I have been several places lately where the gar are in large numbers. I would like to know what people use to catch them.

A bow and arrow =)

Seriously - if you have yet to try bow fishing now is the time to get started! Gar, Tilapia and Carp are the dominate freshwater species for the sport. I first picked up my bow 16 years ago and I never head to the lake without it.

If you want to have fun with rod and reel do this.

Take a piece of nylon rope, 6 inches or so and tie it right above your hook. Fray the rope completely on the tag end so the hook is in the middle of the frayed mess. Put on your minnow/shad/cut bait and let er rip.

The gar will go for the bait and get its 243095743 teeth tangled in the rope. Good times. Learned this after realizing you can't set the hook into their jaw no matter how hard you set it and they won't swallow the hook for a really long time.

i'm not sure what they bite, but i know they do not bite lures otherwise used for sand bass and black bass. the gar ignore these completely.

i have caught plenty of gar on EML using road runners while sandie fishing, if the water is rough, they are usually running in the lights instead of the sandies but any kind of cut bait should work, float a treble with chicken liver too, have caught gar that way too

Most of the gar I've caught ( Primarily spotted and a few longnose ) have been on cut bait. Cut shad, cut bluegill, cut drum, etc. Fished on the bottom on a circle hook, in the eddies off of the main current in rivers. Or, if I can see the gar, I'll fish the cut bait under a float, cast it just past them, and slowly work it past the gar till they take it. Either way if I know it's gar, I'll let them run with it just a little before I set the hook.

I've also caught quite a few gar on roadrunners, a few by accident, and a few more by sight fishing. Spotting the gar, then casting past them and very slowly working the roadrunner back in front of them, and watching them dive on it or slash at it.

As far as lakes go, right now there are tons of gar under some of the boat dock lights, feeding on shad and other bait fish. Hooked a few of them the other night on rattletraps and roadrunners, and the other guys in the boat had some on flies. Sometimes they will nail roostertails and such as well.

Work it slow by the fish, and try and get them to follow it. Remember, gar feed differently then other predators, they tend to "slash" sideways to grab the bait, rather then gulping it straight in the way largemouth do. Work it slowly past the fish to give them a chance to spot it, and nail it.

+1 on the nylon (use 3/8" twisted) used to do that on my granddads farm in arkansas, they think its a minnow or shad and get all messed up in it.
the nylon will not be reusable and the gar will die since you cant get it out of the teeth.

When I fished the damn at LOP and saw the gar I would put a small bream on a big hook below a big red and white plastic bobber. Sometimes even uss a small trailer hook. When the grabbed it I would just sit and watch that bobber go all over the spillway. Then set the hook. I am able to release gar with out harming them. Shoot fish or intentionally catching them in a way you know will kill them is not right. If you catch it either release it or eat. Don't just throw it on the bank to stink up the place like the shooters do.

+1

Words to live by grandpa

Ive got carp on many bass lures. crankbait Brazos river over 5 ft. long.
zoom frogs ,spinnerbaits ,topwater plugs etc.

Yeah, carp will happily take an artificial given the chance. I've got a pic of a big white roadrunner sticking out from inside a carp's fat lips lol.

But...the question was about gar hehehe.

Plus one on the nylon. I re-use it though, I have caught 6 on my current piece of nylon.

well we went to cedar creek this past weekend and saw gar under every dock, some had about 30-50 gar swimming under the lights. we threw all kinds of sand bass lures at them -- fly jigs, spoons, swimbaits big and small, rattletraps, slabs, etc. -- and we didnt get a single bite.

we were more interested in catching sandies, but whenever the dock was slow we just kept messing around with the gar, but they never bit our stuff once. sometimes we threw right on top of them. never bit.

OK correct me if I am wrong but I thought using the frayed nylon rope was illegal these days??? My dad told me stories of how they would take a 5'-8' length of nylon rope & tie knots in it and put big floats between the knots and catch them all day long as kids in the river. But I have been told that is now illegal???? If it isn't I might haul me some rope to Choke on the next trip. I'm havin withdrawals for some fried Gar lol.


Rob