I am going to do some trash fishing this afternoon, and possibly in the early morning for Alligator Gar. I have shot them with a bow and reel, but really would like to land one.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I use a steel leeder with a small treble hook. I have a long cork that makes the bait float about 3 feet in the water. I have also tried it resting on the bottom. We have a great place on the Sabine river, and there are 6-8 footers all over the place.

I use what I catch out of a pond or in that oxbow.......(chuncks of catfish, buffalo, etc) I have had one or two on, and let them go as long as I could before setting the hook...but still nothing. It can't be that hard...right???

Extremely hard. Sounds like you are on the rite track. Maybe try some different bait or cut the bait in a different way. Every river and differerent parts of the river require different techniques.

I learned on the Sabine. Sounds like your doing it right. Sometimes you can do everything right and catch nothing. Keep it up you will get one.

I have been catching a lot lately in rivers by putting my weight on bottom then about three foot up tying a short ( 3 to 5 in) steel leader and using a single hook and a whole shad. I run the shad down the hook like a plastic worm bass fishing. when they strike I just push the button and weight until there steadily pulling line then set the hook hard. I still miss some but I catch a whole lot more then I did when I first started trying to catch them. good luck. they r a blast

Thanks for all the advice. Well, I gave it a shot but did not land one. If it was incredibly easy, I probably wouldn't like it so much. I had about a 5 footer on...just swimming away with my bait. I counted to about 10, and set the hook. Needless to say, he was of in 5 seconds. I know one thing....you HAVE to have patience. From what I have heard, you need to wait a lot longer than that, so they swallow the hook at least. Maybe next time!

I wouldn't want them to swallow the hook... But yes you do have to wait much longer and not let the excitement take over

Let some perch float in a bucket with water all day in the sun, use a big hook, put the perch on whole, let it hit the bottom, use the clicker, let the gar run for about 20 yards, set hook, gaff it in the gill and take a picture.

A more certain way to catch them (almost 100% hookups) is to fashion a lariat out of piano wire with a hook on it (only to hold the bait. The ends of the lariat are held together with a piece of soldering wire. When the gar hits, you rare back, the solder breaks, the noose tightens down around the upper beak and can't slide off because of the teeth.

Haha that's a good one

No joke duckhunter, the wire noose is the most sure-fire way to rod-n-reel them in. Anyone wants the plans/diagram just pm me.