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never a good day when you land gar with arrow holes in them.

If people new how much fun those things are to catch on a fly rod they just might stop shooting them.

Looked pretty healthy.

Alligator Gar should be considered as a game fish and thus outlawed by bow hunting! Just my two cents.

+1^

im working on it guys.

richard crainiums

Yes, fun on a fly for sure! I imagine the carp killers will be looking for a little blood in the water soon as well. Make no mistake, bow hunting for carp is not a sport by definition.

I'm not a bow fisherman. I am a bass fisherman.

But I will stand up for the bow fisherman.

First off bow fishing is a sport by definition. It takes physical exertion and a fair amount of skill .

As a bass fisherman I do not like being grouped together with the many idiots that plague my sport such as the cheaters or the guys who can't keep his fish alive in the live well or the guy who leaves all his used line in the water or so on and so on.

I am sure that the ethical bow fisherman feels the same way. They do not like being grouped with the ones that shoot and discard fish back into water or take more than is allowed.

There is a daily bag limit on alligator gar and as long as you stay within that limit I see no problem with taking them with a bow.

As for carp I don't believe that there is a bag limit so as long as you are taking these carp and eating them or using them for a purpose I don't see a problem with that either.

I know for a fact there is no shortage of carp in our lakes . I love fly fishing for carp also and I can name a hundred different places you can go and catch them on a regular basis.

As for big alligator gar I will agree that there don't seem to be as many in the trinity as I used to see. But I can take you to plenty of other places where there are plenty and some places I would say to many.

Mind you I am no biologist. And have spent zero time studying either species. But I have spent more time on the water than most and notice things from time to time.

As a fisherman!! I will always stand behind my fellow fisherman no matter what species they go after as long as they go about it legally. ( they buy their gear and liscenses just like I do)

And as a sportsman I will stand behind my fellow hunters , shootist , and outdoorsman under the same circumstances.

To many of our rights have been taken away as it is with out us fighting amongst ourselves over who is right and wrong.

As for the idiots that are out there bow fishing illegally or any other kind of fishing illegally or unethically. I believe they should be fined , jailed according to the violation. But we should absolutely not group them in the same category as the legal guys who are doing what they love and doing it ethically and legally.

thats all well and good, but regardless of any of that alligator gar should be a game fish, they deserve it and fit the criteria.

should we just sit on the side lines and watch a species that has been on the planet for 147 million years be pushed into extinction in our lifetimes?

or should we stand up for a sustainable fishery that our children's children can enjoy?

If they are harvested legally and the fisherman stay within the bag limits, they won't go extinct. Making them a game fish won't stop the guys that are crooked, like the ones that shot and released that fish. Loads of game fish are harvested illegally and bag limits/slot limits ignored daily on all public waters.

If your wanting to make it a gamefish so it can't be bowfished then I believe your reasoning would be wrong. I believe that bow fishing has as long a history with the alligator gar as pole fisherman .

The alligator gar is a magnificent species no doubt and we should absolutely be vigilant about keeping it around for ever!! But blindly blanketing bow fisherman as the culprit for its demise is wrong.

They already have a daily bag limit. I think what a man needs to do is help police the resource. I have seen many fisherman that keep more than the daily limit. And I know that there are other reasons for the decline such as pollution.

What I am saying to everyone who is concerned about any resource is get involved with protecting it by not letting people get away with wasting the resource. If you see that illegal bow fisherman let someone know if you see that fisherman keeping more than the daily bag limit let someone know. Same goes with polluters and any other illegal activities. If you turn your head how much do you really care.

I myself am not scared to confront someone respectfully and let them know of their violation. And if I can not educate then I will turn them in with absolutely no qualms.

When people realize that we all care and are all watching they will either change or move on.

TXPW officers are for the most part great but there are not near enough of them to police all of the outdoors. So a little help from us will go a long way.

If you knew how much fun they were to try to shoot and reel in on a bow and arrow you might just quit trying to fly fish for them.

I don't post on here often, but I do get sick and tired of people constantly ragging on someone for doing something that is perfectly within their legal rights. There are state wildlife regulations that protect these fish. If someone is not following them that is a different story, and they should be punished accordingly, and if the state feels that bow fishing them is going to make them go extinct then they will change the laws accordingly. (Example: Bow fishing for catfish was legalized several years ago and then changed back to being illegal because the state saw a need). How do you know that fish was not shot legally and happened to come off the arrow, just like a fish that may have swallowed the hook and done damage to it internals and then came off the hook. While it is never fun to see an animal that was injured because of the actions of us, it is the inevitable truth if you are going to be a sportsman and you have to be willing to accept it.

We have to be very careful as sportsmen not to attack others that are staying within their legal means. Too many of our freedoms are at risk to attack someone, just because you do not enjoy the same things they do. We should however do everything in our power to make sure others are following the law.

I am an avid bow fishermen. It is a sport that I have grown up doing, and enjoy thoroughly. I stay completely within the law, and do not waste fish or throw them back in the water. This is a sport just like any other, and I look forward to teaching my son to enjoy it as much as me. It is not different than going out on a weekend dove hunting and shooting 45 dove in three afternoons.

We are all blessed with the natural resources to enjoy. We should all enjoy them in whatever legal way we see fit. We should not judge others just because they enjoy it in a different manner than us. We should be very quick to stick together and stand up for all of our rights as a sportsmen in the great state of Texas.

again thats all well and good but what reason would alligator gar not be considered a gamefish in the state of Texas?

That is a question to ask the state, but not a reason to attack the people that are utilizing a legal means of bagging them. I am not trying to say that we should not take a closer look at the impact we have against these fish, whether it is bow fishing, boating in their areas, fishing for them, or anything else that might affect them. We should band together as sportsmen not only to protect our rights, but also the resources we have been blessed with. I believe the state monitors these fish pretty heavily, and if they are being threatened laws will be changed.