Hot Water Equals Lots of Gar!

[Ketchn]

Attachment 468059

The Wastehouse in the East Pearl River is a favorite for many Crappie Anglers. It's Mouth is located right above the I-10 Bridge on the East Pearl. This time of year I start tracking how far the bait have migrated into The Wastehouse simply because the Crappie usually follow. Well, not Yet. One fish has moved in, saturating every deep hole where clouds of bait are, shading every place Crappie like to shade, that is a multitude of species of GAR.
The Gar are everywhere, while fishing I saw several Gar swim by with small Crappie, Bluegill, Pearch, in their mouths. It looks like they were foul hooked with a tear along the bone but no its small fish we like to eat too. When I found Crappie they were tucked tight in heavy cover and shade. They were hungry too. Pulling out a trick from Ketchn I downsized to some #6 Matzuo Jigheads with a bait I get from Jason's Jigs Store on EBay. Here is the description

Jason's Crappie Stinger Iridescent Prism
Attachment 468060

The Crappie ate these well but once the active fish were done I switched to Shiners. This is where things got interesting as the Stingers got the bite started but I threw almost every fish back. The Shiners put the fish in the box. Another comment from Ketchn was as a Shiner hits the hot water it dies which was true for most of the Shiners hooked in the mouth. A Cajun way to hook Saltwater live bait is thru the eyes. When I switched to hooking the Shiners that way a fish was on before it had a chance to die. I'm looking forward to the Crappie Wisperer to read this and comment if He knows why the Shiners live longer eye hooked.

Water clarity is the best for Mid August in The Wastehouse I have seem in 7 years. The temps are well up in the high 80's at 7am. That's high 80's under the trolling motor where the transducer is located. Most of the older crowd know where the big, not part of the Food Chain, rod bending, fighting Crappie are, deep in the Main Channel. Since I'm a dedicated Single Pole angler Carolina Rigging Shiners and dropping them on the bottom in the passes does not appeal to me personally but it is effective with current flow to concentrate the fish. The Gar and Catfish bycatch is unappealing too.

hooking minnows thru the lips causes a pretty high mortality rate , closing the intake on most machines chokes them out pretty quickly . I am a fan of thru the eyes myself if I get desperate enough to use minnows ....just saying ....
but that said they often don't run true and can't get terribly frantic when they cannot see , now mind you this , there is a way to lip hook a baitfish , it requires you to put the hook in its mouth and only hook it thru the upper lip . we used to free swim baits back when for several species and we pretty much always hooked the big bait fish that way , a large threadfin shad on a really light 6 lb test and a 7 foot ultralite and a pitch to the boulders and let it swim , a tiny circle hook and have a little patience , a huge bronzeback will find said bait if it swims around them big boulders and not much beats a big smallie on light tackle out in the open water , good stuff for sure ...
we also hooked our live 12 inch sardines that way when we hit the albacore off the coast of Baja about 100 miles out ....
this method requires a circle hook as well but in a much larger caliber and much heavier mono and tackle .....

[Rojo]

The size of my hands and the size of my hooks really don't get along too well. I have a lot of trouble hooking shiners in the top of the mouth only and usually tear the fish a bit where it comes off fairly quickly. I guess handling too many tools has made me a little rough on the tender shiners. Seeing the hook point and the Shiner's mouth opening is a challenge too. I hook under the Anal fin more often than lips but they didn't want the shiner hooked that way. Thanks for responding.

[BobC]

Very Interesting post with good information, thank you.



I’d rather catch sacalait, but I’d rather eat alligator garfish. Anytime I have the fortune of getting my hands on an alligator garfish at least 3 feet long, I’m cleaning that thing. In my honest opinion, alligator garfish is the best freshwater fish I’ve ever tasted. I buy 10-15 lb roasts every chance I get. The small backstraps get cut into nuggets and fried, and the huge roasts get turned into chicken fried steak or hash brown/green onion Patties. Alligator garfish are so underrated on the table.

Wow, that’s something I never knew. Thanks for the info.
Bob