aligator gars?

[RichardR]

These damn things are driving me nuts, anyway to keep them from hitting on my lines, they were kind of fun to catch at first but after dealing with them for a couple of months the novelty has worn off.

[dats82]

I've heard they are good eating. I wouldn't know first had, but that is what I've been told.

[DaveS]

I have a neighbor that takes everyone I give him. Good white flakey meat. I've tried it, not bad...

Dave

[Wingshooter]

Just curious... how big are the ones you have been catching? Biggest one I have found in the Hiwassee River was only about 14".

Also, what have they been hitting? I would like to catch one for the novelty of it

[Oh Shoot]

Where are you catching them?

Not that it probably makes any diff to ya, but unless you've found some strange and rare concentration of them, they're almost certainly not alligator gar, btw.

Also, to echo Batman, what ARE you using? I've fished around them the majority of my life in Watts Bar, caught very few. I once spent a couple of afternoons floating around a bazillion of them floating around in the Holston River, never got a one to strike and I tossed everything at them, artificial and live.

- OS

Edited July 22, 2012 by OhShoot

[Handsome Rob]

OS has it right. We DO have a tiny population of Alligator Gar, but only in the extreme West of the state & they're listed as a protected species. I would bet that you've got either Spotted or Longnose gar. I bowfish the hell out of 'em in the spring on the Tennessee River around South Pittsburg.

And yes, they're exceptionally good table fare! Either boiled in crab-boil or breaded & fried, in my opinion it's the best eating fish in the State!

[Handsome Rob]

Ah, my apologies, I've just seen that you are in the extreme west! There's not much you can do to stop 'em hitting set lines really. They're voracious predators & they'll pretty much take anything you put in front of 'em.

[Dennis1209]

Too many bones for me.

Want to hear a good one?

For many years I had a bass boat and spent hundreds, thousands of hours bass and crappie fishing. Can't tell you how many hundreds of times I caught a crappie, bass, catfish, lipped them and put em in the live well. Got ingrained about like muscle memory with a pistol you know?

Bet you know where I'm going with this!

Yep, one day I caught about a 8 pound gar on a minnow, nice fight while it lasted. Without even thinking, muscle memory kicked in, thumb and index finger slips into the critters mouth and...

Let's just say my muscle memory was re-taught

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

We use to catch them in Alabama and it took a long time to get the dead. And I always thought they where trash fish? Lots of bones and stuff?

Same with Drum but then we ate some and they where really realllllyyy good

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Oh and I think most are spotted Gar.

[DaveS]

When I ran my Taxidermy shop, I had the opportunity to mount the State Record Spotted Gar caught by Victor Robinson. He caught the 9 pound fish at Cross Creeks Wildlife Refuge.

Most of the Gar being caught by anglers is the more common Spotted and Longnose Gar as RobTattoo stated. Aligator gar are a fight from hell! Short nose Gar show up at times in the creel.

Dave

Edited July 24, 2012 by wd-40

[Timestepper]

I've heard that high voltage and explosives will get rid of them, but that'll pretty much take care of everything else, too.

OS - weird as it sounds, this works for catching gar: Take a piece of 1/4 - 3/8 braided nylon rope and "frazzle" about four to six inches of it then tie it your terminal gear and work it like an over-sized streamer. No hook needed - the gar will hit it and their teeth get tangled and caught in the frayed nylon and they simply can't get off. I've used this method for years when deliberately targeting gar to use as garden fertilizer and it works pretty darned good!

[Oh Shoot]

....

And yes, they're exceptionally good table fare!

I've eaten the only two big ones I ever caught, maybe 9-10 pounders; yes they are bony, but the bones are much larger than in say a carp of equal size. I steaked them out like folks do Northern Pike, pretty easy to pick around bones. Tasted fine.

Longears I reckon, 'cause they're the biggest cept for the alligator. Caught 'em below Watts Bar dam. Just odd that I fished that area to death growing up and only caught the two, though have seen a few caught or floating dead in the 20-25# range there. Have caught a few smaller ones up in the lake, dunno which breed they were. Would see them sometimes coming through the area while night fishing with lanterns, but just very rare to hook one.

One thing though, that I didn't learn till recently, and learned it right here on TGO: Gar eggs are poisonous. Like seriously!

