Anyone catch Gar on purpose?

[3dkicker]

I've had them hit Baby-1, Floating worm, and Senko type baits. A friend of mine caught one on a Sweet Beaver. I've heard the rope trick before but make sure you have the right type of rope, cotton vs nylon, or else the teeth won't get caught in the rope.

[remington]

Originally Posted by fishin' fool

I dont' know if this has been mentioned yet, but rope lures work awesome! Take about a 6 or 8 inch piece of rope, unwind the rope so the end is fraided. Take about a 1/0 hook and tire the rope on the the shank of the hook like you would tie a fly on to a hook. Put a small bit of superglue on the line so the knot stays. The hook isn't really what catches the gar. When a gar bites the rope lure its teeth and mouth will get tangled up in the fraided rope, and the more it roles the better. Its very hard to hook a gar with a hook since it's mouth is so narrow and hard. A rope lure is fairly light, so a spinning rod works the best. A rope lure actually swims awesome in the water, its like a giant hair jig. The rope end flairs out, and it has a big swimming motion as it falls really slow. There is an article in IN-fisherman about the rope lure, definetly worth trying to tie! Good fishin

THis works great. Early morning when they get schooled up on points can be very exciting! Been in schools as big as 500 before. Fast hot action and fun fun.

[Nitro901]

I live on the Arkansaw river. I intentionally fish for gar every Jan-March. I use a 6 1/2 foot spinning rod and reel with 12 lb. line. Now here's the unbelievable part: I use 2 tiny 1/8th ounce jig heads spaced about 8 inches apart with 2 inch pearl grubs. I cast out, let it hit bottom and slowly pump the rod. Almost like worm fishing for bass. The gar will lay on the bottom and I can actually feel the jighead easing up the side of the gar. Most of the time they will turn around and grab it with their snout. Other times I will set the hook and snag them. I have landed gar up to 54" with this method and over 100 a day. It seems like the colder outside the better. And I release every one of them.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

I've had them hit Baby-1, Floating worm, and Senko type baits. A friend of mine caught one on a Sweet Beaver. I've heard the rope trick before but make sure you have the right type of rope, cotton vs nylon, or else the teeth won't get caught in the rope.

Growing up in Houston, TX and fishing the Houston ship channel down around the San Jacinto Monument for Gar was a regular adventure and a teenage passion! We would take Surf Casting Rigs (long spinning rods and Spiing reels, spooled with 25 # test mono). The business end would usually be about 18" of frayed red or yellow nylon rope. We would catch both fish gar and alligator gar as long as the tide wasn't moving. It also had to be hot and dead calm. They would come to the surface to feed on schools of shiners and shad. All you needed to do was get that rope in front of them and the rest was pure fun!

[vabeachbass]

I had no idea gar get that size! That is terrifying. And to think I was spooked by a 2 ft gar cruising the shore the other morning.

[nofearengineer]

Vabeach, there are credible (yet unconfirmed, for obvious reasons) of alligator gar back in the 1800's that were 12 feet long.