"I have talked to several game wardens around the trinity river who have told me they are afraid for their safely to get on the river and check peoples boats"? ....This is ridiculous...that would be like a state trooper saying he is afraid to patrol the hwy, alone, at night.....doesn't make sense to me.

They already have regulated the harvesting of this fish. Its the GWs job to protect the fish and enforce the regulations. Why even bother with regulating it if the Gws are not going to go board boats and watch bow fisherman? All they have to do is post up in the dark and watch the boats with 10000W candle power shooting and throwing fish back. Whats so dangerous about that?

Killing big gar is probably growing in popularity since it costs so much to hunt anything else now a days. They will be raised in high fenced ponds soon....

Wrong, check studies.

So, wardens are afraid of bow fishermen... really?

Wrong, it will be replaced relatively soon (in gar years) by a fish that is 6.5 feet now.

This I could get behind -- big fish are getting rare.

Have you ever considered that your recent activity might be contributing to demise of big gars? You post those videos that show how awesome it is to fight biggest fish out there. It also shows how simple your gear needs to be and how easy it is to catch them. People pay attention and take notice. They meay not have all know-how but there is strength in numbers. You may think adding "save the gar" message to those videos somehow offsets negative effect, but I doubt it. Same people sooner or later figure out that gar is quite edible if you know what you are doing.

Also, I am pretty sure not every fish that your clients hook survives the release (some probably die few days later).

These people used their right to harvest fish from public water. As long as they stay within their limit -- there is no problem here. You might argue that limits are hurting gar population, but you need better arguments than that picture.

If you really want to change something -- lookup redfish wars. Government can change limits, but you'll have to do proper studies, a lot of paper- and legwork. I suggest giving TPWD a call and ask them what is required to introduce slot limit on gars...

To fight is to take arms and put your life on the line. So far you've been only posting in various forums, likely hurting gars even more.

No, it is about 50 years of 4 fish lives. If I follow your logic -- I'll claim that yesterday in just one day we lost millions of years of "shrimp growth" just in Galveston bay.

.

FIRST off shooting fish is what it is, its NOT fishing, even if you include a reel as a line retrieval device. TPWD sets conservation limits on species of fish, as long as the law is enforced, we should be good with harvest. Personally I would be fine with excluding gar from bow shooting, a magnificent fish, and its almost criminal(to me) to harvest 150-200# fish that have been around far longer than I have - if you don't want increased pressure on this fish and places you fish, don't post on open forum fishing sites - lesson I learned long ago.

negative ghost rider. note the first sentence........key word INVASIVE. not one bit of irony there good sir. Protect native species, kill invasive detrimental species. I will not shoot a coyote either unless it gets into the chicken coop. I have never had a gar attack any of our domesticated animals

And the 5 8 lb bass it ate last week will never be replaced either.

i am not a gar lover but I am sure they cannot eat an 8 pound bass, maybe a few dink bass now and again but I looked it up in TPW and found that bass make up a very small % of their diet. in my quick google of the subject they seem to consume carp as their fav food source which is fine with me. anyway..........

Oh my, TRIGGERED!

I never claimed to be an authority I just posted my opinion and what I found. You say I am like a "self important twit" while you act like the spoiled rotten millennial getting upset of a post in a discussion forum that you disagreed with..........a discussion forum my friend. This is exactly the place for discourse on this subject as that is what this thread is for. This is a place for people to share opinions............please by the love of God tell me you are simply trolling and I will feel better.

Ok you get a trophy for best post in this thread.

so you believe in not killing a native animal and wont shoot a coyote? you must not deer hunt whatsoever then, or have had any experience with it in your life.

Gar taste good. Louisiana folks been eating them much longer than any of us been alive.

would like to see some pics of gar over 7 foot from another state than Tx if they are so common..

would like to see pics of the cooler with ice the people killing 7 foot gar are putting them in during hot summer days so they can keep them viable as a food fish

going to say this again, when you kill a gar over 7 foot that fish will never be replaced in your lifetime, not only are you killing that fish you are killing the millions of gar it could make if it continues its bloodline.


"Have you ever considered that your recent activity might be contributing to demise of big gars? You post those videos that show how awesome it is to fight biggest fish out there. It also shows how simple your gear needs to be and how easy it is to catch them. People pay attention and take notice. They meay not have all know-how but there is strength in numbers. You may think adding "save the gar" message to those videos somehow offsets negative effect, but I doubt it. Same people sooner or later figure out that gar is quite edible if you know what you are doing.

Also, I am pretty sure not every fish that your clients hook survives the release (some probably die few days later)."


i am using the exact same hooks and methods used by TPWD to tag and release these fish, as well as making changes like leaving them in the water that goes even further to make catch and release possible 100% of the time.
TPWD and kirk have tagged and release 6000 of these fish on non stainless 3/0 treble hooks and thousands of those have been recaught. i have placed a fair amount of tags my self and re caught tagged fish including 7 foot fish caught months apart. i know i have never killed an alligator gar and will continue to bring to light the way these fish are being hunted into extinction, my goal is the protection of alligator gar, the big gar is thats all i can save. if that means i can no longer go catch these fish legally, because no one can my work is done. and that work involves TPWD as you can see
[img]https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...amp;oe=58FB6BA9[/img]

"I'm going to fight for the protection of alligator gar in the state of Texas.
To fight is to take arms and put your life on the line."

yah yah i hear it plenty big bow fisherman gonna kill me blah blah,
men dont talk bud.

" never claimed to be an authority I just posted my opinion and what I found. You say I am like a "self important twit" while you act like the spoiled rotten millennial getting upset of a post in a discussion forum that you disagreed with..........a discussion forum my friend. This is exactly the place for discourse on this subject as that is what this thread is for. This is a place for people to share opinions............please by the love of God tell me you are simply trolling and I will feel better."

where did i ever say you couldn't have your say or where did i get upset by anything anyone has say for that matter?
its legal for you to kill 7 foot gar currently its legal for me to say i think thats wrong and i think it should be changed?
so whats the problem? is it that you dont like what I'm saying? so you seek to censor it?

i think what upsets you is you know no sporting person would agree to purposely elongating a harvested animals suffering for personal satisfaction like bow fishing big gar does.
i think you know what you are doing is wrong and you dont want anyone to bring light to just how bad it really is.
thats why you fear what I'm saying its because you know I'm right, they are getting more rare and they do need protection, and you know others will will hear what I'm saying as the truth as well.

you know changes are coming when it comes to bow fishing and they will come regardless of anything i do.

context my friend. I said "I would not shoot a coyote UNLESS IT GETS INTO THE CHICKEN COOP" My statement is simple, I will kill an animal to protect my chickens (or a person, my dog, a neighbors livestock ect) but will not just shoot a coyote just because I see one. I admit I do not deer hunt and certainly have no problem with it. It is hunting for meat and I like venison. My problem is going out, killing an animal purely for a sport, a picture and bragging rights.

Perhaps if gar were overpopulated in our lakes I might feel differently.

If anyone is interested in a similar subject and has some time, reading through this thread on Alligator Gar on this forum, that I created 12+ years ago is a good read.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/26203/1

thank you for sharing, very interesting opinions.