief fight in which Williams was sure the fish was going to break his rod, he finally got it in the boat and saw that it was huge.

Despite the size of the fish, Williams said he was planning to release it when Cooper pulled out his I-phone and downloaded the freshwater fish state record information from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's Web site.

“Glenn got on his phone and pulled up a picture on the Web site of the other state record and it looked kind of skinny by comparison,” Williams said. “So it was a good thing he was with me. Otherwise, I'd have let it go if I was fishing by myself.”

The two men weren't familiar with the area so they got back on the I-phone to locate a store with certified scales. They had the fish weighed on certified scales at TW's Bait and Tackle in Kitty Hawk. Kevin Dockendorf, a fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, verified the catch.

In North Carolina, longnose gar are found statewide, but are most abundant in coastal rivers and streams. They are the only species of gar found in the state.

Williams' catch surpasses the previous record-holder, held by Sebastian Lankiewicz of Jacksonville since June 2006, by nearly 6 pounds and 4 inches.

To qualify for a state record, anglers must have caught the fish on a rod and reel, must have the fish weighed on a certified scale witnessed by one observer, have the fish positively identified by a qualified expert from the Commission and submit an application with a full, side-view photo of the fish.

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Alabama State Record?

Hey fellow gar fanatics!  I thought you guys might like to see the 39inch, 13 inch girth spot that I caught on a Chartruese Tiny Torpedo.  I have yet to weigh it, but am hoping for an AL state record.  Gotta beat 8lb 14 oz...  It's gotta be 2 oz over the current record.  It's gonna be close.  I'll find out in the morning.  I'll be sure to let you know if I do!

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GAR Pins!

I found good quality GAR and BOWFIN pins at:

www.huntingpins.com

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Long-time gar angler Scott Gagnard writes about GAR RECIPES!

My name is Scott Gagnard and I grew up in central Louisiana.  Growing up, my cousins and I went gar fishing regularly.  We would set out "Floats" which were basically 2x2 pieces of wood with a line at one end and a hook at the end of the line.  We would catch small fish and use them as bait on our floats.  Set the floats out over night and check them the next morning.  Anyway, I ran across your site and really liked it.  I know some of your visitors might cringe at the thought of eating these creatures, but they are great when cooked right.  I thought it would be cool if your site offered recipes.

Here's a site that tells how to clean the gar:

http://www.realcajunrecipes.com/recipes/cajun/cleaning/705.rcr

And here are some recipes to get you started:

http://www.grampie-stans-lures.com/recipes.html#garboulettes

http://www.cajun-recipes.com/html/seafood.htm

http://www.skeeterbytes.com/cookbook/recipes/fish/pikeetc2.htm

http://www.bassonhook.com/fishforfood/garrecipes.html

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Gerald McKibben writes about GAR CAKES!

I’ve had a thing for gar fish ever since I caught a 15 lb. monster when I was a teenager. I didn’t consider eating it though, as the grownups said it was inedible. I did skin and stuff it and still have it hanging on my shop wall. It was a long-nose gar, about the closest thing we have in these parts to a shark, with long jaws and needle-sharp teeth. The long-nose gar, unlike the much larger alligator gar, is long and slender – my fish was almost five feet long.

But recently someone mentioned gar cakes, and how you could make gar meat palatable by dicing it and combining it with various ingredients, and deep fat frying. The mixture is formed either into flat cakes or balls. Someone told me Blake Layton, a friend of mine here in Starkville, had even eaten gar balls. So I sent him an email asking about it. His response follows:

 “Gerald, when I worked on a soybean farm near Erwinville, LA (about 15 miles west of Baton Rouge) during the early 1980s, Robiques Restaurant served gar balls.” 

“I never ordered these on purpose, but during planting and harvest the farmer often brought our lunch to the field.  If you were one of the last folks to get visited by the lunch truck, you had to take what was left.  At first I didn’t know what I was eating.  About the 4th time this happened, the farmer I worked for brought my lunch and said ‘Looks like you end up with the gar balls again!’"

