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Thread: "free-lining?"

  1. #11
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    Feb 2005
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    I would not eat any gar but who knows. When I was young fishing a central FLorida river for bass from shore sometimes when the gars moved in I would start fishing for them. I woud do it by hooking the bait directly in the middle of the back. Gars always bite the bait sideways to injure it before eating it so if you hook the bait in the middle then you will hook the gar on the first bite. It takes alittle practise but eventually works about every time. If I hooked an aligator gar then I would just cut the line. I do not want to try to pull the hook out of a 100 pound gar.

  2. #12
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    Yeah gar fishing can be fun. The heat of the summer is when they are most active down here. I catch them on the Red River stacked up in huge schools. Needle nosed gar up to 50" or more.

    I also use the frayed nylon rope tactic but I used a variant on the technique last summer. I made some nylon rope jigs with a 1/2 oz chartreuse head. I took 60lb mono line and cut a 3" piece and tied it to the jig head. (I snipped hook and bent it up to tie line too) At the end of this 3 " mono leader I put a clip style swivel. Now you have a hook less nylon jig with a 3" 60lb mono leader with snip swivel at the end.

    I would go catch me some nice small bluegill. (about 3 inches or less) Stock up a nice amount in the live well for bait. Then before you cast your "gar jig" just clip one of those little lively bluegills on your swivel. (kinda like hooking a minnow on a jig, under the chin up through the nostrils)

    Pull him in slow and when they hit just keep steady pressure. We caught some hogs this way last year on the river. Just look for schools all piled up in an area "rolling" on the surface.

    The other tactic I have used for gar is free lining live bait. You just let the gar take it for a few seconds so you get the hook past his bony snout.

    ~Fishin' Magician~

  3. #13
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    Jun 2005
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    Thanks, I'll have to try that! I tried making some nylon rope lures, but
    have not had the right opportunity to try them, at least not when I had
    one rigged up. Did snag one awhile back that had about 3' of 20-30 lb
    mono hanging out his bung-hole... Couldn't resist giving it a little tug -
    went ape-s**t and 'bout wrecked the boat - guess I asked for it :rolleyes:
    Shoals Area Crappie Association

  4. #14
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    Default Gar trailing mono

    JW - you should have posted that incident in the funny story contest. I could really visualize the whole scene. Laughed my butt off.
    Ken

  5. #15
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    Glad you got a grin out of it Ken, there are a lot of comical/ridiculous
    things that go on down there (spillway) when we are snagging, a good
    bit of it involving gar. One of my buddies had one shake a brand new
    pair of those Gerber pliers (like a Swiss Army knife) out of his hand over
    15' of water last year, we still kid him about that. On gar, have you
    guys ever seen anything so tough-skinned? I've got a home-made
    gaff , point is flame-hardened tool steel with a wicked triangle shaped point-
    like a Owner worm hook- and it will just bounce off of them! I made it for
    paddlefish, but lately we have got into catch (or should I say snag) and
    release, use a thing called a hog-catcher now to grab their snout. Kind
    of like those things you see the animal control officers with, only shorter.
    Shoals Area Crappie Association

  6. #16
    Barnacle Bill's Avatar
    Barnacle Bill is offline Super Mod and 2014 Crappie.com Man of the Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    I've heard that the roe out of gar is poisonous. There any truth to that? I'm not going to try it anyway. I don't even want those damn slimy things in my boat.
    Fair Winds and Following Seas

    Bill H. PTC USN Ret
    Chesapeake, Va


  7. #17
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    Here is a big gator gar I caught last year while catfishing on the Sabine River.

    In the boat...


    Was an awsome fight. I was in the boat by myself fishing white bass and catfish at the same time. Had bottom rigs off the back of the boat and was casting at bass. The Gar hit one of the bottom rigs baited with a whole crawfish of all things. Brutal battle insued with other white bass boats watching the frey. First time he came up to the boat water exploded and one of the near by boats lets out an explitive.

    Finally got him in the boat by putting the rod butt in an icechest handle and "hugging" the fish into the boat.

    One of the white bass boats were nice enough to take these two pics.





    ~Fishin' Magician~

  8. #18
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    Man, that is an awesome fish, I don't care what some people think -
    would love to hook into one of them. I can understand about getting
    big fish in the boat by yourself, I am usually alone. When we snag
    paddlefish in the Fall, there are 3 of us, but not enough room in one boat,
    so I'm usually alone. The current is so swift sometimes, with a 30-45 pounder
    laying broadside against it, even with 80 lb line, the only option is to pick
    up and go to the fish. I have had to sit on the rod or dally off the line
    to a cleat and hope it didn't pop to have both hands free to pull up the
    30 lb anchor... Last year I finally got smart and tied a 2.5 gallon jug to the
    end of my anchor rope so I could just turn loose with one hand - put a
    lightstick in the jug too so I could find it again in the dark. If we get another
    fishing story thread started, I'll have to tell you about my first paddlefish,
    it was a hour-long ordeal, too light tackle, by myself, no moon, no experience!
    Shoals Area Crappie Association

  9. #19
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    Mar 2005
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    san antonio texas
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    Default nice fish

    fm you can make a lot of gar balls with that sucker way to go
    :p keep it wet
    take a kid fishing
    born to fish
    forced to work :p

  10. #20
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    Proud Member of Team Geezer
    Southern Sickle Jigs Pro Staff

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