Fishing for Longnose Gar

[NumberTwentyTwo]

First of all Im not a fisherman at all. I usually never fish. But I was 4 wheeling down by the a river around my house and saw some Longnose Gar. At first my freind and I thought they were some type of eel.

Appearantly every June these Gar make a pit stop around my neck of the woods and just chill at this spot. When its sunny out the come up to the surace and there are prolly anywhere from 30-80 at a time.

Wev tried so many diff things to try to catch em. Hooks, strings, ect. No luck. The things have great reflexes too so its almost impossible to snatch one.

Any1 ever caught one??

[Thordic]

haha yea when I lived in the deep south (miss) for 2 years this old black guy would catch them like crazy. He would get a big trebble hook with cat fish bait and then put a panty hose over it. He caught so many of them. The things are so mean looking.

[Nainoa]

First of all Im not a fisherman at all. I usually never fish. But I was 4 wheeling down by the a river around my house and saw some Longnose Gar. At first my freind and I thought they were some type of eel.

Appearantly every June these Gar make a pit stop around my neck of the woods and just chill at this spot. When its sunny out the come up to the surace and there are prolly anywhere from 30-80 at a time.

Wev tried so many diff things to try to catch em. Hooks, strings, ect. No luck. The things have great reflexes too so its almost impossible to snatch one.

Any1 ever caught one??

Is there a difference between Longnose Gar and Aligator Gar... If not... Pfft... I would just noodle 'em like a Big Cat Fish... I mean heck, you've got two hands, you could get by with just one!

[NumberTwentyTwo]

longnose gar are alot smaller than alligator gar and are in the northern states.

theyr reflexes r amazing. better than cats. the disappear b4 my bait even hit the water most the time.

[Chipman]

I have caught many of them before and I will post a site that tells you how to do it better than I can.

The main thing is to just let them run off and let them go deep for a few minutes before you sink the hook or decide their teeth are all tangled in the nylon.

One other thing these fish are nasty in nature so if you catch a big one and you don't want to risk the teeth to get to untangle the line I suggest you hit them several times in the head with a pre chosen bat of some kind.

So after reading the site and following it's ideas you will be a member of the Gar fisherman club...Our Motto is, (Keep your Club and Club your Keep)

http://www.gon.com/lanier5.html

[Grind4Mine]

Yea, ive never done it myself, but down by the river there are plenty of gar hunters....Basically they spear hunt for em, it takes mad skill so i dont reccomend it, but its fun as hell, they like to sit right next to the surface.

[Thordic]

hey chipman do you guys use a trebble? and why did the guy I know use panty hose?

[jboyd1]

I caught 2 in a local river while fishing for muskie's.....was using a rapala tail dancer. I had alot more bites from them but it was hard to set the hook on them. finnaly I just let it have it for about 10 seconds then set the hook........... thing went crazy when I got it on the bank.

[Chipman]

hey chipman do you guys use a trebble? and why did the guy I know use panty hose?

I use a treble when I use live bait and rig it where the treble is at the end of the shiner or the slick as we call them. I have caught them on lures but you have to hook them just right. To hard for me..

The reason for the panty hose is simple the stuipd gar get his teeth all tangled in it and you just pull him in..I have also made skirts for my lines by taking a piece of soft nylon braided rope and then just brushing out a couple of inches of it. Leave enough unbraided at the top to run your leader through, use a bread tie or a trashcan bag tie so you can sinch it at the top, you can then hook the little shiner a the top and at the bottom. YOu kinda just have to figure it out as you go. The thing is you are trying to hook him both ways so if one fails you can either hook him or just get the teeth tangled. Anyway it's a fun ride..

I usually use a bobber about 4 feet back cause as I said they usually dont hit they just cruise up and swim away with it then go deep and that is when you wait them out for awhile until you feel lucky.

