Went catfishing last night behind my house in Arlington and caught this little fella. I was not trying to choke him but he was slippery and I had never handled one before. I beat him with a bat and left him on the shore.

I am only kidding. He was released to grow bigger and hopefully be caught again (by me!). This is the biggest fish I have ever caught (only been fishing about a year) and sure fought like a champ.

I was there when he caught him, he was noodling under a stump and brought him straight out the water. After a bit of a strugle and some blood he broght him to shore.

Nice!

This is true. 100%

Does anyone have any recommendations for flash lights when you are noodling for gar?

We were using the green color hat clip flash lights which did not give us enough light to see what we were doing. The good thing is they are hands free!

This is why you are the brains of our operation bro. You think of everything.

Is this lake arlington?


Also, not trying to steal thunder at all, but allow me to take a moment to warn readers:

Those gill plates are sharp, you can get cut really bad holding a gar like that if it goes ballistic, I learned the hard way.

Nice fish, hope you catch more!

Nice Fish.

Great tip. Thank you sir. That is the first one that I have ever handled. What is the proper way to hold one? Fortunately I did not get cut, but I had no idea! Any advice? Thanks.

Not sure who all knows this BUT...if you ever do catch a gator gar that's more than about 3 and a half or 4 feet...keep that sucker and clean him. They are very tasty! Most people have had gar before and don't know it. Ever had a fish stick or patty that didn't specify cod or haddock? then you've prob had gar. You will need a pair of tin snips to go straight down the spine to the tail but once you are through, pull the scale plates to the side and take the meat out just like cutting back straps out of a deer. Be sure to wash the meat free of any fish slime, cut into strips and you are good to go! Have done a fish fry where it was 1/2 crappie and 1/2 gator gar and only a couple of guys could tell a difference. Any ways...just an FYI....

Also, this was the trinity river.

Tie a rope around its pec fins if you can.

We use pelican lights at the plant I work at because they are sealed and explosion proof but they are also water resistant and pretty tough. They have varity of sizes and and even some head light set ups. But they are not cheap. link below

www.pelican.com/lights_category

We use pelican lights at the plant I work at because they are sealed and explosion proof but they are also water resistant and pretty tough. They have varity of sizes and and even some head light set ups. But they are not cheap. link below

www.pelican.com/lights_category

congrats!!! NICE GAR!