[basswrangler]

I finished my work for the day and decided I wanted to catch a big fish today, so I took off to the creek near my house with some rods, intent on doing just that. I cast a Johnson beetle spin a couple of times and caught a 5" bluegill, which would soon find itself disassembled and repurposed as cut bait for a gar. I've hooked 3 or 4 of them before, but they always broke my line... This time would be different.

I rigged up my 6'6" medium action ugly stik with a few feet of 50 lb leader and tied on a long shank panfish hook. With the cut bait on the hook, I slipped on a bobber about 8 inches from the hook. I walked the bank for a little while, until I saw a dark shape surface. It was time to get rid of my lifetime gar drought.

1 cast was all it took. I plopped the rig about 4 feet in front of him and waited. Within seconds, he was running with it: I counted to 30 and set the hook hard, and he TOOK OFF! My poor daiwa sweep fire was screaming for mercy, but I got his long nose on shore, and used a flannel shirt (which he tore to shreds) to help me grab his beak and toss him on the bank for a photo op and to get the hook out. Not bad for my first gar! Thanks for the read.

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[Swampin']

Congrats bro!!!!!! Knew you'd get one.

 

[FishStik]

Nice catch BW!!!! Theres a heap of them things in the river around here!

FishStik

 

[Whitewater]

Cool story, and nice catch...

 

[jonathan creason]

Very cool!

Side note, those things are delicious. You need a hacksaw and tin snips to clean them, but when grilled they have a firm texture and excellent flavor.

 

[basswrangler]

I've heard they're good eating, but I didn't mess with it this time!


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[NCPIERMAN]

​nice job and yes they are great eating and very tough to clean

 

[NCfishingKing]

Good job man! I'm still in my life time gar drought too....someday

 

[basswrangler]

Thanks NCPIERMAN!
And NCfisjingKing, if I can catch one I'm sure you can too! Just need a small but strong panfish hook and 2 feet of 50 lb line, and a bobber rigged about 6-8 inches up from the hook. Then just catch a small bream and cut a 1/2 inch by 3 inch strip and hook it! They seem to feed best at about 5-6 pm right now. Just walk the bank and look for 'em! Waiting 30 seconds for the hook set was torture, I must say.


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[jonathan creason]

Did you free line it when waiting on the hookset? Seems like every time we've had them messing with our catfish baits they drop it at the slightest sense of tension.

 

[basswrangler]

Yeah, I opened the bail and let him cruise!


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[NCPIERMAN]

here is 2 of my last gar trips out of the kayak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqKdXZt0tL0 they are a blast in a kayak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuNTVyFVmRI

 

[basswrangler]

It seems to me, that with their long beak and very linear gait through the water, a bridle of some sort could be devised to allow us to tame the elusive gar and use him to make our humble yaks and canoes into gar-drawn chariots


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[henchman]

Awesome catch. Now that's all you'll want to catch!

 

[dbeam]

great fish

Darrell