My questioni is simple, why do you need to have the alligator gar completely protected as some of you have stated. Why do you anglers need it to yourselfs? I know that there are some slob bowfishers who take more than they should, and even waste these great fish, but i also know fishermen that do the same. I would support a one gator gar a day/person regulation to stop over harvest. The thing is why do we feel the need to only have it ourselves, why not make it mutually beneficial to both sides.

Rickt300 - "I suppose you buy the malarky they eat only shad and carp too."

Like any predator fish, they will eat what is easily accessable. I have read stories about ducks, rats, small beavers, sand bass, etc, being in the stomachs of... BASS. But ofcourse Alligator Gar has had similar stories. And everything I've read tells me their MAIN diet is shad, perch followed by smaller carp&buffalo.

carper34 - "I would support a one gator gar a day/person regulation to stop over harvest. The thing is why do we feel the need to only have it ourselves, why not make it mutually beneficial to both sides."

The petition is not trying to ban or stop Bow Fishing for Alligator Gar, the petition is already suggesting a 2 per day limit under 100lbs and 1 per year 100lbs or greater.

Right to the point. Some here are trying to make this into a bow fishing vs. R&R fishing debate. The petition would do nothing to stop or even slow bow fishing. It simply would set some limits to ensure future supply of these fish for everybody. By doing so, some think that it would unfairly limit bow fishing as it would be kind of hard to throw 'em back if you take too many over 100 Lbs. Unfortunately, in the interest of preserving the fishery for all concerned, the rule "if in doubt, don't shoot" would have to apply.

This is not a "bow fishermen vs. rod&reel fishermen" issue. It is about preserving a resource for all of us.

unfortunately the when in doubt rule doesnt always work. sure if you have time to compare sizes to memory or another fish it may work, but judging a fish usually is done quickly as most chances are only a few seconds with only part of the fish visible, mostly under less than ideal conditions. I am all for a bag per day, but size limitations just dont work for bowfishing or spearing, while they may for angling as there is plenty of time to observe your catch. so i stick to the one gator per day idea.

As an outdoorsman i am all for preserving for the next generation, but as time passes the regulations are only going to get stricter. we need to make this work for all sides now.

Actually giving Alligator gar gamefish status would make it illegal for bowfishers to harvest these fish at all as bows are not legal for any gamefish. I could live with a bag limit and restrictions on netting but not game fish status. It would also give TPWD another excuse to raise the price of my fishing licence by adding a "Gar Trophy tag". Sounds both sad and funny at the same time.

Almost anything can be accomplished through "special regulations". Just look at the exceptions in place already, slot limits here and there, red drum has it's own list of special regs. It looks to me like the ability to harvest alligator gar by bow could be easily written in as a special regulation. The petition, such as it is, may possibly need to be amended some to be the best compromise for all parties involved.
However, without giving alligator gar status as gamefish, it is not likely that any kind of studies/census will be forthcoming, so the true picture of whether or not they are in decline will not be known possibly until they join the ranks of the paddlefish - protected from all harvest.
As far as TPWD goes, I agree that they don't need another excuse...seems like you have to purchase a sticker for almost any species you go after. The rate they are going soon we will have to buy a separate license for catfish, bass, crappie, bream, or anything else you want to target.

Thanks are in order here. With very little media attention, advertising, the petition has grown to over 120 signatures.

Thank you!

Edit: I also wanted to take this time to thank the folks at The TexasFishingForum for allowing this thread to grow.

I think the alligator gar should be protected, in a lake somewhere away from where I like to fish.

I see gar everytime I go fishing, sometimes in the dozens. A 200 pound gar is 200 pounds because it has no natural predators. This type of fish in a man made land locked body of water is, imho, unnatural. Sure they might be fun to tangle with on a rod, but so are big carp and big just about anything. That doesn't mean they deserve to be called gamefish. I wanna see someone lip one.
Come to think of it, why not make the bowfin a game fish?

That's only true for non landlocked bodies of water, like the Mississippi Delta area. Choke Canyon used to have so many gar that you couldn't motor through it without running over one or two. The bass fishing was horrible, and since people started harvesting these big creatures, the rest of the fish have been able to flourish.

I know a few people who bowfish for gar, and they put them in tanks and sell the meat to a distributor. I certainly don't want one, and I don't think the ecosystem of any given lake will suffer just because you kill off some monster gar. However, I have no problem with even restricting them altogether, but when it gets where you cannot fish what used to be a good bass lake because the gar have decimated the baitfish population, who's going to rethink this thing?

136 replies to the petition. Thank you for your interest!

Seriously, I appreciate thoughts on BOTH sides of the pond on this issue.

Time travel a few years later and now regulations are in place to allow only 1 Alligator Gar per day, plus there is on going research being done about the Alligator Gar in Texas.

Well done Texans, well done.

I have to buy their "license" to catch fish and they are supposed to use that money to manage the fishery. They should not pretend I have a say in this because I say the state should have an active plan to electrofish and remove ALL Gar from ALL Texas waters.

gar is a useless fish that eats EVERYTHING it can get in its mouth.

Done.

I heard the other day TPWD was considering increasing the limit to five per day. I hope they do.