“Actually they were pretty good.  Apparently they boiled and flaked the gar, rolled it into balls, cooked these in gravy and served over rice. I have not encountered these anywhere else, but I'll bet there are places in the Mississippi Delta where one can get gar balls.”

Well, that was somewhat encouraging, so I called another friend, Jim Smith in Greenville, who is a walking encyclopedia on anything relating to food and culture of the Mississippi Delta. I figured any place that offers this dish would be worth writing about, even if it involved a drive to get there. He didn’t know offhand of any places serving it, but promised to look into it. Meanwhile he sent along the following recipe, which I have since tried and found to be delicious.

Not having any fresh gar on hand, my wife bought a pack of frozen tilapia, a pond-raised,  South American fish that was the cheapest fish the market had. You wouldn’t want to use Mississippi farm raised catfish for this, as they are outstanding without any additional ingredients to mask their flavor. I figure this recipe is a way of taking fish that is just so-so (or worse) and making it palatable.

My gar cakes (tilapia cakes actually) were delicious. I suspect any kind of fish would taste about the same, as the other ingredients almost overwhelm the fish taste anyway. As you fishermen know, there are many fish that, although edible, don’t rank up there with crappie, bream, bass, or catfish. Buffalo, carp, gar, grindel, and spoonbill catfish come to mind. Here’s a good recipe that should turn these fish into something really good:

Gar cakes

2 pounds chopped gar meat

2 – 3 potatoes, boiled and mashed

3 green onions, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg, beaten

1/4 tsp hot sauce

1/2 tblsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup flour

2 tblsp cooking oil

 Mix ingredients well and pat into cakes. Dip in flour and fry in hot oil until brown. Serves 4 – 6.

PS. We went gar fishing after I wrote this article and we made gar cakes from a small longnose my Granddaughter caught on a ‘rope’ lure. They were delicious, though next time I would pre-cook the gar meat so that there wouldn’t be a question of whether it was done enough.

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Donnie Hinkle, Gar Angler of the Year

Due to his outstanding catches of longnose gar on Georgia's West Point Lake, Donnie Hinkle was presented with the 2007 Gar Anglers of the Year trophy. GASS Member and Master Gar Angler Bob Frick orignated the competition and awarded this year's trophy. Congratulations Donnie and thanks to Bob and all who competed.

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'Gar Daddy' Kevin Huber Sets Indiana State Record!

Gar Daddy writes:

Just thought you might like to see this.

I caught it on October 14th 2007 in the Wabash River in Posey County Indiana. It was 55 inches long and weighed 19 pounds 4 ounces. I used a small shad for bait. The old record was just over 18 pounds and was caught in 2004. I have caught so many Gar this summer that all my buddies are now calling me "Gar Daddy"

Kevin Huber, New Harmony, Indiana

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Mike Tubb writes about a terrific catch:

18 lbs. 5 oz., 51" long longnose gar

At one point, I was actually scared while catching this fish.  It's funny.....the alligators didn't bother me. When this beast went airborne, and almost landed in the boat, I was thinking about letting him have it. I'd rather be in the water with a gator than in a boat with a mad gar!

Caught on September 28th, Pearl River, Bogalusa, Louisiana.

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More about poisonous gar eggs:

