Does anyone know good spots to fish the trinity for gar?

A guy by me on my part of the trinity by Seagoville had a 6-7ft on while catfishing with cut bait and it was a gator gar. I saw it with my own eyes so know it wasnt a fish story. FIRST ONE I SAW THAT big down by where i fish. After an 45 minute battle and no way to land it, it finally pulled off but was surprising seeing it there. If you want to know the location just PM me

My wife pulled in a 4' gator gar a few weeks ago in Arlington. Cut buffalo on a 3 way was the set up. Thought we had a big blue and to our surprise it was a good sized gator gar.

Gixxer: Can you supply a pic? I've never heard of gator gar in Arlington, Longnose for sure, but not gator. That would be sweet if there was population of those bad boys there!

@RHilto20 - In Ft.Worth there is a nice population of Longnose Gar in the trinity, pretty much anywhere you go. Some good spots are all the spillways behind the Tandy center and also in the park downtown. Fish on no wind, hot, etc, days with a live or dead bream, shad, etc, about 1-2ft down from a bobber. Or...you can use one of those hookless rope lures which work great for Longnose.

I've talked with tpwd on several occasions about Alligator Gar in Ft.worth, and the general thought is they used to be there years ago before all the dams went up. I was also told there could still be a small population of Gator Gar in the Ftw trinity though. I've also heard Eagle Mountain and Lake Worth have had verified sightings within the past 10 years.

There were verified sitings just below LLELA...actually, in LLELA. A few years ago during the floods...the UNT guy who runs the place invited FWBret out there to observe two Alligator Gar, swimming around the picnic tables LOL.

It was kind of a big deal for the biologist since it was the first time in many years Gator Gar had been seen in that area, and that branch of the Trinity.

Very cool! That is really awesome...if there were 2 then perhaps there could be a spawn, it takes 2 to tango.

I think that was their hope.

But, considering that the river was like, 20-30 feet high...they probably just came up during the floods, and headed back down stream.

It's not often that gar get to swim around covered picnic tables, let alone covered picnic tables that you can usually barely even see the river from, if at all lol.

I hooked one that was about 4ft at bridgeport fishing the workin mans tourney. They are all over the north end of eagle mountain

I have buddies that swear theyve seen GG in the elm fork. Ive personally seen a 6 footer in Denton Creek, and my but stuck a big GG with a bow in Denton creek

I have buddies that swear theyve seen GG in the elm fork. Ive personally seen a 6 footer in Denton Creek, and my buddy stuck a big GG with a bow in Denton creek

BankAFish, unfortunately I cannot provide a pic. I drug it up on the rocks with my net over the head and my hand grabbing the tail. I cut the line and was contemplating how in the heck I would be able to hold this thing for a pic without getting cut. I have caught several longnose gar but never a gator. It was very active and would not stop flopping. we were on a small bank and it made it back into the water before I got a pic. I do realize that that makes this a "fish story" haha! But I assure you we caught one. I had no idea that they weren't common to Arlington but there is at least one there. No question about it. I can show you the spot but I know that doesn't help. I'll chase some this summer and hopefully will find more. It was quite a rush when it surfaced. It made a nice jump about 15' out from us and came up mouth wide open! Really cool. My wife thought it was disgusting!

I thought there was a consumption ban on all species in the Trinity river's Clear and West fork up to both dams. That covers like most of the dfw area.

I should have been more specific. She thought it was disgusting looking!

Awesome man, just awesome! Congrats!

Now why would you stick em with a bow? Seriously...you don't want to kill those bad boys do you? I've had some reports of GG in denton creek as well, but nothing verified. I still think most peeps first encounters with a large longnose think it's a Gator Gar.

My sister works for the Corp of engineers at the Wallisville, Tx Saltwater Barrier and said Zeb Hogan and his crew went through there this morning looking for gator gar. New Episode of river monsters on the way I guess.....

Page 51 of the TPWD Annual - Trinity River (Consumption Ban) from the 7th St Bridge, downstream to the Texas 34 Bridge in Kaufman and Ellis Counties, SE of Dallas.. Would be most of DFW, not below Roberts to Lewisville and Not at LLEULA. Only the fork that runs though Ft. Worth (heavy metals and PCBs).

