Someone once told me that it’s nearly impossable to hook a gar. Well, I’ve caught two on a spinner and minnow. One was just pricked in the mouth with the hook and the other just let go of the minnow once in the boat.
We’ve all have gar runs while fishing cats with suckers…but tonight…we landed a gar that was hooked through the lower jaw with a 10/0 …and he bite on cut bait!
That’s a new one for my books. 
Did you get any pictures of the beasts?
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Did you get any pictures of the beasts?
Yeah, we want pictures!!! I need to catch one of them. Not too long ago, In-Fisherman had an article about them (the “Multi-species Issue”). It seems that most people who target gar use lures with no hooks and a few inches of unraveled nylon rope. The gar hit it and their teeth and snout get tangled in the rope.
Here’s an idea of what those lures look like:
I caught a gar a number of years ago in German lake (near Mankato) while trolling with a shad rap.
I have caught a couple here in the Lacrosse area on spinner baits, when you see them crusing the shallows in the swamps.
Mr. Wiggum,
Come and get me I’m waiting……
That is so cool! I really need to catch one of them.
Funny you guys are talking about this because wed. night when we were out, I had about a 4 footer come in all the way to the boat and then let the blugill go and swam away.It had the gill sideways in its mouth and wouldn’t let go until it seen the boat. They can be very frustrating fish harrassing your bait at prime time hours. But we were talking about that article and tried to figure out what that bait would look like. Good post. 
Dan that is a very cool picture!
Caught an 8#lb+ gar several years ago while throwing a bomber crank….not a single hook in the fish….he was clamped down on the swivel snap.
Caught several gar on cutbait – I prefer not to have them in the area messing with my flat baits, though.
Whoa, that is big. I’m afraid we will be named the “rough fish forum” soon. I’ve hooked a few by putting on a treble and setting the hook like a basser. Haven’t found them around these parts though.
we found a whole school of gar in a feeding frenzy one day on the Croix a few years ago… had a tough time trying to get them hooked but did manage to catch a couple. Biggest was nearly 4 foot long!
A guy I talked to about this said that once they take your bait, open the bail and let them run. They’ll make one run with the bait and then stop. Once they start a ‘second’ run, then you can set the hook because they probably swallowed the bait when they stopped. I have yet to find any this year but can’t wait to try it! They do really fight like crazy and are fun to play out. Just be careful of those teeth! One clamped down on my son’s sweatshirt so hard I thought we were going to have to pry it’s mouth open to get it off…
Hi Brian,
Nice to see you last night for our “annual rendezvous.” It got a little later this year- hope I never miss it completely though! Speaking of annual trditions, I also found myself bleeding like a stuck pig last night by not being smart enough to keep my fingers out of a fish’s mouth. This time it is wan’t my fault though. I had just landed my personal best Shortnose gar of 29″ ( you must have stirred them up last night), and had got him into the “boat” (I guess that was mistake #1) when he unexpectedly jumped up into the air, bounced off the top of my tacle box, and as quick as lightning came from almost two feet away to clamp squarley onto my left index finger. In a miracoulus turn of events he released almost immediatly but then bounced around for the next minute and a half, twisting and spinning with fantastic speed and ferocity.
I didn’t think I was even hurt at first, although I knew my finger was in his beak. Then I heard the sound of some big drops hitting the alumiinum floor and I then realized a had a minor gusher flowing from my finger. There were indeed two neat rows of small punctures across my finger… not really that much damage though. I could only think of what kind of lacerations would have occurred had he clamped on and then done furious routine. There literally would have not been much left of my finger then. I would have had to cut the stump off with the pliers and kept on fishing I guess.
Other than the gar, we managed two channels, a bowfin, a nice carp, a river carp sucker, of course several sheepies and an 8 pound flat that should have weighed 5, but it looked like it swallowed a beach ball. Other than the blood letting and swallowing several dozen bugs (you warned me!), it was another great night on the river.
I’ve seen pictures of gar rigs without hooks. Down south, where everything’s different, they fish for gar with the bait hanging on the inside of a wire snare. The gar hit the bait, the snare tightens around the snout, and it’s on. They are tough to hook, but not impossible. I used to catch tons of them in Nebraska, in small rivers and backwaters of the Missouri. They are a ton of fun… until you land one and realize you forgot your pliers…
Ben
I haven’t caught a gar in years, but we used to hook them periodically growing up. They would hit the bait and they would roll. Unless you got the fish in rather quickly, not only did you need a pliers, but a scissors was normally needed to cut the line off of the snout.
JD
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