# Jug Lining for BIG gar.



## Little-bit (Oct 19, 2005)

How do you rig up jug lines to catch a BIG gar?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Here is how we did it back last century when we thought they were rough fish.

Items needed:
One medium action 7' boat rod.
One 7500 Garcia or 203 Penn reel filled with 100# braided line (must be braided)
Steel leader material #100 plus.
10/0 treble hooks.
2/0 brass swivels
4x4x12 inch styrofoam blocks.
Large rubber bands

To rig up use one hook on the the end of 3 ft of wire leader. A swivel on other end.
Measure off 50 ft minimum 100# braided line and tie to swivel. Tie a single over hand knot in the free end of the braid. 
Starting at the free end wind the braid on to a foam block. When there is four feet of braid plus the 3 ft of leader secure the wound line to the foam with two or more rubber bands. You want the line fairly secure so the gar will not easily strip it off. 
You now have a "jug line" type devise.

Thread the braid through the rod guides and tie a single over hand knot in the free end.
Lay the rod so it is easily accessible in the boat.

You are ready to fish.

Used a large piece of fresh fish such as carp, buffalo or gou. A 2 pound fish cut in half makes two nice baits.
Make as many floats as you are able to watch from your boat. Deploy the baited jug lines. You want the baits near the surface so keep the hook no more that 5 to 8 feet below the float.

Now a little biology lesson. Those gator gar have teeth but they do not bite chucks off of a bait like a shark. The teeth are to grasp and kill by applying pressure. A gar normally will not take a bait larger than it can swallow in one gulp.

The gar will take the bait and start to swim away. Just follow the float as he swims. During this time the gar is maneuvering the bait in its mouth to swallow it. It is using the water pressure created by movement to force the bait into its mouth. When it is properly situated, it will swallow the bait. The best indication is the gar will stop and then start on another course looking for the next meal.
When you feel that it has swallowed the bait just slowly ease up to the float and lift it into the boat. Quickly strip the braid off the float, grab the free end from the rod and tie the two ends together by holding the lines parallel with the end knots together. One quick overhand knot pulled tight is enough. The knots placed in the end of the line will keep it from slipping through.
While all of this is going on the gar will be alerted and start to try to get away from the boat so move fast.
When the connection is made reel in the slack and hang on. No real need to set the hook. If the bait was swallowed he is caught. If it did not swallow the bait the gar will more than likely spit it out before you can make the connection. 

Some folks use a balloon on a line to float a R&R baited line away from the boat. This works OK but most people get too anxious and try to set the hook too soon. Also trying to fish more that two rods will always end in tangled lines.

Using free floats lets you fish multiple hooks over a larger area. This works very well in rivers and reasonably calm lakes. Gar normally feed in a loose school so you need to watch the surface for the feeding area. There are always gar around pine Island on LL. Those under size stripers that are released are their primary food source in the mid morning.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Fascinating Sunbeam. That is a great education for folks interested in fishing for the big guys.
Last summer Lee could not stand it, seeing those big gator gars coming in to clean up after the morning striper slaying, he had to catch one.
So we baited up and dropped a line in the loose school that was rolling around the island, it didn't take long before one picked up his bait and went about 50 yards before stopping. 
I told him to wait a few seconds and set the hook, after a pretty good fight he landed the 5.5 foot gator gar and we took it to Beacon Bay fish house to clean it.
The hardest part was killing the beast! I used a pipe about 4' long and the first couple of whacks just woke it up!! 
After it bit the dust I had to figure out how to clean it, a real chore when you don't know the tricks.
I got it done and cooked some, it was very good right out of the grease, but after that it was not very good at all.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Also bear in mind that the limit is one per day. If you catch one and keep it then you should (or maybe must) stop fishing. It is difficult to C&R a gar with a 10/0 treble in it's gut. If you cut the leader it will probably die later.
Why one a day. Because they are a large part of a balanced ecosystem in the lakes and rivers. A gator gar can live 40 years or longer. They are in their teens before they become successful spawners.
They are river fish that has lost 75% of it's natural habitat.
In the 60's and 70's we killed them for the market by the hundreds below the LL dam.
It is a little humbling to think that a fish I caught in 1970 had offspring that are just now reaching full maturity.
TP&W has determined that the limited fishing for them can bear a one fish a day limit. So if you catch one by all means keep it. but be reasonable about taking more than you can use. 
I had a San Jac GW tell me he would be harder on a over limit of gar than he would killing a real alligator.


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## Barbarian (Feb 12, 2009)

i wish i had that tip 10 years ago. we use to jug them in the oilfield canals running through the marshes in SW LA. we used a gallon jug and through process of elimination (many failures) came to believe this as our best chance of success. we would tie 6-8 strands of decoy string from the jug to a big treble about 3' long and feed it through a mullet. throw them out just before dark and run them in the morning. definite an adrenaline rush knowing you are grabbing that jug with only 3' of line and it the fish on the other side could easily be 5' +. some scary moments, but no injuries.

cleaning is all technique. can be simple or simply impossible. garfish is awesome fried, but have also eaten it in a couvillion and bbq.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

shadslinger said:


> The hardest part was killing the beast! I used a pipe about 4' long and the first couple of whacks just woke it up!!


LOL, reminded me of myself 30 years ago trying to kill about a 6' shark offshore as I leaned over the gunwale and hit it in the head with a piece of pipe. It darn near jumped in the boat with us.


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## Little-bit (Oct 19, 2005)

Just got back to this thread and I would like to say thank you for the information.


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