Lucky I didn't happen to eat any (maybe they didn't have any) as I'd fry up crappie, bream, bass, etc eggs from time to time.

- OS

edit:

OS - weird as it sounds, this works for catching gar: Take a piece of 1/4 - 3/8 braided nylon rope and "frazzle" about four to six inches of it ...

Mondo bizzaro; I guess I always approached them much too high tech.

Edited July 22, 2012 by OhShoot

[Timestepper]

Sometimes over-simplified is good thing. (An old man in Southeast Kansas showed me that trick more than 25 years ago.) And if you use a medium weight fly rod with the above method, you won't find a better fight this side of the bonefish flats in Florida. On the other hand, if you're just after them for fertilizer (like me) or don't care about the fight, a good heavy action catfish rod with high strength terminal tackle works just fine.

[Oh Shoot]

... And if you use a medium weight fly rod with the above method, you won't find a better fight this side of the bonefish flats in Florida...

Have actually done that, caught 4 over widely spaced years, two on flyrod -- they are indeed incredible, but not sure the gar should be quite equated with them pound for pound IMHO.

I also used to catch carp at will out of Melton Hill to use as fertilizer for ... well, um...the "garden", yeah, that's it.

- OS

Edited July 22, 2012 by OhShoot

[Handsome Rob]

Bony??? Where on earth are you finding the bones in Gar?

If you fillet out the 'backstraps' for want of a better word, there are no bones at all. It takes a little practice & you need to forget everything you know about cleaning fish.

You'll need a pair of tinsnips (yes, really!) & a knife. Punch a hole through the skin along the back of the fish, just behind the gills. Insert the tinsnips & cut all the way down the spine to the back of the dorsal fin. Cut down the fish behind the gill & down the back of the dorsal fin creating a 'flap' of skin, the full length of the fish.

Insert your knife & skin the fish as you would a deer. You can now insert your knife into the meat along the spine & fillet out the two backstraps, just as you would a deer. You'll get a really nice, clean fillet of pure white flesh, without a single bone in it!

The only further step is to clean off the light grey colored connective tissue on the outside of the flesh. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't taste too nice.

When you're cooking Gar, you have to make sure to NOT overcook it. It can get very rubbery if overdone. I like to use Zatarain's crab boil or Southern Fish Fry on mine.

[Dennis1209]

Bony??? Where on earth are you finding the bones in Gar?

If you fillet out the 'backstraps' for want of a better word, there are no bones at all. It takes a little practice & you need to forget everything you know about cleaning fish.

You'll need a pair of tinsnips (yes, really!) & a knife. Punch a hole through the skin along the back of the fish, just behind the gills. Insert the tinsnips & cut all the way down the spine to the back of the dorsal fin. Cut down the fish behind the gill & down the back of the dorsal fin creating a 'flap' of skin, the full length of the fish.

Insert your knife & skin the fish as you would a deer. You can now insert your knife into the meat along the spine & fillet out the two backstraps, just as you would a deer. You'll get a really nice, clean fillet of pure white flesh, without a single bone in it!

The only further step is to clean off the light grey colored connective tissue on the outside of the flesh. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't taste too nice.

When you're cooking Gar, you have to make sure to NOT overcook it. It can get very rubbery if overdone. I like to use Zatarain's crab boil or Southern Fish Fry on mine.

Well since you brought it up, may I suggest the best use for Gar in a SHTF situation? Keep in mind this receipt is to keep from starving. This may sound outrageous but, you'll notice my palette preferences pertaining to the Gar fish.

Take 2-5 pound Gar and get as many bones out as humanly possible.

Place Gar between two 8" x 8" pieces of 3/4" plywood.

Pack Gar and plywood with 3" of fresh cow manure (dry dung will do in a pinch).

Throw on hot coals for 5 minutes each side.

Remove from coals, let cool, relocate Gar to garden, eat plywood and dung.

Even Fish & Game had to hold their nose putting the Alligator Gar on the endangered species list.

[Timestepper]

Have actually done that, caught 4 over widely spaced years, two on flyrod -- they are indeed incredible, but not sure the gar should be quite equated with them pound for pound IMHO.

- OS

Okay, help me out here since I'm obviously not terribly bright: You caught 4 what? Bonefish? Gar? Sorry, I'm just lost.

