Best Fishing Rigs for catching Gar Fish - Gar Fishing Techniques

[TOPS]

What type of rigs would a fisherman use to catch a gar? I have heard a nylon rope willl catch a gar! :confused:

[blackwaterkatz]

Verlon, I've never done it, but have talked with a couple of guys that use a short piece of white nylon rope, frayed up. The gar's teeth get tangled in the rope, don't even need a hook. I guess you would need enough weight to cast with, though.

[TOPS]

Tommy, thanks for the info,I thought we had to go into the cowboy mode and lasso him! :D :D

[Desperado]

Two ways I know how to catch them. Take a key chain loop and double over a piece of nylon rope though it and tie it around the two pieces of rope near the key chain loop. Yopu can cast it then and just reel in with small jerks and they will get it. The other way I know how to fish for them is to bowfish them. that way is more fun. ;)

[flathunter]

I just use a small jig with a white curly tail grub..I know alot of people who bowhunt for them also.

[Swampy]

What type of rigs would a fisherman use to catch a gar? I have heard a nylon rope willl catch a gar! :confused:

I just have to ask,Why would you want to catch gars?

[TOPS]

I do not fish for gar but evendently someone does because it a gar fishing section on the B.O.C. I just wanted to know how to catch them. :D

[blackwaterkatz]

Swampy, if it swims, you can bet someone, somewhere will try to catch it!LOL
Seriously, there are a few people in my area that fish for them for the sport. A lot of folks fish for barracuda in the ocean; I guess maybe this is the poor man's barracuda. :D

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

sombody told me that they actuly have tasty white meat under all that ugly just cut a strip of bones out kinda like a walleye but i haven't tried it yet

[RiverratSC]

I like catching them myself. They fight good and most of the time I'm catfishing when I catch them anyways.

[fourwglenn]

A Seminole indian buddy of mine that I used to rodeo with showed me how good Gar is . His wife and kids would net em in gator holes in the dry season. Their a pain to clean but once you get the back split open she would take the meat from the back and slice it in chunks, season, bread and fry. It was good.
Glenn

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

kinda like the back straps on a deer? i will have to try that ,i like to gig them wile running bank-poles in the creek

[ShilohRed]

Take a steel leader, A top water bait. And a piece of rope aobut 6" long. Tie the rope where the back hooks would be. And cast out. Let them grab the rope and hold on. :cool:
Belive it or not. Gar are fun to catch, And will give you a good fight. Will also jump and try to break the line with there body. :)
PEte

[Katmaster Jr.]

I usually use a slip-bobber rig with a live fish like a bream, or crappie, etc.

and this is how I do it........

1. try to get the biggest bobber you can, i recommend a baseball bobber, they are usually eithier red or yellow and are the size and shape of a baseball. Or you can use one of those saltwater "cigar" bobbers.

2. you just put the line through the hole on the bobber, then under the bobber you should use a egg weight, the same kind you use on a carolina rig. I recomend 2-3 ounces.

3. once you have the bobber and weight on the line you need to tie your hook, with leader and swivel on it.
your leader should be from 18-24 + inches long. and should be at least 80 lb test. (mono)

4. if your fishing in alot of current try to keep your line off the water, this will increase your hook setting capabilities.

5. Tie a rubber-band or bobber-stop on your line at the depth you want you bait to be at.

6. this also works great for catfish.

7. good luck fishing, and have fun :)

[flatheaddundee]

I've used nylon rope alot and it is the best method in my opinion, and I catch a lot of gar. All you need is some nylon twine and double it over till its big round as your thumb cut one end and fray as much as you can and then tie up the front end and put a swivel on it. Just throw it out and twitch it around, and once you catch one just rip it out and do it again!

[Swampy]

I've heard of folk's eating them all my life,but never tried them myself.

[flathunter]

I catch most of my gar while I am white bass fishing in the spring, I dont target them..I hardly ever hook them while catfishing because the hooks I use are to big.

