# Alligator Gar tips?



## probly.out.fishing (May 20, 2010)

my buddy and i have found a killer spot for big gar, and are getting lots of action, but rarely do we land one. we have been using rigs similar to a kingfish rig, with two trebles on light wire leader. should i let the fish have the bait for a long time or just slam it to him when i notice the bite? (they seem to take the bait very slowly). its nearly impossible to set the hook in its hard mouth, so when we let them have it for a few seconds is usually when it works out best... any input or tips would be appreciated! thanks!


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## burk09 (Nov 2, 2009)

i have heard you have to give them a good couple of min at least to eat the bait


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## big-john (Jan 6, 2011)

Feed them line and keep feeding them line and when you are pretty sure they have taken it in....feed them some more line 25-45 seconds sounds about right(that seams like a really long time when a fish is skimming line off your reel.)

good luck


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## Tall1 (Aug 3, 2009)

Would circle hooks increase your hook up ratio? I know alot of tarpon fisherman use them because a tarpon has a hard mouth. I wonder if they would help on gar?


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## probly.out.fishing (May 20, 2010)

thanks for the tips, im sure that waiting about 30 seconds will definitely help- its just so hard to be that patient! :headknock haha. and the circle hook idea is not bad at all, I'll probably try that actually, maybe a good hookset in the corner of the mouth would be easier to achieve.


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## RATLTRAP (Sep 16, 2009)

As soon as they bite count to a million and set the hook! And take a BUNCH of beer!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

When a gar takes the bait it just bites down on it hard. That is to kill it. Since it can not chew or bite the bait into pieces it has to shallow it whole. To get it positioned the gar starts to swim thus creating a current across it's mouth. The current helps hold the prey in it's mouth as it opens and closes its jaws to position the prey for shallowing. Then gulp...it is down.
When I once fished them hard in the river I used a large float (a chunk of foam) so I could see the gars direction. About half of a three pound carp made good bait. 
When the gar picked up the bait it would swim away taking slack line. Some times a 100 feet or so. Once it stopped and started returning from where it started I knew it had swallowed the bait. 
I then took up the slack and set the hook. 99% of the fish would be hooked deep. I used a 12/0 treble with wire leader. I was selling them so I did not care if they were injured as long as they did not throw the hook.
This narrative is to explain how patient you need to be to hook a really big gar. It might take two or three minutes for the fish to actually shallow the bait.
The problem is the one per day limit on the gator gar. A deep hooked fish will likely die. So it is wasteful to just catch and release if the gar dies.
I do not fish for them now for that reason.
Most people consider the gar to be a trash fish but believe me TP&W is working hard to re-establish them in our water system. The GW will diffidently frown on you for wasting them.
Hope this helps. Good fishing


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

Sunbeam had good info as well as the others. When I gar fished I used a trebble hook and put a shad on each hook under a cork. I let the fish run for at least one minute. Like said if you do not let them take it you will simply be pulling it away. They will run and stop and move some more so just set there and feed them the line. I used a towel to wrap around the beak. Have not gar fished in years. Saw them eating them last week on Swamp people. Looked good.


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## the dam bandit (Apr 22, 2011)

I usually use 8/0 mustad straight shanks with 108# steel leader. Like sunbeam said carp is an excellent bait . Usually they will make 3 runs then swallow it down and a long slow trip away or sometimes right back to u. When this happens set that hook hang on for the rodeo u just started lol. Them bigguns will definitely take the slack out. Good luck to ya!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Last summer Lee got the urge to pick a fight with one after seeing them every morning come pick up the left over stripers around the island.
We got a big hunk of gasper gou and tossed it out where several big gator gar were rolling in a school of white bass.
It didn't take long for one to pick it up and Lee let it run until it stopped, he waited another few seconds and set the hook. 
It was about 5' long and we took right to Beacon's where I learned the hardest thing about gator gar fishing is killing one.
I whopped it in the head with a big pipe, the first time just woke it up. 
I cooked some just to see how it tasted, and when fried fresh it was very good, clean and white, but it does not keep well.


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## Takem (Jul 9, 2010)

How do you clean one?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

A hack saw, machete, or hatchet, anything to get it started, they are armored like dinosaurs!


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## jhen (Mar 25, 2011)

*I hear it will spoil the meat or make it cotteny if you run water on it to clean it i was told to just use a wet rag to clean it or a damp rag does anyone know if this is true???*


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## GG 3467 (Jun 26, 2010)

JHEN I was told the same thing by people that clean them all the time. They told me if you run fresh water on them after you cleaned it. you might as well throw it away. I caught a 5 footer on a rattle trap a couple weeks back in the trinity river below i10. you talk about a fight 7ft allstar medium light. took about 20 min but landed him in the boat.