I came across this page

http://my.core.com/~garman/garticlescience.htm

when I was searching for the toxin in gar eggs responsible for the severe illness my son and I encountered after consuming them. I caught and cleaned a 2' long gar in Laplace, LA My filipino mother in law who is visiting cooked them. My son had 2-4 spoonfuls mixed with rice, I had 1/2 a plate or so at about 9pm. At about 3am, I awoke to my som vomiting in the bed. We cleaned him up, and 5 min later again and again for about an hour or so followed by dry heaving. After all was "out" of him, he went to sleep. I awoke at 7am with a slight stomach ache, ran to the bathroom, where I did not leave until 10:30am, violently vomiting, severe diarrhea, sweating profusely, cold, followed by so much dry heaving I thought something would implode. At about 10;30 or so, exhausted and semi dillusional, I staggered to my bed covered in sweat, laying there freezing and... the only way I can explain it... hallucinating. In my sleep until 3pm that evening, I had just crazy dreams. I awoke at 3pm feeling a lot better, but still kind of "off". Here I am the day afterward, and I still don't feel 100%...I just feel weird, is the only way I can put it. My little boy is OK though compaining a little that his stomach felt "different". It was one of the worst sicknesses I've had. I read on this post that it might be a "old wives tale", but this needs to be put to rest. The eggs of garfish are extremely toxic and should never be consumed by anyone! I can speak from experience. The toxin is called gar ichthyootoxin. Google it!

Our Science Advisor, Professor Jamie Ladonski writes:

Wow, that is something.  I'm sending this to some of my other fishhead colleagues for their comments and will pass along their comments if they have heard similar tales.  I remember talking to a fellow a couple years ago who did a little research on gar egg toxicity.  He thought it might just be coincidence that they are toxic to mammals, as they don't appear to bother the more natural predators on gar eggs (fishes).  Some coincidence, according to this poor fellow's tale! 

Not something I'd like to experiment with, at any rate.

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Georgia's Cap't Kirk K. (not to be confused with Cap't Kirk K. of Texas) sends us this gArticle about a potential, unofficial World Record 54-pound longnose gar (CLICK HERE). Thanks, Cap't Kirk!

 

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Ontario gar fly-fisher Rob O'Reilly writes:

Hello, Rob O'Reilly here. I just found your site and thought you might be interested in an article I wrote for my website.

http://hipwader.com/2006/gr-pike-fishing-fly-pattern

I've been targeting gar for a couple of years now, and have been working on techniques and patterns to help fly anglers connect with these magnificent fish. Bowfin are next up!

Cheers, Rob

Rob O'Reilly Co-Owner www.hipwader.com

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Master Gar Angler Bob Frick Recently Added to Officially Endorsed Gar Guides!

Read more here!

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A few days ago, GASS Editor garman was enjoying a creepy old movie, The Night of the Hunter (1955) . In it, Robert Mitchum plays a twisted preacher preying upon a pair of children who know the whereabouts of $10,000 cash. In one scene, young John and kindly old Uncle Birdie are fishing the river when they encounter "the meanest, orneriest, sneakiest critter in the whole river". Though it contains ignorant ideas, this scene also includes a somewhat accurate depiction of gar fishing. (CAUTION: Contains words and images of gar abuse):

CLOSE SHOT -- A GAR, UNDERWATER

CLOSE UPWARD TWO-SHOT -- JOHN AND BIRDIE

They look down into the water.

                    BIRDIE

          Meanest, orneriest, sneakiest critter in the

          whole river, boy!  A gar!

CLOSE TWO-SHOT -- JOHN AND BIRDIE

They sit up into it.

                    JOHN

          Here's your can o' hooks, Uncle Birdie.

                    BIRDIE

          There hain't nary a hook in the land smart

          enough to hook Mister Gar.  What a feller needs

          is mother-wit -- and a horse-hair.

Over this, he pulls horse-hair out of his hatband.  He sets to work rigging

his noose.

                    JOHN

          Won't he bust it, Uncle Birdie?

                    BIRDIE

          Shoot, a horse-hair'll hold a lumpin' whale.

He puts over his line.  Pause.

                    BIRDIE

          You don't mind my cussin', boy?

                    JOHN

          No.

                    BIRDIE

          Tell you why I ask -- your step-pa bein' a

          Preacher an' all...

JOHN's lips go like string.  BIRDIE sees it.

                    BIRDIE

          Never was much of a one for preachers myself. 

          I dunno what's wrong up at your place, but just

          remember one thing, Cap -- if ever you need

          help, you just holler out and come a-runnin'. 

