The GAR saga

[sfef84]

I havn't seen the Gar (I named him Gary a year ago) in almost 6 months. After that big rain it seems that it is now patrolling the cove and I am determined to catch him. About 2 weeks ago I caught a smaller gar (about 4 ft) and was kind of pissed because I thought it was bigger, I knew I had seen something bigger. Last night, I was finally able to get a good look at Gary the Gar.

Went down to check out the lights last night, walked up to the top of the boat house and looked down.... DANG!! The lights had at least 40 keeper trout in it. About 2 seconds later I heard some funny business going on along the wall. Looked over and couldn't see anything so decided to get my big ars HID spotlight in the car. Ran back up and was able to find this behemoth. Keep in mind, the spotlight pattern is about 13 ft diameter... Im gonna need some 200lb steel leader.

[mjh]

I have a friend of mine that has a 207lb. Gater gar by was of the bow and arrow!

[WestEndAngler]

Albert & I have at least three 5' + gars swimming around in the canal we're on... I want to catch this 6' 200lb + monster

[nokatchin]

Cool,good luck catching him

[sfef84]

I took the pic with my camera phone and oviously cant adjust shutter speed f stops or anything like that, but I assure you there is 50 % more length that is visible in the pic. I think its a solid 7+.

Here is what I have been using to fish it:

Penn Slammer meat stick with big offshore Sargus w/ 60lb braid
200 lb swivel --> 80 lb steel leader and a Mustad 7/0 circle hook

3 questions:

1) tried a treble hook and the gar won't swallow it so went to a circle. Should I go regular J hook so I can "set the (*&)* out of it" or keep the circle hook?

2) How long should the leader be?

3) Is 80lb steel leader strong enough?

[3rd Coast Aggie]

Make sure you have a camera ready!

[dn17]

The circle hook should be fine, just make sure you give him plenty of time to run and take a few bites (in free spool) and completely inhale the hook before you set the brakes on him. I would add atleast 15-20 ft of 60-80 lb mono between the braid and steel as a shock leader since braid doesn't stretch and could possibly pull the hook completely out of its mouth whenever you set the drag. As for leader length, I'm not really sure if the tail whip of a gar could break mono so you would probably want to go length of the fish plus 1' just to be safe.

[PasadenaMan]

Holeee Toledo

[sfef84]

I've got bait it in the water as we speak. I'm alone and will need some help. If there's a message after this one stating HELP... I'm at the culde sac of windlass court in laffittes cove. Anyone near is welcome to help. Give me a call 2145642516. I'll buy you a beer. Also. I forgot my rope to wrap it around the belly and haul it up. Should be fun.

[Swells]

The guys I know use gear similar to fishing big shark, like 50# reels that have 20# or more of drag, although maybe an old Penn Senator 50 could do it. Spinning gear usually ain't gonna cut it, nor a Penn Slammer "Snoopy rod" unless you got heavy/fast action. The hook leader should be steel piano wire of maybe 200# test, maybe 3 feet of that. A 2X heavy O'Shaughnessey J-hook like a 10/0 should work.

Next put on a 200# swivel on the steel leader and use clear heavy mono or fluorocarbon of about 15 feet to prevent tail whipping, big as you can get like 300#. I'm serious ... ask somebody to crimp that at both ends for ya if you don't have a crimping tool. You can't tie knots with this stuff so forget that. The steel is just for the teeth but you need that nice thick line to haul him onto the boat or onshore - you'll need a lasso rope to get him by the tail and hang him from a tree or something, too.

Now tie on your mainline, which can be mono (30-50#) or braid (80-150#). You can use another swivel although some know the Bimini loop-to-loop knots which you can roll up into the reel.

Now get a 5-gallon bucket and a weight scale and fill it up with 20 pounds of weight and use your hook to pick it up off the ground. This is to make sure your rig can handle a large gar. Your reel might be set to 14 pounds, so take out some weight to 14 pounds and try again ... you got to get that bucket off the ground without your terminal leader breaking. If the leader or the pole breaks, well try again because you're going to need some major drag to wear out a big ole gar!

Some use a sledge hammer or ax to kill the gar in his brain hole above the eyes, and some use a gun. Large gar can live out of water for quite some time so be forewarned. And keep the hands and kids away from its mouth because they're nasty with teeth.

There's two muscles almost like backstrap on a gar, if you want to chop him up. The rest is pretty much worthless IMHO. Have fun,

sammie

[PasadenaMan]

So do y ou want to borrow my sawzaw?... ..

[PasadenaMan]

Any update or are you still fighting said gar

[sfef84]

no luck yesterday.... I called it a day as the skeeters were getting bad around 730 and went to the top of the boathouse and saw him chillin in the middle of a neighbors lights. Figures. Its getting to the point were this gar is to me, what catfish Hunter was to Walter Matthau in Grumpy old Men lol. One of these days.... one of these days.

[SurfnFish]

http://animal.discovery.com/fish/riv...s/map/map.html ... click on Texas.

7 footer caught in the Trinity River.

[sfef84]

I saw that on TV a while ago and i think its the ONE episode where he doesn't say much about what hes using, hook size, etc. Oh well... Ill be at it again later today. Offer still stands.