[Chipman]

I caught 2 in a local river while fishing for muskie's.....was using a rapala tail dancer. I had alot more bites from them but it was hard to set the hook on them. finnaly I just let it have it for about 10 seconds then set the hook........... thing went crazy when I got it on the bank.

That is why I suggest taking bat of some sort with you in case they get rowdy.

[Revolver45]

They're a hell of a hard fish to catch IMO, they're the kind of fish you're always so excited to catch the first few times, then the trill kinda goes away unless you catch a big one.

Make sure you use treble hooks for starters. Never cast directly at them if they're visible, they spook easily. I say cast beyond them, preferably with a top water lure and jerk it towards them, not too quicky or spiratically.

Otherwise try minnows, even with a bobber, give them something they're actually going to try to swallow, because with artificial bait, chances are they're gonna strike and let go and with those noses there's no guarantee you're going to hook them.

I'll warn you though, if they're running to spawn, chances are they won't be very hungry so it's going to take patience.

[resurrected]

I could be mistaken but I THINK Gar is on our list of endangered species in PA.

[Chipman]

I could be mistaken but I THINK Gar is on our list of endangered species in PA.

Boy are you right, I pulled up this site and it looks like almost all fish are endangerd in PA..What is the reason for that?

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/Fish/anglerboater/2000/ab91000/teposter.pdf

[resurrected]

maybe cause out waterways are dirty and not really cared for. When I moved here ages back I was disgusted at the shape the rivers and lakes were in.
I refuse to even consider eating anything from our rivers.

[Revolver45]

maybe cause out waterways are dirty and not really cared for. When I moved here ages back I was disgusted at the shape the rivers and lakes were in.
I refuse to even consider eating anything from our rivers.

A lot of people kill them, think they're a garbage fish, so that's not helping matters either. I never see them around my place but at a lake i visit in the summer sometimes there's all kinds in just 1 spot on the lake, you can't go through it without seeing at least 20. They're a very patchy fish as far as population is concerned.

[resurrected]

A lot of people kill them, think they're a garbage fish, so that's not helping matters either. I never see them around my place but at a lake i visit in the summer sometimes there's all kinds in just 1 spot on the lake, you can't go through it without seeing at least 20. They're a very patchy fish as far as population is concerned.
True, I have seen alot of fish killed for no apparent reason. and left on shore to die. Pisses me off.....

[GREENFEATHER]

All gar species reproduce very slowly. If you're not going to eat them, return them to the water. Y'all have to remember that the large fish are the breeding stock and taking them out serves no purpose. Take a camera and take a pic. I rarely keep a large fish for this very reason.

[Chipman]

All gar species reproduce very slowly. If you're not going to eat them, return them to the water. Y'all have to remember that the large fish are the breeding stock and taking them out serves no purpose. Take a camera and take a pic. I rarely keep a large fish for this very reason.

I agree with you up to a point, but any time there are to many old animals controlling the breeding the population becomes stagnant because the same genes are being passed along all the time. If one large has animal has a bad gene but he is controlling the breeding eventually all in the herd can have the less than perfect genetics it takes to survive.

[NumberTwentyTwo]

I agree with you up to a point, but any time there are to many old animals controlling the breeding the population becomes stagnant because the same genes are being passed along all the time. If one large has animal has a bad gene but he is controlling the breeding eventually all in the herd can have the less than perfect genetics it takes to survive.
the ones w less than perfect genes will eventually die off through natural selection

[I_m sore]

I used to have a longnose gar in my 55 gallon aquarium. Got him from a local pet store. He got to be about 14 inches long and i gave him back to the owner of the store to put in his pond, because he was outgrowing my tank. There pretty cool fish, it's cool to see them eat because they strike so damn quick. I had mine pretty well trained he knew when i was feeding him, and he would catch the feeder pretty much before it even hit the water.

[I_m sore]

a couple pictures of him, this is in my smaller tank still, i later moved him to my 55. In one of the pictures he has a goldfish in his mouth.