Gar ketchn maybe ?

[Ketchn]

Thought yep , why not ,the dock was flat out full of them on the surface under the lights , thunk when in Rome and pitched to them some with my jig ......
Was waiting for a boat ride in the wee morning light and they were quite cooperative , but something odd was up .....
Every time one would hit it and spit or not hook up , it would immediately get hit again as it fell out of sight ....
Thought wow them gar are aggressive to follow it down and keep hitting it and not a one getting hooked up ? Well I did hook one ,but of course at the top it spit the jig and I continued to pitch at them , you literally got hits every pitch and multiples as well .....
About 4 or 5 pitches and constant misses my bud showed up to hear my jig bouncing off the roof of the dock ....
Said what are you doing , I said trying to ketch gar ....
Next pitch as he walked up and KABOOM , a crappie ...?
then the next pitch , KABOOM , sand bass ....?
and yet again , another crappie ...?
seems just under the gar were herds of fish feeding with them on the bait under them bright dock lights ....
we stood around a bit banging our jigs off the roof of the dock until the boat captain showed up a first light , them dang fish hit fast and hard and would spit it most of the time WAY before you could get a hook in them , pretty interesting stuff for sure ....
in the end it was just some more KABOOM ....
85 degree water , 5:45 am , really bright flood lamps shining down on the dock in 8 foot of water , bit it on the fall and or retrieve ONLY around the 3 to 4 foot down area ,just a quick fyi ....

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Iok take those feeshes over gar anytime

[SuperDave336]

Yeah I agree crappie or sand bass over gar. But either way……….KABOOM!

[Danny Lang]

Gar fish is tastee but a lot of work to getum there.

[BobC]

Nice fishing report, Ketchn. Those gar sound like pretty tough characters!
Bob

[GreenLine]

Gar - Next time add about 2-3 in piece of frayed nylon twine to the jig. Their teeth will tangle enough to yank em right out on the bank before they get loose.



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[Flyfisher66048]

We used to carry a tool that kept their jaws open, to make it easier to untangle the rope from their teeth. We would take a piece of rope and double it around a split ring and secure it. No hook at all. Don’t set the hook, just a slow start pull. When they realize they are hooked , hold on!

[zummy]

It you want 5o catch gar tie on a short piece of frayed nylon rope. Lay it right off their nose.

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[CrappiePappy]

Hung into many a Gar at a local lake, mostly when Bass fishing ... using jerkbaits or crankbaits. Seen many a time where there'd be 30-50 of them on the surface, back in the creeks, ranging in size from 2-5ft long.





This one took a liking to my friend Rachel's Pink Roadrunner

[Ketchn]

used to ketch gar on purpose when there were really big ones around as a young fella , sadly mankind took a liking to killing the big telephone pole versions and now there aint a big one left in these parts ....
not sure how long it takes for one to get huge like we used to see pretty often , but to be sure after seeing tons of them all red and hanging off stuff over the years, there isnt a one left in the huge range anymore in the metroplex area best I can tell ya .
they are still in the waters below the metroplex though and guides take folks after them on the lower reaches of the mighty trinity, they practice ketch and release mostly from what I can tell and ketch some in the really big range .
it makes me sad to think folks just kill stuff like that for fun and photos , but as you can imagine them folks are out there in numbers and the numbers grow daily ......
kinda reminds me of what they did to the buffalo on the range back when, not sure how that is fun , but I have met a few folks like that over the years and something inside their brain just aint right , nuff said I spose ....
best not get started down that road before I go off into some kinda rant ......