2011 Was my first year to offer guided alligator gar trips. I have to say that I had a good first season guiding officially. I did run into a few minor problems here and there, but all in all in was a good season. I had several clients catch trophy sized alligator gar, and I caught a new personal best myself as well. I have assembled a collection of some of the best catches from 2011. Thanks to everyone who went with me last year, and I look forward to a great season beginning in May of this year. If you are interested in a trip now is the time to consider planning for it.


This was the first good fish of the year for me on the last day of winter, otherwise known as March 20th. My wife fished with me this day, we caught five fish in all with this being the biggest at 66”. My wife also caught a 54” fish, the largest fish of anything she has ever caught. I don’t offer guided trips in march because of the inconsistency of the weather, but on this occasion weather was warm for several days in a row so we went and it paid off.

Although this is a smaller fish, I thought it was worth showing the picture anyway. When gar fishing everything is subject to being damaged by the fish whether it is the angler, gear, boat, clothing or anything else you can think of. The funny part of this trip for me was that my wife and I had recovered the seats in my boat the night before, and this alligator gar decided to make his mark on it. The teeth marks are still there as a reminder to all my customers and friends to avoid the mouth at all times.

My friend Lawson caught this 6’10” alligator gar with me towards the end of May of last year. It made a new pb for Lawson who fished with me a few times in 2010 and landed some fish in the 4-5’ range and lost a monster as well. We never knew this fish was on a line until it jumped clear of the water with the bait in its mouth. With several lines out Lawson and I were panicked while we tried to find which one the fish had, but we did find it and the fight was on.

This is one of three fish near 7’ captured on a single day of fishing within 3 hours of each other. This was the longest of the 3 at 7’ even and a 35” girth. By the time the bite slowed on this trip I was grateful, besides the three 7’ fish Jim also had a 5’8” fish, a 5’9” fish and two fish under 5’ as well. A few more pictures from this trip:

5’8”

Beast beside the boat

6’10” #2
Jim’s 2 day total went like this : 7’, 6’10”, 6’10”, 5’9”, 5’8”, 4’10”, and 4’4”. Outstanding for sure.

DJ and brother Jim fished with me twice last season. On a day where bites were few and far between this 6’9.5” made a hard day’s fishing worth every minute of it. From 7:20 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. when this fish bit we did not get a single bite. Like a fish a friend of mine caught earlier this year, this one did not run with the bait before first jumping clear of the river with the bait visibly hanging from its mouth. This time there was no confusion about which rod it was on, as soon as the fish was back beneath the surface the clicker began to scream on one of the rods and the fight was on. This made a personal best for DJ who had fished me once earlier in the year and landed a 54” fish. Jim also landed a fish later in the day at 60”.

I caught this 6’9” fish while fishing for fun with my friend Jackie Kennedy who is a seasoned blue catfish guide on Cedar Creek Lake. We hooked up three fish over 6’ on our trip, but this is the only one we were able to land, we caught it about 15 minutes before the time we had decided to leave.

This is my friend Justin with a 6’6” fish captured in the middle of October. Justin got to catch the last fish over 6’ of the season for me. We saw over 20 deer on this day as well as 15 wild pigs and a bob cat. With the dry conditions experienced this last year the river bottom was literally a zoo most days.

This fish is from my final alligator gar trip of the year. We had to fish at night because of some technical difficulties with Andrew’s airplane flight, but we still managed to get on some fish. We faced tough fishing conditions with turbid water on a falling river, as well as fishing after a cold front. This fish went 5’8”, we caught it about 10:00p.m. We also had one smaller fish around 12:00 a.m., and then the rest of the night was uneventful. Before dark we had one fish on that I believe would have been over 7’. When Andrew set the hook on it I thought he had failed to engage the reel because the fish continued to pull line from the reel at the same speed as before but when checked I could see the reel was engaged, the fish was pulling out against the drag as if it wasn’t there! The fish was on the line for a good 30 seconds running out against the drag, but it never turned, regretfully it came unbuttoned. I will be returning to the spot this happened next year for revenge.

In all 2011 was a great year for alligator gar angling with several trophy fish landed. I expect 2012 to be even better. For anyone interested in going on a guided alligator gar trip my rate is $550 a day for one or two anglers. I provide drinks and sandwich supplies as well as all the bait and tackle needed. We fish from safe light until you are ready to quit or until an hour before dark. A typical day will be 3-10 bites with 2 or 3 alligator gar landed with trophy sized fish a possibility every day. Because of the elusive nature of the fish and the obstacles encountered in their environment I do not guarantee a fish.
I can be contacted by phone at 903-721-4296 or e-mail dawson@texasmegafishadventures.com

thats awesome, alligator gar are on my list this year for sure.

Those things are huge. I hope y'all throw them out on the bank after catching them. LOL!

Why would I do that?

Do you like killing things for no reason?


-Nice gars texas megafish. I live by oyster creek and its absolutely remarkable how many 6ft plus gar there are in the creek, when its less than 20ft wide.

I too was wandering what do you do with them ???

Do you eat them ? Or put them back alive ?

nice pictures, looks like alot of fun

Excellent, nice to see we still have a few big gar in Texas waters. The ten footers are part of history now. Yet, who knows what will be caught in the future.

You sir, are a dinosaur out of the early days of the state. We now know that gar eat far more rough fish than game fish. They are native to Texas waters and belong here. Since, they have a type of lung above the intestine and breath air, to throw them on the bank would doom them to a slow death.

The big ones, you catch, pose with it for a picture, and release it to grow bigger.

The meat is good too, with a texture quality sort of like a turkey or chicken. I would not suggest it tastes like either, although its not fishy. The meat usually chosen comes in the form of two big back straps on either side of the back bone. To get it out of the interlocking ganoid scales, tin snips are generally employed.

one of my bucket fish this year! good pics ther

If they really do eat more rough fish than game fish then we need more far that size in lewisville and ray bob. That might explain why I see 4+ foot gar just on the edge of of carp spawning areas

Nice gar.

According to parks and wildlife they eat mainly gizzard shad, sunfish, and sandbass. Alligator gar are mainly a river fish although they do live in some of our man made lakes. I don't think anyone here will complain much about the game fish populations in Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, Richland Chambers, Amistad, Choke Canyon, Falcon or Lake Livingston, lakes all known for having alligator gar populations.

There's a few we got this summer biggest 7'3" 150lbs my biggest was 6'3" 110lbs

Some nice fish there.

I should also mention that I start running trips in May, you may book anytime however. Season runs May-October for me.

Great stuff, and nice pics everyone!

You sir, are a gar master!

Great job!

Some big ones. Nice.

Pretty awesome! What did you use for bait! Children!?

Yeah I think 3-6 year olds work best

This warm weather has got me thinking of getting back out with Dawson for some Moster Fish! I still can't beleive I caught a fish last year that weighed the same as I did at the time! I have gained a few pounds over the winter so I guess I will have to set my sights on a 7 footer this year to get to the 175 pound mark! If your looking for a great guide to chase some of the biggest fish in North America give Dawson a call.

Great job Dawson! It is very nice to see someone catch an alligator gar on rod and reel. Thanks for sharing.