Gar

[mistaredone]

Anyone fish for gar? I have seen one on the trent but couldent get it to take. Any good areas to try?

[Gerritt]

Hands down.... Back bays on GB....

 

But many lakes have them... but I have seen 95% of my Gar pike on GB

 

Yarn lures work well.

 

Hope this helps.

 

G

Edited April 14, 2008 by Gerritt

[gone_fishin]

never caught one myself but a buddy of mine did (rookie fisherman too)... we see lots of them out at West Lake cruising around the surface, they rarely hit lures though. that being said my buddy got his on a huskey jerk. sorry i couldn't help much.

[bow slayer]

below fanshawe dam in London. small minnows and small hooks. You usually hook them in the snout.

[mistaredone]

GB?

[Gerritt]

Georgian Bay

 

 

G

[irishfield]

and a piece of yellow nylon rope for bait.

[Casey123]

Caledonia Dam on the Grand is loaded with them. Big yarn baits, no hook required.

Cool looking fish.

[Rich]

Small jerkbaits are what I used in florida (Husky Jerk style).

 

Ones I see around here are tricky, they don't seem to take to well to minnows. Love to hit my flukes when I'm bass fishing though (can never get the hook set that way).

[smbhunter]

I fly fish for them, lots of fun.

You can find them in GB, lower stretches of the grand and trent rivers, Nipissing, BOQ, Lake O, Lake Erie, etc. Any quite back bay will be stacked with them and you can get good numbers in a day. To locate gar easily, look for surfacing fish in bays, as they have a set of modified lungs and frequently surface to gulp air. Once located, approach slowly and quitely, as they tend to spook easily at times. The best times to catch them are in July and August, and even the end of June can be productive. When spawning, these fish will not hit anything as they are focused on the task at hand. The spawning usually takes place at the end of May and/or beginning of June, depending on the weather and location. Luckily, spawning only lasts for a couple of days.

Make sure you have very sharp hooks, and attach a small treble, with heavy braided or flourocarbon line, to the end of a single hook, with a fluke or senko type bait. A piece of frayed nylon rope, about 3-5 inches in length, attached to a hook works well, as the teeth will get stuck in the frayed rope if the hook doesn't stick.

I hope this helps.

[Pachone]

great topic with great tips...always wondered how to hook one of these bad boys..

 

so is this ruling out that hooks dont work on these guys?? and can anyone provide a picture example of this nylon rope?

 

what do these fish usually feed on?

 

thanks

-mike

Edited April 15, 2008 by Pachone

[irishfield]

Okay..next question.. do they have a season? Doesn't appear so in the OMNR guide.

[smbhunter]

There is no season on gar as they are considered a coarse fish.

 

Hooks do work, but they must be very sharp. Expect to land maybe 1 out of every 10 hooked. They fight hard and unless you get them in the fleshy part of the snout close to the head, the hooks won't stick. I had one day last year where I hooked about 30 gar and landed only 5. That's why I like the small treble attached about an inch or two behind a single hook, it tends to bite into the bony snout better. To increase hooking percentage with any bait, be patient, let the gar take the bait and feel for about 4-5 twitches and/or the fish to stop. The twitches are the gar stunning and working the prey closer to their mouth. Sometimes you can wait for a good 10 minutes for this process and other times just a few seconds. If patient enough, you can hook them in the fleshy portion of the snout and land many more.

 

This pic is an example of just that. This gar was hooked right in the fleshy corner of the mouth using the 'patient' technique.

[Carp]

I've seen many in Georgian Bay.

Hooked a few, but never able to land one.

My dad & brother caught a couple when they hit

baits being trolled & tangled themselves in the line.

[gone_fishin]

oh yeah, one more thing... They REALLY STINK... worst smelling fish EVER!!! some people say muskies have a strong odor... absolutely not!!! Gar Pike, by far the strongest odor on a fish i have ever smelt.

[JerseyDog]

And their roe is poisonous.

[OhioFisherman]

Also caught them on the back bays of the Georgian, on minnows, their primary food supply, my wife lasso`ed one, no hook in it`s mouth, just the line wrapped are it`s bill. LOL freshwater billfish?

[johnnyb]

My only experience has been on a small silver spoon retrieved pretty quick and jerky, on the St. Clair river...spoon had a small treble hook, which grabbed their snout nicely, as smbhunter was explaining. Next question: Anybody ever eat one?

[Headhunter]

Fished for them many times in the Thames river, mainly near the Spring Bank Dam... we found them very difficult to hook, but here's what worked for us as we gained experience.

They tend to cruise in the top 2 ft of water, so we would use a treble hook, wrap as many minnows around the treble as it would hold and hang it about 4-6 inches below a float.

It's fun watchin your float get towed all around... after a period of time, set the hook.

As mentioned above, they are difficult to hook, but they also were lousy fighters! Once you get the beak up and out of the water, they simply water ski in!

We found it a fine way to kill a nice summer day!

HH

PS.. the alligator gar in the south was used by natives for their scales... they became arrow heads... also, if memory serves, the flesh is also poisonous!

[capt bruce]

Used to catch them all the time in the moria river when I was younger on small rapallas , dont know about them being poison as I have ate few , hard to clean with their armor skin , but once you get them filleted we would boil them in crab boil and eat in chunks like lobster in garlic butter , better tasteing than carp or bowfin but not near as good as muskie or STEELHEAD lol .

Edited April 15, 2008 by capt bruce

[Reef Runner]

Seen a HUGE one (maybe 10#s) in Georgian Bay fishing fr ski's at night. dropped plastics, husky jerk, even tried a mepps spinner...no luck. Didn't know about the yellow yarn though, good tip.

 

reefrunner

[MuskyBill]

[Pachone]

The Gar will actually strike the nylon and it basically just gets tangled?

[wallyboss]

I think that if you use that nylon rope lure and it doesn't at least have one hook on it then it is not considered angling.

 

Angling – Angling means fishing with a line to which one to four

hooks are attached and that is held in the hand or closely attended.

 

And it is illegal to take fish by any means other than angling, spear, bow and

arrow, net or bait fish trap.

 

 

GENERAL PROHIBITIONS – IT IS ILLEGAL TO:

• Fish for or possess the following specially protected fish species;

American eel, cutlip minnow and redside dace.

• Possess any of the following live invasive species: rudd, ruffe,

bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, silver carp, round goby,

tubenose goby or any member of the snakehead family.

• Sell any angler-caught fish, crayfish, leeches, frogs, fish eggs

or spawn, including angler-caught yellow perch taken from the

waters of Lake St. Francis. Only holders of commercial fishing

and commercial bait licences may sell their catch.

• Possess a spring gaff, snagger, or spear gun for the purpose of

fishing. No person shall take fish with a gaff or snare. A gaff may

be used to assist in landing fish caught by lawful means.

• Catch a fish by impaling or snagging it with a hook through any

part of the body other than the mouth – any fish hooked in this

way must be released immediately.

• Take fish by any means other than angling, spear, bow and

arrow, net or bait fish trap.

 

Not trying to ruffle feathers here but that is what I have been told about those nylon rope lures.

Edited April 15, 2008 by wallyboss

[4thgen]

I really doubt you would even be checked and IF you got checked, I'm even more doubtful that you would be fined. If anyone is worried however, you could just throw a tiny hook (like a 12 or smaller)on there and be legal without really changing the bait.