          Old Uncle Birdie's your friend.

A powerful strike. BIRDIE lands the gar.  The air is full of sparkling water.

                    BIRDIE

          There!  You slimy, snaggle-toothed, egg-suckin',

          bait-stealin' so-and-so!

QUICK INSERT -- THE THUMPING FISH IN BOTTOM OF BOAT

FULL SHOT

He beats the fish with the heel of an old shoe.

                    BIRDIE

               (beating)

          Mind what I told you.  If ever you get in a

          crack just come a-runnin'.

Now there is no sound or thumping or beating.

CLOSE SHOT -- JOHN

Admiring BIRDIE, he squares his shoulders, full of confidence.

                    JOHN

          Can we eat him, Uncle Birdie?

                    BIRDIE

          If you got n appetite for bones and bitterness.

On this, he flings the dead gar in a wide arc out into the river.

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Ray Buckner writes: My brother Jimmy Whatley caught this fish near Bristol, TX in the Trinity River on Saturday, 8/26/06.  He was using a 1/4 perch as bait with 50 lb test.  It was certified last night as the new Trinity River Water Body Record.

Weight - 113.2 lbs

Length - 81 inches

Girth - 36.5 inches

 

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Garmaster Bob Roe writes from the Mississippi River in Wisconsin:

We finally won our local fishing tournament. The tournament is for any legal fish or legal amount of fish and the most weight wins. We finally won it but the best part is we did it with nothing but gar. We had 111 lbs of longnose gar from 9am to 3pm on Saturday. We also won the biggest fish contest with a 50" 15.5 pounder. It was our best day of gar fishing ever and it happened to fall on the tournament day. We found a new spot while scouting the day before and it has the highest concentration of gar I've seen anywhere on this river yet. We boated 21 longnose. We had the 15.5#, a 13#, two 12 pounders, and a few in the 8-10 pound range. We also had a lot of 25-30 inchers. We released all the live ones and cleaned the rest to eat. (Notice the shirt: "Gar---The Other White Meat"---Eds.)

 

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GarMan Jack shows his beautiful gyotaku fish print gART

ANOTHER FANTASTIC DAY WITH GARMAN JACK!

SNEAK PREVIEW OF HIS LATEST INVENTION!

     GarMan Jack Barnett again graciously guided GASS Editor Bill Meyer on the third somewhat-annual Lake Lanier gar excursion. On a beautiful day, seven longnose were landed using Jack's Original Gar Lure. Jack even had the grace to allow the largest gar, a 13-pounder, to fall to his guest. The action of GarMan Jack's rope lures was increased by using his latest invention, the Automatic Rod-Tip Vibrator, a clever device that imparts more motion to any lure. Read more about the gar world's Jack-of-all-trades at:

www.garmanjack.blogspot.com

www.geocities.com/GarManJack

 

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Solomon David of the University of Michigan and of www.primitivefish.com writes:

Hello,

I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan studying fish ecology; I have a fish website called www.primitivefish.com for which I have several images of all seven species of gars...most of these are in captivity, but they may be useful in showing the diversity of gars and just general information for your site.  If you are interested in setting up a link let me know, I welcome you to check out the site and all the gar images there. Just thought I would make the contact with you guys as I am a big fan of gars and love your site!  

Thanks----Solomon

Solomon David

Graduate Student, Resource Ecology & Management - Aquatics

School of Natural Resources & Environment

University of Michigan

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GAR TATOOS!

gArtist Marty Capron wrote of gar tatoos which reminded me to dig out this picture.  Jeff of the rockin' bluegrass band Split Lip Rayfield has this beautiful gar across his back. That's dedication to the cause!

Click to maximize!

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Spotted Gar Predatory Behavior The abstract from K. Ostrand, B. Braeutigam, & H. David, Consequences of vegetation density and prey species on spotted gar foraging, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 133, 794-800.