Ive seen enough GG and Longnose to know the difference. The one i saw was bout 6 ft, and its bill was about 8 inches across..definetly not a needlenose.

In the Star Telegram a few years ago there were two brothers that fished for Gator Gar around Dallas, they had a couple pictures taken with 2 fish one was about 150lbs and the other about 160lbs.
They shot them with bows and when they got them to the boat they shot them again with a gun. Seems like it was in a stretch between
Arlington and Dallas.

There are gator gar in the Fort Worth area. There isn't alot but there is still some monsters, even in the sections that are dammed

do u know if its legal to bowfish common carp for harvesting and do u think we should start tagging Gar along the DFW section of Trinity for conservation purposes. apparently people are crossing the globe to fish our Trinity for Gar

I feel it's my duty as a native tx. to preserve these awesome fish for future generations. I always catch n release, but if there was an easy way to tag these fish for conservation purposes, what is it?

Yes there are.
There is an Animal planet show called River monsters and they highlight The Trinity River as "MONSTER" fish location.

http://animal.discovery.com/fish/river-monsters/alligator-gar/?campaign=apl-gnrm-1-aplgn001
My stepson saw this series and now wants to go gar fishing in our little POS 8 foot 36 pound kayaks with a spinning reel with 6 pound test line. I am like "yea right" sure let's go tomorrow.

I don't know what fork of the river they were fishing.
I have heard that to bring them in a 12" piece of thick white nylon rope unraveled with tin foil to flash will attract them then when they bite the rope will entangle thier teeth. but what the heck are you going to do with it when you land it?

I imangine fingers going missing when I would try to remove hooks bait rope whatever from this type of beast if I ever caught one.

When I was a kid I saw people catching them at the Lavon Dam and taking axes to kill them and just abandoning them to die.This was back in the mid to late 70s though. I guess they were thought to be just a invasive dangerous fish then.

I would love to catch one, but I most certainly would hire a professional guide.

I don't know much about Gator Gar, but the needle nose gar are very damaging to the crappie, shad and smaller bass. I watched one feeding one time. It would race out to the deeper water, grab a fish, and swim back to the spot it had been with the fish in his mouth. When he got ready to eat the fish, he would roll over and swallow it. I watched him eat about 10 to 12 fish in the matter of maybe 1/2 hour.

It may not be commonplace now, but I grew up with my grandaddy frying gar-balls. We'd always run across them when we went catfishing up in Denton Creek. Haven't been there in forever though, and I just got back to the metroplex. Anybody still fishing out there?

RIVER MONSTERS animal channel. trinity river in fort worth TX

From the 7th St Bridge in downtown Ft. Worth to the Kaufmann County line. No fish, caught in the Trinity, may be retained. Heavy metals (read mercury), PCBs and other nasty stuff on the bottom from old body shops and foundrys that used to be along the River bank. Ugh...

If you catch one with a rope lure, you are pretty much stuck with it. I doubt you'll be able to free it. If you just throw it back into the River, it will starve because it can't eat.

JimRinTX,I have 2 gar in my aquarium and they will eat as much as they can in a short time and then they will lay on the bottom for a day or two.

Dam under the bridge in river oaks live perch

Check this map.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=59262

Saw this a few weeks ago:

7'9", 230 lbs



Trinity River Alligator Gar research by TPWD indicates:


There are an estimated 9,200 alligator gar 42 inches or longer in the upper Trinity (from below DFW to Lake Livingston).
Estimated sustainable harvest from the Trinity would be about 400 alligator gar 42 inches or longer annually of which only 60 gar can be above 70 inches.

DFW Fly Fishing Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
202180944186628638937.0004c520d1b3c5d11fc2e


Hey Everyone, I started a collaborative Google Map for DFW Fly fishing spots, please check it out if you have time. I added every local spot I've ever tried or even heard about. Hopefully it will be a good way to share information and encourage the sport.