[H2O Mellon]

It's more common here in my part of the state to catch 40# flatheads than a gar, so we dont have many of them. If I wasnt addicited to cats now, after fishing w/ flatunter I'd be one of those guys that fish for gar as a sport. I think they are a neat fish & they have a ton of history. Yes I know I will be blackballed from the BOC & none will ever speak to me. :p I use circle hooks & have never actually brought one in yet. I will admit when fishing for flatheads those "Gar Runs" are aggravating!

I've heard that people will crush bones & all up & make "Gar Balls" to eat. I'v heard they are good, but I'm not sure I want to try them.

[Mathersm]

I used to gar fish with live bass minnows all the time. They do put up a decent fight as well.

[flathead willy]

a buddy of mine taught me how to make a plug for gar out of nylon rope. It seems to work well. Any of Ya'll make homeade plugs

[Katmaster Jr.]

Yeah, I dont make those plugs but have read about them in magazines and it showed pics of them. They say that they work great. I've personally never tried one.

good luck :)

[flatheaddundee]

The rig I showed willy works great and they put up an awsome fight. Don't think i would eat one of those bony dinosaurs though haha.

[Beaufort]

i like the fight they put up and there easy to find as well. Alot of times i fish for them in shallow water with alarge float and a large shiner, but a spinner bait with a pieace of nylon rope instead of a skirt works good to.

[alands94]

One of my most memorable fishing experiences was catching gar on a hula popper. I removed the rubber skirt and tied on some frayed rope. While gar fishing with this lure, I caught a "pesky" 1.5# largemouth! :p

[Chrisingeorgia]

I use that same trick with the nylon rope, works like a charm. Once they get that stuff caught in their teeth it's not coming out. Take an old fishing lure with a sharp trebble hook on the back and attach 4 or 5 inches of frayed nylon rope.

[bill_jr]

I got so sick of em stealing my bait on the Ohio river I started to target them. I use a lasso (spelling?) rig. Take a piece of nylon coated wire about a foot long and stab one end of it through your favorite bait and slip one end into a double crimp and crimp it. Take the other end and just pass it up through the other side of the crimp and twist it onto a swivel. Now you have made a lasso. They stick there long snout into the loop to take the bait and you just sinch it down with your hookset and reel em in. No hooks to remove and you can use it over and over.

[james]

could someone post a pic of one of these plugs

[TOPS]

Are you guy talking a ski rope? sure would like to see how a gar caught! :D

[Thomas P. Conley]

Top here in central TX. we have gar that get over 5 feet (mostly needle nose gar)and we catch them while catfishing. You got to watch taking the hook out. Had one over 4 feet long that I fought for over 15 mins. when I landed him or her I reach down to get my hook an the critter hisses at me and tries to eat my fingers off. Well he got a good boot in the head and I cut the line and kicked him back into the water. Yes I am a old gar kicker from way back.

[C_wernett]

Up this way we have a ton of longnose gar. I used to catch them a lot cast/drifting shiners from shore on the New River which is literally infested with them! But this summer I was fishing a local cat hole, and had a good run. I set the hook, reeled it darn near in before it turned and I could see what it was, and it was the biggest old longnose I've ever seen in my life. From the tip of its nose to where the tail was against one of the other lines was easly 7' long and about as big around as a football!!! My buddy grabbed the hand gaff that for some reason we had brought that night to try to land the bugger...but when I finally turned him and got him within about a foot of shore, the hook just slid down the bill and it swam off! Not that I know what the heck I would have done should we have actually been able to land him that night...but it sure would have been great to get some pictures of that beast!

[Gone fishin 4 kittys]

I've have used that rig to catch some gar while the bite was slow!