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## Teamgafftop13 (Mar 6, 2011)

Watch out for them scales too, the're like arrow heads and can do some damage as well.....the way my cousins in Louisiana taught me how to prepare them is to take a heavy duty electric fillet knife and dress em out just like you would do for any other fish, wipe down the fillets with a damp rag, then put the whole fillet through a meat grinder with salt, pepper, garlic, green onions (whatever you like basically) mix it all up real well then make patties out of em and pan fry or deep fry em.....MMMMMMMMMMM buddy, I'm makin myself hungry!


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## the dam bandit (Apr 22, 2011)

Tin snips work well also. I just cut around the neck and tail then straight down the back. Go back to the head and grab a side and peel it away from the center of the fish like u r opening two closet doors. Then take the backstraps off just like a deer. That way u don't have any bones to deal with. As for collin them id go with teamgafftop13's suggestion!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

In the very early years of the Lake Livingston the bait shop below the dam was owned by the Hughes family. It was a wooden structure not the metal building that was moved from the park about two years ago.
Hughes and his son gar fished as did several others. They mostly used gill mets above and below the lake proper.
Mrs. Paul's Fish Co had a possessing plant some where near Palocios TX. They sent a refrigerated truck through the area twice a week. They bought gar and buffalo from Hughes, the fellows at Trinity then up around Rayburn.
The truck driver told me the meat was used in "commercial grade" fish sticks. They were sold to school cafeterias, military and prisons.
Those Hughes teenagers could clean a gar in just a few minutes. They used a sharp wide blade hatchet to split down the back and to cut off the head and tail. A few passes with a short blade knife inside the split in the back and just pealed it flesh out of the shell.
They paid us non-pro commercial fishermen 0.20 a pound for the fresh caught gar and 0.25 for buffalo. A couple of 100 pounders was a $40.00 day. Not bad in the early 70's.
Those were the good old days? Well, at least good old memories.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Thanks for sharing Sunbeam, the fishing there may soon be history as well. Do you think they will not allow fishing from the gates to the bridge?


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

As an old big project manager I can tell you the insurance companies make most of the access rules. I am sure that once the coffer dam piling works start for the power house and discharge foundations the insurance boy will not want people in small mobile boats around the cranes or piling hammers.
The power house foundation will be center right over the existing overlook gazebo and the water discharge chute extends down to the end of the TRA property at the Baker side ramp. (east)
After the project is finished the bridge may be the upper limit of accessible water.


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## Git$um (Feb 11, 2008)

Huge Alligator Gar can be a real nuissance. The best thing to do is call me !!! Git$um has an awesome set of bowfishing lights. They are very easy to catch with a Muzzy fish arrow.


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## probly.out.fishing (May 20, 2010)

great info here guys. dont worry, we dont waste fish and if i know one is dying i will keep it for sure and call it a day, but other than that its catch and release for the gars. we saw solid 5-6 footers coming all the way out of the water all day splashing, jumping, and rolling... can someone tell me why? we figured it might be a breeding behavior or feeding perhaps.


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## Teamgafftop13 (Mar 6, 2011)

Well Gar can actually use the're swim bladder like a lung, and use it to take in oxygen (that's why you can find them in such muddy and brackish water) so some of it may have been that, they will come to the surface and take a big gulp of air before swimming back down, they also will "sun" themselves by resting at the surface sometimes with their backs completely exposed, they do this during hot summer days because the oxygen levels in the water become depleted as the water turns over and thanks to their "lung" they are able to breathe and take in oxygen....besides that reason, it's just something they do, there's no real apparent reason for it, it's just their thing, they like to roll and jump!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

They do like to roll and jump, there will be certain holes in the river or spots in the lake where they do it more than other places, it is like they go there to do that.


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## Teamgafftop13 (Mar 6, 2011)

Well they do say that Gar are an ancient species of fish, so they must be doin something right lol


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## CaptainGarrett (Oct 27, 2008)

take about 5 inches of nylon and fray it up real good (preferably white nylon) and a wire leader and tie it on. the gars teeth will get stuck in the nylon


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## ronniewelsh (Feb 3, 2011)

Tall1 said:


> Would circle hooks increase your hook up ratio? I know alot of tarpon fisherman use them because a tarpon has a hard mouth. I wonder if they would help on gar?


 thats what I was thinking.


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