Gar Fishing?

[FreeTime]

Anyone actually target gar?

A lake I have been fishing has a great population of them but I honestly have no idea how to catch these things.

Anythoughts?

Thanks,
Dave

[Kevin]

I have not targeted them, but I have accidentally/incidentally caught them in the Huron right near Milford and Kent Lake fishing spinners.

[4 Car Garage]

It might sound stupid but I'm pretty sure the best way to catch them is to use a small length of rope tied to your line. Their teeth will get tangled in the roped and you can reel them in.

[FreeTime]

I'm pretty sure the best way to catch them is to use a small length of rope tied to your line.

Why would they hit a piece of rope though? Has anyone tried this?

Dave

[Duke]

You will need some bait (fish)- live, dead, cut, whatever they don't seem to care. Hook that on and then tie a length of nylon rope to the line and unravel/fray it so that it drapes all over the bait. They will bite about anything, they are not shy about the rope. Use a big ol pike bobber with a 6-10' drop and you will catch them!! The "hook" up ratio is virtually 100% when using the rope and letting them chew it for a minute or so. "Unhooking" them can be quite a chore, you'll probably end up cutting the nylon mostly. They make for quite a freak show to bring home and display to women and children, I'll tell you what!! Cool fish though and awesome fighters- we had battles that were tarpon-esque at times, incredible leaps and powerful runs with fish that were 4-5 feet long!!

[FreeTime]

Could I use this same method casting for them?

I have had days where they start surfacing around me, clearly chasing bait. I had a day last week that they were on the surface around me for 30 minutes! They were everywhere!


Thanks for all the ideas.

Dave

[A Fisherman]

Use the rope, 4-6 inches, melt on one end, pull out the strands, tie it to your line(no hook needed) and fish it like a soft jerkbait. When they hit, don't "set the hook" let them tangle themselves up.

example:

http://www.flyfishga.com/images/gar_teeth_tangle_300.jpg

[FreeTime]

Perfect. Thanks!

Does color of the rope seem to matter?

Dave

[DHise]

Ladies nylons also work. You can also fish a standard baitfish pattern and tie a small section of mono (3 inches) to the bend of the main hook. Then tie a small (sz.16) hook to the end of the mono. The gar will eat the minnow pattern and you'll hook them in the corner of the mouth on the tiny hook. This technique works great.

[remmi]

dont they smell really bad??

[Sparky23]

I have never tried the rope thing soudns like it would work well. We used to sight fish them, boober and a dead shiner, 2 small trebles, one in the head one in the tail, wait about 10 sec. and set the hook. We would use trolling motor and drive around untill we spotted apack, the big ones are the females the smaller the males, then throw the minnow in there direction.