I have recently found a place where there are a large number gar. Most are 2- 3ft. needlenose. We are catching a few on minnows but our hook up ratio in not very good. WE have tried letting them take it, setting the hook quick, and all types of different things. Could some of you offer some help? I would appreciate advice. Thanks in advance.

I would suggest using a small treble hook, say an eagle claw #8 or #10. This will be fine for small longnose. I think your hook rate will improve; i usually hook about 75% of my fish if I let them run for 30 seconds or more. Supposedly you should wait until they stop running with the bait, pause, and begin again. Also, although I have not been successful with them consider a rope lure (google gar angler's sportsman's society). People go on and on about how effective they are; I'm still waiting for proof.

Good luck!
Nathan
gar photo

Lot of people swear by the frayed nylon, for me its let them take the run to deep water then when they start the second run set the hook.

Just like they said, I let them take the bait for atleast 30 seconds before setting the hook. Let the run and set the hook very hard.

Thanks. We went last night and did a lot better. I took some nylon and riged up on lure and did real well on it. My wife and son are really enjoying catching these gar. I still fish for bass while they are doing this, but it is a blast watching them hook into these fish. I really do apreciate the help.

Now that you've starting catching the babies, wait till you start hooking into the bigger Gar, you may just drop that Bass Rod after all. If there are "Longnose Gar" in the area, you want to try at least 2 rigs, 1 on a bobber about 2-3 ft. from the surface, the other on the bottom.

Use a fresh bleeding perch on a fairly large hook, and a few strands of white nylon rope frayed out so it kind of "drapes" over the bait. If you have some blood scent, shad scent, etc, spray the rope before you cast out. When the Gar takes the bait, wait about 20-30 seconds or so, then SLOWLY start retrieving. You never set the hook when using rope, the idea is to let the fish get "tangled" up in the rope.

In my experience I've always caught the bigger Gar from the bottom. The larger Gar will act like a tarpon and do a gorgeous tail dance. Keep at it and it won't be long before you start catching 20-40lb Longnose Gar (or larger!).

I have caught a number of gar while catfishing and small treble hooks work well. Just don't put them back in the water after you catch them for goodness sakes. They are fun to catch but they are a nightmare on gamefish populations.

Error! Error! Wrong answer. Do not leave the gar on the bank to rot. Release the fish back into the water like a good little angler. Unsportman like conduct to kill a fish you are not going to eat. Gar have just as much right to be released alive as bass, bream, cats, crappie or any other species of fish that gives the angler even a little bit of pleasure in catching.
I used to look at carp as trash fish, unworthy of catching, keeping, eating, or releasing. But reading the posts in here changed my mind. No species deserves to be caught and tossed up on the bank to die and rot.

Gar has some of the best tasting meat that i have ever had . You need a pair of tin snips just to get thru the armor shell but once you get inside the meat is white and pretty

Tastes like catfish but little bit cleaner

I think they get a bad rap because they are hard to clean but they are very good.
I've cleaned every one I've caught and the backstraps are very good, clean meat. A lot like shark steaks.

its illegal to leave any fish on the bank to die including non-game and bait fish according to TPWD.

Hey if you eat'em then eat'em. I was taught to dispose of them when caught as they are "trash fish". I am undereducated on the subject and admit all of my knowledge of gar was given to my by my father. I didn't even know you could eat them! Interesting stuff guys. And really you got nothing to worry about because I have hooked up with tons of gar but I think I've actually landed 2 in my whole life without getting my line cut. I actually misspoke in my earlier post, I have Hooked tons of them not caught tons of them. I still can't believe you can eat them?

What you do is call me I got a bow!

I have yet to eat Gar myself, but I'd definitely like to try. Everyone I know who has eaten them tells me they make very good eating fish. The toughest part is cleaning them, but they have two long strips of meat all down their body, called the back strap, I believe as someone said earlier.

If you're going to eat them, then by all means, keep them. But if you're not going too, then please don't kill them. I'd agree with Grandpa and say that they have every right to be released back into the water alive is every game fish, and every other fish.

Eating is one thing, wasting is another.

Heck, you could argue that gar have MORE right to be released alive then many gamefish, because unlike many of our gamefish species, gar are native to our waters!

And actually gar do not devastate any population of anything, including bass. Stomach content surveys have proven that, as has been posted here in the past. Heck, they eat as many young carp and rough fish as anything else, but you don't see me advocating throwing them on the bank to save carp lol.

It just ensures that the fish that survive grow up stronger in a healthy population! The same goes for bass and everything else.

And please, don't throw dead fish of any kind on the bank.

Not only is it unlawful to do even to rough fish and baitfish, it's disgusting. Whether you think you're doing the lake a favor or not, there is nothing nastier then showing up to your favorite bank spot, only to find a rotting, stinking dead fish just dripping with maggots and oozing brown liquified flesh.

Yeah. That's what happens to those fish you so kindly throw on the bank. They dont' magically dissapear when they die or immediately get totally consumed by scavengers...they rot, and get filled with maggots and stink like holy hell, and ruin the whole area for a while.

I HATE that.