# Thursday 6-11 trinity report



## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Got down to the sandbar around 7pm. Castnetted some live mullet and baited up three rods. 6'' mullet, half a horse mullet scaled and finger mullet on small rod. Instantly small rod goes off and I catch about a 3 foot gator gar. I had the small rod for catfish but the gar just tore it up as soon as it hit the water. I ended up catching nine from around 3 foot up to 4.5 foot. The biggest I caught was a longnose and he weighed around 30 lbs. I caught 4 gator gar and 5 longnose. The gar did not fight much after they were hooked. I would set the clicker with free spool. When the fish picked it up and would make a hard run I would take off clicker and freespool and walk down the beach with the fish. After about 10-15 minutes I would tighten down on them. They all just felt like dead weight, until they got close then they would fight for a few seconds. I caught 9 and prolly had 30 runs and the rest felt something wrong and dropped the bait. The setup was 8/0 J hook, nylon trotline leader tied to swivel and 3oz egg sinker. I felt the nylon might increase hookup ratio rather than steel leader. One gatorgar never was hooked, the hook was hanging out of his mouth and had the leader in his mouth, when he opened his mouth on the bank the leader popped out. 

Some trends I noticed, not sure if it affected the bite or not but would like your input. The mullet were THICK onteh sandbar, after dark they would ball up in hundred on the bank. I threw the net one time and had to drop some out for fear of tearing the net it was so full. Are the mullet spawning right now? The fish did not bite well during the day the following day all day. The bite started at 7pm when I got there and ended around 1 am. The moon did not show up until around midnight and once it got up the bite died. The fish bit better shallower as the night grew on. The wind also died around midnight and the skeeters came out in full force. I caught more longnose on the live baits and more gator gar on dead bait. Every fish ran WITH the current down river. They all did not fight much except the big longnose and he fought pretty well. Like I said has anyone else noticed any of these trends. 

Here are some pics of the night.


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## NitroNX898 (Apr 7, 2009)

Them are some nice gar.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Didn't say this in original post but I was targeting gar that night.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Nice report, very interesting. Roughly, how far from the coast were you? Just curious with the real low flows down the river now, some salt water fish could very well work there way up a long ways....if there is bait which sounds like you have an abundance of right now. 

Every year I expect a bull shark to be caught well up the river under low flows conditions but haven't heard it happeing yet. 

Nice report.


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## dbullard (Feb 13, 2008)

wtg nice catch!


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

I am roughly 30 miles from the mouth of trinity bay. The water is absolutly beautiful green right now.


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## jxallsbr (Mar 25, 2009)

This is under the 90 bridge?


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

No not actually under the bridge about 4 miles down river. You would be able to do this anywhere now though. Warm water and they are spawning.


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## StanC (Aug 7, 2004)

i used to fish for them in the 70s has any one tried using circle hooks for better hook ups? just thinking they might work better than a j hook. thanks for the post and pics F.S. you got me wanting to go catch some of them.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

Circle hooks are designed to hook a fish in the corner of the mouth. A gar's mouth is all bone except for the soft pallet on the bottom. A circle hook almost never hooks up with a gar.


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## HAIRCUTTER (Aug 2, 2006)

Thanks for the report and info. WTG

R.E.B.


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## GarzillaBowfishing (Oct 2, 2008)

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=228127&highlight=Alligator+gar
all sounds to fimilar. Did u see any real big gator gar? Here are some pictures from last trip. I can give u a few pointers on the big ones if u need em.


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## Fishin' Soldier (Dec 25, 2007)

That day I did not see any real big ones. Yes any advice you can give I will take, you seem to be the gar guru!


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## GarzillaBowfishing (Oct 2, 2008)

Gar help pay my bills! Pm me when ever you want to get a big one and i will tell you how i do it.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I don't gar fish but wonder about their lack of fight, warm water taking it out of them, plus the rigors of spawning?
I always enjoy your posts, keep them coming.


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## GarzillaBowfishing (Oct 2, 2008)

The gar I cath out of the river don't fight near as hard as the ones that are in a lake. The river fish tire out very fast. Thanks for the comment I am honest and strait foward that's how I was raised.


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