Gar Conversation Thread

2805 Views 16 Replies 12 Participants Last post by NCPIERMAN, Jul 24, 2015

philjam

Discussion Starter · Jul 22, 2015

Was told by a local that gar are overpopulated in the Pamlico watershed and are eating everything. Do gar populations go up and down or has it always been this way? Seems they don't have many natural predators so keeping their numbers in check must not happen. Maybe a bounty system - 50 cents per gar?

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Mack in N.C.

· #2 · Jul 22, 2015

philjam said:
Was told by a local that gar are overpopulated in the Pamlico watershed and are eating everything. Do gar populations go up and down or has it always been this way? Seems they don't have many natural predators so keeping their numbers in check must not happen. Maybe a bounty system - 50 cents per gar?

probably not overpopulated...i have heard this from lots of people over the years.....I fished a certain river Saturday and it was loaded gar. Been there twice this year...first time didnt see a single gar. If someone saw this river saturday they would swear it was over populated with gar. Neuse below Milburnie is like this sometimes......it is not a problem.

NCPIERMAN

· #3 · Jul 22, 2015

why kill what you don't like or won't eat just because someone says there eating every thing up? fact of the matter is bass, cats, gar, bowfin ,specks, reds and panfish thrive in the same waters,just because there is more of one fish than another does not mean they are eating everything up and yes i catch all those fish in the same body of water.
gar have no desire to kill bass and panfish when there is an abundance of other small bait fish to eat,the new river in jacksonville that i fish often is SO loaded with manhadden its hard to get a fish to eat anything else.
gar actually is great table fare but is very difficult to clean so most people dont bother but if you like lobster you would love poor mans lobster A.K.A gar

Reactions: 2

sundrop

· #4 · Jul 22, 2015

I don't know the numbers or any of the scientific "stuff" about the gar. I do see an awful lot of them and wonder sometimes if they are getting out of control, and how their presence effects other fish. I know usually when they are around in numbers I don't catch much else. I'm torn on the idea of weeding them out.

basswrangler

· #5 · Jul 22, 2015

People do tend to not like gar. I've been to many places where people catch gar or bowfin and leave them on the bank to die

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zky1812

· #6 · Jul 22, 2015

basswrangler said:
People do tend to not like gar. I've been to many places where people catch gar or bowfin and leave them on the bank to die

Well we know it's not your boy Swampin' doing that...

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basswrangler

· #7 · Jul 22, 2015

Haha nah he leaves the bobber in and laughs when I get confused by multiple bobbers swimming near where mine went under...

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turtlestew

· #8 · Jul 22, 2015

I don't think they're overpopulated. They gulp air alot in the summertime so people see them more than any other fish and make that assumption. That's my opinion anyway.

Reactions: 5

sundrop

· #9 · Jul 22, 2015

well I know if you catch some of the side creeks around Washington in the hot summer you can ruin a castnet quick in one toss when you grab 5 or 6 of them at once! and they will be so think it sounds like youre sitting in a washing machine from all the air gulping going on around you. Not to mention the false excitement when your fish finder lights up with big arches all under you.

Neilslure

· #10 · Jul 22, 2015

He was probably just another self proclaimed fisheries biologist, lots of them out there... too much of this, too little of that, we need to take fish from here and move them there and so on and so forth.

Reactions: 1

roostertail24

· #11 · Jul 23, 2015

Here is the way I look at it. We have trotliners on the rivers going at it taking cats out of the river every weekend. Guys fishing for panfish and bass. Almost no one fishes for gar. It only seems logical that they eventually become a problem when everyone takes gamefish but leaves the gar alone. Its a fish that's already resistant to the stuff that kill other fish. Low oxygen etc. Something has to be keeping those those things fat. They aren't eating fish feed.

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trigger22

· #12 · Jul 23, 2015

I don't think they hurt your chances of catching game fish at all. If anything they help. There are certain times of the year on certain bodies of water where I will look for gar rolling before I will even start trout fishing. The gar are in those spots for the same reason the trout are.

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EvBlue

· #13 · Jul 23, 2015

Fished a certain local flow a bunch of times last year and saw exactly one gar. Fished it last weekend and saw a couple dozen. Hooked two that both came unstuck. Fishing from a kayak without a net I'm kind of glad they got off

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NCPIERMAN

· #14 · Jul 23, 2015

EvBlue said:
Fished a certain local flow a bunch of times last year and saw exactly one gar. Fished it last weekend and saw a couple dozen. Hooked two that both came unstuck. Fishing from a kayak without a net I'm kind of glad they got off

i do not use a net or glove just a good rag to fold over there beaks and remove the hook and put back

Mlhank

· #15 · Jul 24, 2015

Biggest fish so far. He was fascinated with it.

Water Smile Fishing net Shorts Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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philjam

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 24, 2015

Well I asked for a conversation

My small creek had a bunch of them mid June. I tossed minnows under bobbers and got 18 strikes, landed 2. I ate them and it was not on par with bowfin.

My guess is when they are schooled up, the prey fish get hammered. I do think they are cool and so does my grandson who caught one that broke the line. We saw the bobber zipping around so got in the boat and chased it down. He handlined it in with much adventure and excitement, then asked if he could let it go (it was about 26") of course, said I.

Reactions: 1

NCPIERMAN

· #17 · Jul 24, 2015

my biggest gar so far this year was 51 inches from the kayak
[video=youtube;TuNTVyFVmRI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuNTVyFVmRI[/video]

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