Does anyone eat Gar fish?

[fattiresc]

I have caught Gar, but never kept any. I always release them, but my buddies will kill them and throw them back. They say it is because the Gar fish have no natural predators. THe more I think about it, that logic makes sense. What eats a gar fish and could they take over? But my original questions is, does anyone eat them? I mean, they only eat live bait as far as I know, seems like they would be good eating... Lemme know!

Thanks.

~Jason

[Believer]

I have heard they are very good to eat as long as you get a big one & don't mind working to get the armor off of them! :)


Eric

[Catfishroberto]

Got a friend that eats them . says very good as long as they are hot. cleans them with skill saw

[warcraft1975]

they arent bad from time to time i will eat them

[dinkbuster1]

gonna give them a try this year. thought they were worthless until someone on here said they arent that bad.

[warcraft1975]

a friend of mine i met on here got me to try one after he told me how he eats them, he just filets them and cuts into peices and boils them with crab boil and lets them chill in the fridge tatses alot like lobster and since i love seafood i had to try it it just inst bad at all, now if i can just cacth them when i want to lol

[dinkbuster1]

makin me hungry dude! might have to fry some more CARP!

[C_wernett]

There are a couple of fish that people do the entire, kill 'em on site thing with. Gar and bowfin...I'm going to try eating gar this year also, because everyone I've spoken to says they're great once you get through them. Bowfin are the same way as long as they are fresh...in fact, to let my secret out, are probably one of the best tasting fresh fish I've ever had. Their meat is naturally salty.

My view on both of these fish is this...These two fish have been around for hundreds of thousands of years before bass and the likes, and haven't had the need to evolve in that time. They are more effective predators, hardier, and especially with gar, harder to catch than bass are. Anyone can catch bass, but few know the tricks to being successfull with gar. I give them the nod of recognition! The look wicked too...have you seen the chompers on either of these fish!!!

[TOPS]

I have eaten Gar in the pass, In Louisiana,where I am from, we call the meat gar balls because when the meat are cut into sections they are in the shape of a ball. Remember the eggs of gar are very poisonous to humans, must wash your hands throughly if the eggs are touched.

[redneckdrum]

why are the eggs poisonous? Never heard that one,of course gar was never my favorite water species to fish for,it's pain in the butt enouigh catching them by accident.

[Salmonid]

Conrad, my sediments exactly, the point is...is that the Gar have been around for a 100 000 years and if they havent destroyed your eco system yet, they never will. in fact they are present in some of the nations best bass rivers and lakes. Folks, they are part of the riverine system and actually eat a lot bait fish yes, but hardly do they eat gamefish because they like to prey on schooling baitfish. They are good fighters when you get a bigger one, jump, long runs and will give your gear all it can handle, I just dont understand why people kill them??? They live in a perfect balance with all the other critters in your favorite watershed. Killing them will only do harm to the balance that mother nature has set forth.
As far as eating them, I never have, have heard they can be quite good and yes, the eggs will make you very sick.
Im a strict catch and release kind of guy and actually target them on my flyrod all summer and have shown about 50 folks how much of a game fish they really are. Those folks are now diehard Gar fishermen who fully respect them.

We fear what we dont understand, Long Live the Lepisosteus osseus~!!!!!!!

Salmonid ( getting off his high horse for now):cool:

[micus]

I tried one. It was quite good. My daughter even liked it. Metal shears or tin snips make the cleaning job easy. I don't throw any fish on the bank. They are in the ecosystem for a reason.

[beaneye46]

i heard they have backstraps like a deer that are pretty good.

[fattiresc]

really, that is kinda weird. I think I will have to keep the next one I catch just to disect it. might try those gar balls everyone is talking about.

[craddock1]

i tried one once it wasn't bad at all but i have never kept another because of the trouble cleaning the thing. toughest skin i ever saw.
folks around here like to use just a piece of nylon braided line on a fly rod. tie a 12 inch piece in the middle and flip it back and forth till it is thouroughly frayed then ease along the bank till you spot one and flip the frayed line in front of him. when he grabs it his teeth will just tangle in the line and he can not turn it loose. you dont need a hook this way.