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Read about a fascinating "Adopt-a-Gar" program for elementary and middle school students (pdf file).

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New Illinois State Record holder, Danny Peters writes:

     I caught a HUGE Shortnose last year that was 46" long and 12" in diameter (and he was not a Longnose!) He was the standard solid grey (I call it Elephant grey) color, no spots at all and my scales weighed him at 8+ pounds. I took his picture and let him go (I don't have a digital picture of that fish or I'd send it to you)....Naturally, later I looked up the state record for Shortnose Gar in Illinois and it was like a little over 5 pounds....I felt like Homer Simpson! I have spent many hours trying to recatch that fish. I can remember it like it was last night, it was getting late in the evening and the sun was about to go down. I looked out over the water and I saw him laying out topwater under a small Cypress tree. I tossed a #3 Mepp Aglia (the one that's white with a red center tail) right out in front of him and about 10 yards past him. I reeled it about 6" in front of his snout and he couldn't resist (they never can). I was actually setting the hook as he hit the lure (the main advantage to sight fishing).

     I caught the (now Illinois State Record) Spotted Gar (I have attached his picture) just about 40 yards from where I caught the big shortnose last year. I caught the Spotted Gar on a 1/8 oz. Snapper Zapper (my lure of choice when I'm not sight fishing). When I'm sight fishing there is NO LURE more effective, in my own experience, than a #3 Mepps. I started fishing for Gar last year and for my money there is no fish more fun, more exciting, more challenging to fish for than a Gar (be it shortnose, longnose, or spotted). I must say though that the Bowfin is another truly impressive fish to catch and you find them in the same water that Gar inhabit...a TRUE bonus! While Bowfin are more aggressive at taking the lure (hence, easier to hook) and put up a huge fight for their size too, I still think the Gar is my personal favorite fish to catch. I think of them as the poor man's Marlin....almost every one I catch goes airborne.....God, I love that!

     I intend to write a book on this very subject and would like to spearhead a movement to reclassify the Gar (perhaps the Bowfin too) as game fish. I have fished for Bass since I was a small boy and I have caught several 5 pound Bass but I swear a 2 pound Gar will outfight a 5 pound Bass ANY day! That is the one thing that really stuck out when I started catching Gar! I was totally shocked out how small the fish was when I landed him. He put up a lot bigger fight than his size alone would suggest. I know this is not just a perception either due to the fact that when I started catching Gar, the drag would be set at the same weight that I used for catching Bass and Crappie and at that same drag setting, a two pound Gar could run for cover and never even slow down. One day I had just caught a five pound Bass and I saw a Shortnose topwater so I switched to a Mepps and tossed it out to the Gar. He took the bait and I had to tighten the drag a couple of turns in order to land him....the fish weighed a little under 2 pounds! I know this isn't very specific or scientific, for that matter, but it is a FACT, a Gar will outpull a Bass by approximately 2 to 1. Anyway, I'm rambling on, I apologize! In case you couldn't tell....I love talking "Fish".

     I wanted you to know that I received confirmation on my Spotted Gar yesterday. It is the new Illinois State Record! The fish weighed 7.840 pounds (I think that's 7 pounds 13.44 ounces) and was caught in Horseshoe Lake, located in the Southern Illinois county of Alexander.

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Patrick Cooney, fisheries Biologist at the University of Florida (Gainesville) writes:

Here is a picture of me and my boss in the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key, Florida. We both work for the Fisheries Department at the University of Florida and we were in a tournament this past Saturday (May 1st, 2004) that our department puts on every year. We were out fishing for cobia, and happened to catch a longnose about four miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. I was excited to see what I pulled up form the depths, but was upset that I wasn't wearing my GASS or GASSBAG t-shirt at the time of the tournament because I figure it would have made the picture even better. I frequently fish for gar in freshwater, but never in salt water. I hooked the 51 inch longnose on a huge slab of dead cut bait with a 10/0 hook and 70 pound test, making it the easiest gar I have ever reeled in. My boss was kind enough to grab the leader and hold up the fish for me, despite his despising the fish I have tried to teach him to love.....GAR. He will come around sooner or later.

