so I think I'm in the right section.


Anyway, I'd like to target some gar from the bank in SEtexas.....someone have a recomendation for a tie and some tips on how to get them in/what to look for(honestly this isn't one I'm familiar with....)

never fished se tx

Take a look here: http://www.garfishing.com

You are in the right section. I am not a gar angler, but I am sure the guys who know about it while chime in soon.

I've never fished for gar in the winter

^^ don't know if it will work either


So the GASS article recommends free lining large cutbaits....

Do I need to be looking for a slow moving channel then?

Are you going for gator gar? If so, yes, I would fish large cutbaits in places like rivers.

For longnose or spotted gar, I know a lot of the guys on the forum catch them on the fly and with road runners.

Yeah alligator is my intention.

Like I said, am I looking for low current, or fairly brisk current?

the best way to locate gar is to watch for them surfacing in the heat of summer.im not positive but i'd bet they arent as active this time of the year and will be a little harder to catch. fish a big hunk of cut bait and let the fish take the bait until you are sure they have swallowed it. their mouths are very bony and easy to miss the hook up. i would fish the slower water unless you find a place with alot of bait.

Txaggie,

If you look in the background of my picture you can see that the water is dead calm. The next day the wind was up yet the school had not moved and my friend caught one twice that size.

Where you find the schools is where you should fish. It could be dead calm shallow water where they are trying to stay warm or it could be in the river under current. The whole trick to alligator gar fishing is tracking the migration of the schools.

Parker does bring up a good point. The gator gar at work are sitting on the bottom all day, and most of them haven't eaten in the past month. I'd wait for a little warm stretch and find a school of them.

hey fishlady how are you liking athens?

Hmmm...well, the town is a little slow, but I love the job, so it works out.

hahah. slow to say the least. Its a nice place to take a nap. Or go fishing.

Sounds like my kind of place.

it aint that bad really. i was born and raised here. i lived in the big city for awhile. i'd rather be here.

No, I'm serious. I'd much rather live in a smaller town. I hate traffic and other problems that are inherent to large cities.

I grew up in a small town, and Athens is bigger than that. I definitely don't miss the metromess and all its traffic, but it's tough for me to meet people here. I know the people I work with, and that's about it. So, I've become sort of a homebody, which isn't that bad. All in all, I don't mind Athens, but it's definitely a change from the fast paced life I was living in Ft. Worth.

im a homebody too. all my friends are usually older. we have kids too which keeps me at home. when i fish i usually fish alone. most all of my friends moved away after a couple years at the community college. in the big city you cant have a 3.5 acre yard with chickens

Actually, before I moved out here, I was temporarily staying with my parents on a 40 acre horse ranch. My small apartment is quite the change from that.

what are you doing at the hatchery?

Actually, I take care of all the exhibits.

ALL of them?

If it is in the visitor's center and has fish in it, I take care of it. I don't really have anything to do with the hatchery, unless they need an extra set of hands.

That's alot of stuff. We got lucky and went there when it first opened. My wife and i got to go in the back with the brood tanks and the long troughs. Soon after they blocked it off from the public.

Eh...it's all about who you know...

I met the resident geneticist when i had my redfish record documented. I dont remember her name. She was nice but it looked like she spent alot of time in the basement poking at fish.

Haha...that's Deborah Wade. She's awesome. I really like her a lot, and it helps to have another female that likes to mess with fish. You don't run into too many women that know about fish like that.

Yeah i enjoyed talking to her about the freshwater reds. i think she was suprised i was intrested. One guy holds records for every fish you could imagine coming out of fairfield on a fly rig except redfish. I caught them trying to spawn in the shallows earlier in the fall and went back the next day with my hand tied version of what we had been catching them on. I ended up getting one. it was only 22" but it was fun going through the whole process.

the guy in charge of the records just was suprised it was someone else turning in the record

Yeah, we get a lot of people bringing in their fish for certification. Bringing in a huge red is one thing...bringing in a topminnow is another. Still, it's pretty fun to see kids holding their minnow, waiting to see if it's a record or not.

I need to go to Fairfield for reds. It always sounds like fun.

They fight like nothing ive seen. I should have gone this weekend. The moon was right and i bet it would have been good.

You should get the carp folks onto cedar creek. there isnt much bank access but i think i know of a good place they could set up.

Ah, yes, CC is on the list of lakes to hit. There's been a few nice mirrors caught out of there, too.

If they could meet up at the caney city ramp and boat over to the island south of there i think camping is legal. ive seen lots of good sized carp around the island. Probably wouldnt take much to bait them in.

I wouldnt mind trying that sometime.

Is there an area around SETexas(Beaumont area) where I might find Carp?

Sorry, Aggie, this thread got sort of hijacked.

You should be able to find carp in most of freshwater bodies of water. Unfortunately, there's not many big lakes around you. City ponds usually have carp in them. Of course, fishing some of the rivers wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

^^ doesn't phase me in the least :D.


I wonder if the claiborn park pond has them...

Are you close to Sam Rayburn?

2 hours or so away....pretty good little trip

I once saw an article in the Outdoors Report about some guys that go after gator gar in some of the bays. It was pretty cool.

I'd go after gar in any major creeks or rivers nearby.

There is another show about monster fish on National Geographic right now. It will have gator gar in the next few minutes.

Dag...I don't get the National Geographic channel. I guess I'll just have to watch more football.

You missed it. Doug Stange landed a 238 lb gator gar with Kirk.

Is it the same one they always show? I think I've seen it before.

Just wait until this spring for the gar...

History channel has been running the monster fish thing to

Yeah, I think that's where I saw it the first time.

Sounds like you got a dream job in a great town!

Congratulations & Keep 'em tanks clean,
LlindeX