Gar(atleast around here) will chase almost anything on the water. So dragging a piece of yellow nylon rope over the water will get them! Sometimes I like the challenge of catching them on a minnow

[fishinjunky]

WHENEVER I WANT TO CATCH A GAR I JUST CATFISH, CAN NEVER KEEP THEM OFF MY CUT BAIT. THE GUY THAT I BOUGHT MY BOAT FROM KILLED EVERY GAR HE CAUGHT, HE TOLD ME HIM AND HIS DAD WOULD PUT POPSICLE STICKS IN THEIR MOUTH AND RELEASE THEM. THATS CRUEL, I WOULD HAVE TOOK A HAMMER TO THEM. :p

[C_wernett]

That's the same thing I do to BASS! lol...No not really, but one of my favorites quotes to come from a catman has been this,"If you can't find the right bait...you might as well be bass fishing!" Now, gar can be a nuisance for sure when your catfishing, but your wasting your time killing everyone you catch, because these things are the coachroach of the fish world in my opinion, only more fun to catch!!! I've seen river systems that were "cleaned" of gar, only to have them reappear less than a year later. I gotta learn how to clean those things though...I hear that back meat on them in good eating. As my mom always said,"Don't knock it 'till you try it!"

[WildWillie]

Many years ago I worked below Houma, LA for a brief period. There were some local fisherman bringing gar (huge) in out of the marshes. The boss on the coring rig I was working on traded them a 12 pak of those dotted cloth gloves for one of the gar. They used a hachet, chopping down the middle of the back of the gar, then just hulled it out. Then they cut down each side of the backbone, and above the rib cage. Out they came with a nice cut of meat similiar to back strap. The boss (a coona$$) seasoned and dipped thin slices in yellow cornmeal. Fried that on a Coleman stove. Was the first gar I had ever eaten, and I found it to be rather tasty. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Will

[fst929]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but its a current topic for me. I have been targeting gar on and off for a couple years now...and alot this year...Wild on the line..airiel acrobatics and (after finally eating one) delicious.

I fish for them on the transition of the rocky fast river current and the sand flats. The setup that has so far and been the easiest to manage and not loose tackle has been a 3 way swivel, sinker on the bottom with a med treble hook and a Ti leader. The problem is...if I have 10 solid hit and runs, I get a fish on with 4 of them and only 2 "in the net" It seems like the hooks are not finding thier mark, the fish simply lets go.... Ive tried with the bale locked and with the clicker active.....pull to set the hook and simply tension and reel. The results are the same.

I know I could try the rope method and cast/retrieve but its nice to just have lines in and let them sit.... So...has anyone tried anything that yeilds good results? I'm going to try the noose method this week. I was thinking of rigging a combination of rope and cut bait. Anyone tried this?

thanks!

[BowieKnife357]

If you are actually trying to hook a gar, and hook him solid, you're most likely going to have to let him run with the bait for a while. Gar will hit a bait and drag it around for awhile before swallowing it. I have seen them hit schooling shad and swim upstream with them for almost a hundred yards before. That's actually one of the things I look for while bowfishing, and I've seen it more than once. When the water is murky or stained, or it's a cloudy day sometimes you'll see a little silver flash wiggling back and forth going up stream. Every time I've seen it it's been a gar with a shad in it's mouth. I'm at the point now when I see it I aim about 6-8 inches behind the shad and shoot and it works. The nylon rope/hook hybrid rig sounds like a good idea too, that way you don't have to let them run to swallow the bait.

[redbeard144]

it seems like when there around they bite any thing you throw out.just need a steel leader and a strait hook (not a circle hook) to catch them.

[katphisher]

just go catfishin, i always get plenty of gar where i fish at. if i actually tried to catch em i couldn't lol they do put up a good fight tho

[jaybird007]

Here in the Bayou State we use jugs with a 2' nylon leader tied to the jug and a 1' stainless wire leader tied to the nylon. You then take two #8 j hooks and tape them together so that the points are facing away from each other. Secure the hooks to the leader. Take a whole mullet and run the leader in his mouth and out his ass so that he's hanging facing staight down under your jug. You'll have to cut his stomach open so he doesn't float. The hooks should now be positioned on the left and right corners of the mullets mouth. Get about 10 jugs rigged like this, let them sit out at night and then GET READY!!
Here are some pics of a baby alligator gar weighing 38 lbs. I've caugh them as big as 120+ lbs using this method.
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