Patrick also send directions for making this fantastic gar belt buckle:

First, go to any website that sells belt buckle blanks and purchase one. We used:  http://store.wanderingbull.com/bebubl.html They are inexpensive (about 3 to 4 dollars a piece and get cheaper in bulk) and work very well. Then go and catch a gar. To tell you the truth, we found that smaller gar work better because you have more scales on the buckle, whereas larger gar would only allow for a few scales to fit. Our best buckle came from a medium to smaller gar.

Anyways, cut the head off, then cut the fish long ways along the bottom and pull all of the meat and entrails out, while keeping the pelt (scales and skin holding scales together) intact. Be sure to get the inside of the pelt as clean as possible (no meat or bones) by scraping with a knife or something like that. About the slime coat on the outside of the scales. We took a scrub brush and used some elbow grease to really scrub to get rid of all slime. A lot of the darker color of the gar will go away with this scrubbing, including spots, however, without getting this off, the final product will not look good because the slime cracks and is nearly impossible to get off after you have dried the pelt. However, there is a nice contrast in color long the lateral line of the fish.

Once the pelt is clean you will need to get something to press it in (like for drying leaves or flowers) so that it no longer has its curl when it dries. Do not use newspaper in the press because the print will go into the skin of the pelt and discolor it. We used regular computer paper and felt to line the pelt and used wooden press boards with cinder blocks or anything slightly heavy on top. Leave the pelt to dry. We have an industrial drier that blows warm dry air, and that dries them in a day, but leaving them in a warm dry place will dry the thin piece of skin attached to the scales out pretty quickly.

Once it is good and dry, attach the belt buckle (do not scuff the face of the buckle up, as we found this to deter its adhering ability) to the bottom side of the pelt with hot glue. Be sure to hold it nice and tight until the glue dries preventing the slight natural curl of the gar from letting it lift off of the buckle and glue. Once the glue is dry, we used a Dremel tool (fast rotating hand held tool) to cut away the excess pelt and to sand the pelt down to the edge of the buckle (quite simple to tell you the truth).

Then this is the big trick. Hot glue does not hold the pelt on for more
than a couple of uses on a belt since hot glue is not very strong, however, it is nice and quick to use in the initial steps since it sets fast, and is soft on the attachments of the Dremel tool. Therefore, after sanding the pelt down to the buckles edge and buffing it, the pelt pulls off from the hot glue and buckle quite easily with your hands even after the glue has set for days or weeks. We then bought two ton epoxy (about two dollars for a tube at Wal Mart) and reattached the pelt to the buckle for a final product. One final tip is to add a very small bead of the epoxy around the edge (it dries clear) of the pelt and buckle to prevent the buckle from having sharp edges.

As you can see, it ends up being a couple day project between buying the buckle, catching the fish, cleaning the fish, drying the fish, gluing the fish down, cutting and sanding it down with the dremel tool, pulling it off, and then reattaching it, but for the real enthusiast, it is really easy to do, it makes a great item to wear around every day, and an even better conversation piece.
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Gar through the ice?  Yes, according to Outdoor Notebook Magazine (April '04) Click HERE!

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Do gar see in color? At what temperature do gar get active?  What's the effect of gar on other "gamefish"? And a batch of new questions!  Our Science Advisor answers HERE!

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Tom "Lambo" Lamb (left) displays his 48", 12.8# Big Muddy River (IL) longnose while an awe-struck, newly-converted gar angler (right) laments "Why did I waste all those years fishing for bass?!?"

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From the December 1952 issue of Ford Times . . .

"(A 'gator gar) tailwalks like a sailfish, rolls like a porpoise, leaps high like a tarpon, grunts like a pig and hisses like a mad alligator!"

Read the story!
See the picture!