Impressive and nasty looking fish…….Anyone here ever gone fishing for them? What kind of leaders do you need? What lb. test line? I’m going to be down in Texas in a couple weeks and am gonna bring down one of my catfish/muskie rods and give it a try with some good ol’ shorefishin’.
i just watched a show on this the other day. it was something like quest for trophys? oln or outdoor channel ck there roster on tv guide .com for the last week. i know they were using cut bait(big) huge circle hooks and 100 # test with floats. it lokked like a blast!!! for some reason though they had to wait to set the hook till the beast was on the way up stream? there are guide services in texas who speciffically do this. ck it out on the web. 
Saw that too! Pretty wild!
do you remember what show/day? 
I saw it too- it was sat afternoon on OLN and called “One trophy” or “Just one” or something like that. Curt Gowdy was the host.
Snagging for carp and gar is legal near where I’ve turkey hunted. So we used to go snagging for them in the middle of the day on turkey hunting trips. It was in a backwater slew below a dam spillway. We used heavy rods, at least 20lb line, steel leaders, big treble hooks, and 1oz sinkers. We just threw it out and ripped it back in with hard jerks.
We would usually just give them to some folks that were there scrounging for dinner.
On that TV show did they happen to show the guys propping open a gars mouth with a stick? They drownd if they can’t close their mouth.
The only catch and release guide I could find was out of Dallas. I’m going to be in the Brownsville area( the only guide down there was for bow hunting them) I wanna catch one with a good ol’ rod and reel.
ck out this pic
They are extremely frustrating to try and hook……..
We had em in central Texas where I was stationed……..I never hooked one. Had lots of bites. Their mouth is pure bone…….So, you either got to get the hooks into the bone, or let them eat it and gut hook them.
There is some bigguns too!!!! I saw plenty that were in the 4 to 5 foot range. Mean looking, prehestoric looking, freaky creatures that keeps you from swimming in the waters…….
Dang critters would come up and snap your bobbers with their jaws, making plastic fly everywhere……..These were the long nose gator gars……
From my experience, they do like current and flowing waters……Not strong current, but they liked the eddies.
PS: These crazy things are NOT afraid of anything!!!!!!! TRUST ME ON THAT ONE!!!!!
I still shudder when I think about them!!!!! Flippin flashbacks and nightmares starting all over again………..
I’m telling ya!!!!! Don’t go wading!!!!!!
One last thing……..If it is warm down there………Watch out for rattlers and cottonmouths……..The cottonmouths are a bigger pain the 
to deal with than the rattlers…….
The show is ” Quest for the One” hosted by Trevor Gowdy. It was on OLN this morning at 9:30-10:00 eastern time I believe. see link below
OLN website
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I have seen fisherman use lasso rigs to catch gar. They make a wire leader slip loop on the end of the line instead of a hook. They run the leader through the bait before its crimped down. When the gar takes the bait the loop is around its upper jaw. When you “set the hook” it tightens around the fishes jaw and cant get out.
I wonder if Alligator Gar eat Aisan Carp? 
The Missisippi River has plenty of these toothy critters. We see them all the time just swimming along in some of the shalllow overflow pools hiking and biking the trails in the river valley between 169 and Cedar Ave bridges. The Bald Eagles feast on them. chefejs 
Lake Sam Rayburn, taken with a 2 bow shoots.
I’m gonna catch me one of them there big ol fishes. YESIREEEEE!!!!
The only way I will fish for them is with a 4 barrel .50 cal mounted on bow………… 
No sir – don’t like em!!!!!!!!!
Creepy critters!!!!!!!
For some reason I’m having a hard time trying to link the video.
Go to http://www.aimlowproductions.com and check out the bowfishing video. It’s cool
i have heard reports from an employee at the dnr fisheries dept in lax that several gar in the 18 foot range have been floated on the black river near the beach area when doing shocking studies. if this is true i’ll take my wifes cats swimming more often 
Quote:
18 foot range have been floated on the black river
?????? 
8 ft= YES
18 ft= No way, not buying that 
.
I agree with you Gary! When I have one on my line I do everything I can to lose it. I’m even creeped out when a school of 3-4 footers start surfacing around my boat.
Yuck!
I would like everyone on the beach to think they are 18 footer’s It is a good eye spot 
I have seen big gars on the river though
I guess I should know this, but I don’t pay much attention to detail when I see gar. Anyway, aren’t the gar up by us just long-nose gar and not alligator gar?
Yep, as far as I know. I like how you say “just long-nose” They can get some size 
They are a trick to hook, but can be a blast to catch
I dont think alligator gar are this far north. An 8 footer would be way over 100lb I think…
We have longnose and shortnose gar that can get maybe 5 feet long.
well the guy i know at the fisheries dept, worked there for years, must be a liar. i’ll have to stop talking to him.
Quote:
I dont think alligator gar are this far north. An 8 footer would be way over 100lb I think…
We have longnose and shortnose gar that can get maybe 5 feet long.
You are right we do not have any alligator gar this far north, and the species we do have, longnose (the largest) the world record is 51 lbs. maybe six feet long taken in Texas. The other two species shortnose and spotted the records are under ten lbs. So I am not sure what that fisheries guy was talkin about.
Seen that show on OLN also. Think they where useing circle hooks to hook them. Only watched them land one. Seemed like the rest of the show was of them chasing it around the river trying to keep it from spooling there line.
That picture of the gar in the boat is un real. That there is a people eater.
Alligator gar, which are the massive fish being talked about in this thread, were never found north of Missouri and southern Illinois. Today, they are not found anywhere north of Arkansas and Kentucky, and their numbers are low in their remaining range. Despite their fierce appearance, alligator gar are not a threat to humans or pets, as they feed on small baitfish like shad.
The gar we have in the upper midwest are the long-nosed and short-nosed gar. I don’t have a record book in front of me, but I think the Minnesota state records for those two species are around 8 lbs. A few years ago I caught a longnosed gar that measured 28″ while flathead fishing near Winona. I estimated its weight to be around 4 lbs, but I think that they are like Northern in that their long but narrow bodies fool you into thinking they weigh more than they do. I have caught quite a few longnose and shortnose over the years while flathead fishing–they seem to be far more active at night. They can be serious pests when they are actively feeding, as they will pound your live bait, and their narrow mouths make hooking them difficult. When you do hook one, watch out for the teeth, which are like needles.
I was just down in Brownsville and gave it a try. None of the bait shops or anyone else for that matter knew anything about fishing for them at all. All I got was strange looks and “Why the hell would you want to catch one of those” quotes. After a few days of looking for some spots I found a few on the resacas that meander through town. First day I went out within ten minutes had one hooked and it pulled a heavy duty leader snap straight so the hook fell off. All I saw of this fish was a giant wake and a tail slash at the surface, judging by that I would guess the fish was in the five foot range. For the next few days of fishing I built a heavier leader/bobber rig that seemed to do the trick. I had a few bites but no hookups. They like to take the bait and run for a long time.. then they’ll stop…. and then run again. It was kind of tough judging when to set the hook. I learned quite a bit while doing it and plan on catching one next time.
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