When I was <much> younger we'd go down to Lake Eufala in Oklahoma where they have some absolute monster gar. While we generally went after cats or bass, the gar were always a thrill, especially when hooked on light tackle.

I like bonefish, too, but I must've just caught some really lazy ones because, yeah, they fought better than the gar (which is why I said you won't find a better fight this side of the bonefish flats), but they weren't as spectacular as I'd been lead to believe.

JMO (with humble apologies and deference to your superior knowledge and experience).

[MacGyver]

Nothing hits like a bonefish on fly tackle.

[Timestepper]

Nothing hits like a bonefish on fly tackle.

Unless it's a shark on a "surfboarder lure." Had a seven pound drum nail a cricket once when I was fishing for bluegill and I actually felt a "whack" on the rod like when you're a kid and holding a baseball bat and another kid sneaks up and hits your bat with his. My hands kept tingling for another 10 minutes after I finally landed him.

[MacGyver]

Unless it's a shark on a "surfboarder lure." Had a seven pound drum nail a cricket once when I was fishing for bluegill and I actually felt a "whack" on the rod like when you're a kid and holding a baseball bat and another kid sneaks up and hits your bat with his. My hands kept tingling for another 10 minutes after I finally landed him.

Funny, I was fishing from my stand up paddle board this morning...

[RichardR]

Yup I am on the far west side of the state, but to be honest I wouldnt know an alligator gar from a spotted from a longnosed one, never saw one before I moved down here and alligator gar was what a local called them.

Anyway my main fishing spot is on the Hatchie river, just a couple miles down from where the Hatchie and Mississippi rivers meet, most of the gars that I catch are long and thin, usually between 2 and 3 feet long, not bad as far as the fight in them using light panfish tackle, but not worth the hassle of dealing with all of those razor sharp teeth, especially since I have no interest in eating them.

I was just wondering if there was some rig or bait that they wouldnt strike.

[Oh Shoot]

Okay, help me out here since I'm obviously not terribly bright: You caught 4 what? Bonefish? Gar? Sorry, I'm just lost...

Bonefish. Wasn't clear, I guess. Used to spend a month every winter in Keys just fishing. Mostly just "meat" fishing on ocean side inshore and out to the reef on calm days, but occasional forays into flats and backwater, where I needed local knowledge. I actually lost the first couple of bonefish I ever hooked because I just didn't have enough line/backing on the fly reel.

I'm pretty sure there's not another fish pound for pound with a bonefish's speed and strength and stamina -- at least a species that I have caught. I've described them to freshwater fishermen as imagine a 5-7lb bluegill with 5 times its normal stamina to get an approximation of what the same size bonefish is like. Maybe you did find some under-achievers, dunno.

The other main sportsfish I've taken on flyrod down there is the tarpon, but never actually landed over about a 12 pounder, though I've had some whoppers on, but they all managed to throw the hook. Giant shad, really, and the only reason you can land such whoppers on light tackle is because unlike a bonefish, they wear themselves out in the air jumping, Which makes it harder to keep a hook in them though.

The ultimate light tackle gamefish down there in my opinion is the snook. Elusive, picky, as easily spooked as a bonefish, a real battle and a combo between running and jumping, very strong also. With the additional advantage that they are fine eating! Never caught but a couple of smaller ones, neither 10 lbs, but I think if I Iived down there it would become a real passion to go after them.

None of this is to denigrate our fine prehistoric TN gar, however.

- OS

Edited July 23, 2012 by OhShoot

[DaveS]

I was just wondering if there was some rig or bait that they wouldnt strike.

NOPE!!!! Short of not fishing!

Dave

[Good_Steward]

I've heard that high voltage and explosives will get rid of them, but that'll pretty much take care of everything else, too.

OS - weird as it sounds, this works for catching gar: Take a piece of 1/4 - 3/8 braided nylon rope and "frazzle" about four to six inches of it then tie it your terminal gear and work it like an over-sized streamer. No hook needed - the gar will hit it and their teeth get tangled and caught in the frayed nylon and they simply can't get off. I've used this method for years when deliberately targeting gar to use as garden fertilizer and it works pretty darned good!

I have done this, and, surprisingly enough, it works. Just try this when they are eating near top water.