Wednesday and Thursday Jim from Michigan joined me for two days of alligator gar angling. Our first day began with me being concerned that we were going to have to drive a long distance to get away from the storms. However, as the day progressed the rain ended just and Jim and I arrived at the location we were going to fish. The river was rising quickly from the previous nights and mornings rains when we launched. By 8:30 we had our first rod in the water, and shortly thereafter two more. I had to change some rigging due to the conditions, while I was doing so we got our first bite on one of the rods that was out. Jim hooked this fish and had her on briefly, however she was able to free herself from further participation in our activities. Before I finished converting all the rods we got another run, this time the fish got into a log that was floating down the river and was able to torque its way off the hook as well. We caught the log, it was an eight footer. We picked up and moved a little ways from this spot since we were having issues with current. We only had two rods ready to fish and I put those out while I worked on getting number three up and running again. I didn’t get to finish number three before one of the rods took off again. I also noted while this rod was moving off that something was playing with the other rod as well. Jim took the first rod that ran and set the hook, while I worked on reeling the other one in. Jim didn’t get the fish on his, but I realized the rod in my hands had a fish on it so I quickly set the hook and passed it over to Jim without having any idea what I had just hooked and passed off. It was soon clear that Jim was hooked up to a BIG fish. After about a ten minute fight we brought this fish in the boat, 84” on the button with a 34.5” girth. Not bad for Jim’s first alligator gar, what a beast.
This fish was hooked in the mouth, and after measurements and photographs she was released to fight again. Usually after mentioning a fish like this the report ends…well not this one. This was at 9:30 a.m., and there was still plenty of time to fish. No sooner had I got TWO rods back out then we got another run. Jim set the hook hard and it was fish on again, again I could tell Jim was hooked into another big alligator gar making several drag stripping runs and nearly jumping out of the water completely. When we got this fish in the boat she measured 82” long and 35” in girth, another trophy alligator gar for Jim within 30 minutes of catching a 84” fish.
Some would end now, but not this one. After releasing the last fish and getting the lines back out (I was constantly working on rigging one at this point since the fish were behaving as they were) it was not long before we got yet another run. Again, Jim set the hook and fish on! This fish nearly jerked Jim from the boat on its initial run, but Jim soon got the upper hand. Once we got this one it the boat it measured 68” long, a respectable fish by anyone’s standards on any day. There will be pics later for this fish.
At this point it was now just after 10:00 a.m. and we had already caught over 300 pounds of gar with only three fish and in less than three hours. It gets better. We decided to move about 100 yards and set up again. I was finally able to get three rods in the water at this point, the fish gave us a brief 15 minute break. We had one rod on each side of the boat and one down the middle, first the left rod got a run on it and Jim sprang into action again, sinking the hooks into yet another alligator gar which left me to reel in the lines. I had noticed the first one I picked up bouncing a little bit, and sure enough when I felt the rod there was a fish on the other end of it. I set the hook hard since Jim was a little tied up at this point, thinking I had just hooked into a small gar and would quickly land it so that I could assist Jim with his. I quickly fought this fish to near the boat, and should have known when I couldn’t raise her I was in trouble. This small fish suddenly got ANGRY about the way I had treated her and rocketed underneath the boat nearly taking me with her in the process. By now Jim’s fish had come off and he was watching me saying something to the effect of “Some small fish” at this point It was obvious that I had just rushed a big fish to the side of the boat and was now in for an aswoopin at the fins of a big gator gar. Back and forth she went on the side of the boat digging the rod into my leg with tremendous force. Finally she tired enough that Jim was able to help me, the guide land my fish that I had hooked while he was tied up with another. This fish measured 82” long and had a girth of 36.5” making her the heaviest fish of the day. By now it was 12:30 p.m., and we had just landed 3 trophy class alligator gar and another respectable fish in the first 4 hours of the day. As the day progressed the fishing did slow, with two more alligator gar being caught, a 4’10” fish and a 4’4” fish. Also, a greedy blue cat stopped by and got to pose for the camera for his trouble.
This was all day one. Day two started out with the river an additional three feet higher than when we had left it the day before. After setting up at our first spot we could tell things were different today. Not nearly as many fish were gasping and we did not get bit immediately as we had the day before. We moved 3 times before we got our first run which Jim hooked and we landed. This fish was a respectable 69”, enough to make anyone happy and no small fish.
As it would turn out the fish were not nearly as active, and this ended up being the only fish for day two. We moved a total of ten times trying to find fish willing to bite, and while we did get a few more runs we did not make anymore hookups. The fish were biting light and the largest fish were dormant, we only saw about 5 gasp all day long. In all we had a great trip. I absolutely enjoyed fishing with Jim and look forward to him making a future trip. The two day total went like this:
84”, 82”,82”,69”,68”,58”,52”. What a trip! Many thanks to Jim for fishing with me, we had a great time.
If you would like more information about a guided alligator gar trip please feel free to call me at 903-721-4296 or e-mail me dawson@texasmegafishadventures.com and I will be glad to help you. Thank you for looking!
Also a super report. Thanks for sharing. 
