Gar Fishing

“How can I catch those longnose gar?” This question has been asked by many anglers. Fishing for Gar can be a challenge assuming a fisherman is using conventional tactics such as a hook, line and float. Longnose gar have a long narrow boney snout full of needle-like teeth. This makes hooking them quite a challenge. Quite often, an angler will think he has hooked a gar only to struggle for some time until the gar just lets go of the bait.

Some facts about Gar

• Gar are known as needlenose gar, garfish, freshwater garfish, gavinfish and sometimes needlefish.
• Gar havfe a long body shaped as a cylinder covered with diamond shape scales
• Gar can tolorate conditions such as low oxygen levels that would kill most other fish.
• Gar are found in rivers and lakes as far north as southern Quebec and as far south as northern Mexico.
• There are large concentrations of gar found in Texas, Alabama and anywhere along the Mississippi river.
• Some species of gar can exceed 10 feet.

The following tactic was devised primarily for sight fishing and to prevent the gar from releasing the lure once it decided to bite.

Obtain 1/8 – 3/16 white nylon braided rope. Cut several 3-4 inch lengths off of the main length of rope. On each 3-4 inch length of rope, take care not to fray one end of the nylon. A small piece of painters tape lightly placed on the rope section can prevent the end from fraying.

Obtain a few small silver spoons from around 1-2 inches long. These spoons will have a small ring attached to the end with a treble hook hanging off. Removing the hook makes the conversion of this lure to a gar lure a little easier. The hook can always be added back onto the ring once the rope has been attached.

• Remove the treble hook from the ring.
• Slide 3-4 inch section of rope through the ring.
• Using a match or lighter, slightly melt the end of the rope that has been slid through the ring. Give this a few seconds to dry.
• Pull on the opposite end of the rope so that the melted end comes in contact with the ring.
• Start unwinding the rope at the farthest point from the lure. Unwind to about ¾” from the melted end.
• If fish other than gar are desired, add the treble hook back onto the lure. It will still be effective for gar, but may also allow the angler to hook other fish as well.

This rope lure combination is very effective when sight fishing for gar. When the gar can be seen rolling on top of the water chasing shad or whatever the primary food source is in a given body of water, this lure combination can be thrown toward the general area to attract the gar. When the gar bites the lure, its tiny teeth get caught in the frayed up rope. When fishing this lure, it’s important to keep a few of those 2-3 inch sections of rope in the tackle box in case the piece on the lure needs to be replaced. A steel leader can be added for additional insurance against lure loss while fishing for these toothy creatures.