TPWD Unveils New Alligator Gar Website

TPWD News Release

TPWD Unveils New Alligator Gar Website

Website serves as information portal for Texas’ largest, longest-lived freshwater fish

AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) unveiled a new website to educate and inform Texans about alligator gar – the largest freshwater fish in Texas and one of the largest freshwater fishes in North America. The site, which can be found at www.tpwd.texas.gov/texasgar, features informational articles about alligator gar and the findings of studies conducted by TPWD biologists.

The new website was created by TPWD Inland Fisheries staff to provide anglers and non-anglers with all the information they need about Texas alligator gar in one place. That includes information on alligator gar identification, management, distribution and fishing tips and tactics.

“There is a lot of misinformation floating around about alligator gar regarding their impact on other fish, where they are located throughout the state and population sizes of the gar that live in our reservoirs and rivers,” said Dave Buckmeier, Research Program Director. “This website will provide Texans with a one-stop shop to find science-based facts and information about alligator gar and clear up some of the confusion surrounding these misunderstood fish.”

Some other common myths and misconceptions about alligator gar addressed on the website include the idea that they attack humans, that they are not native to Texas, that they are invasive and that their populations are plentiful throughout their range.

“Alligator gar are only present in a handful states in the country, and although Texas has some of the most robust populations, these fish still face challenges related to angling pressure and limited access to floodplain spawning habitats,” said Dan Daugherty, TPWD research biologist. “In order to sustain this unique fishery for future generations of anglers we want to engage the public and provide a better understanding of these fish both as a recreational resource and as a valuable part of the ecosystem.”

To date, TPWD research has focused on understanding how long alligator gar live, how fast they grow, how often they successfully reproduce and how healthy our populations currently are. But while they have learned a great deal about these topics, researchers know relatively little about the anglers who fish for them.

To help answer this question, the new alligator gar website is hosting pre-registration for an upcoming constituent survey that will gather information about people’s preferences, attitudes and opinions about these fish. This information will be used by researchers to help inform upcoming management decisions about fishing rules and regulations for alligator gar.

“With this survey we will be targeting both anglers and non-anglers in an effort to reach an audience as diverse as Texas itself,” said Warren Schlechte, TPWD research biologist. “The goal is to gain a better understanding of who our constituents are, how our anglers like to fish, their harvest practices, and how they would like to see alligator gar managed in the future.”

The alligator gar constituent survey will launch in June, but anglers can pre-register now on the new alligator gar website here. Pre-registered anglers and non-anglers will be notified via email when the survey launches this summer.

Other resources on the new alligator gar website include links to the species description, current fishing regulations statewide and in select reservoirs, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine feature articles related to alligator gar and a list of publications related to alligator gar life history and management.

To learn more, visit the alligator gar website at www.tpwd.texas.gov/texasgar.

I find it funny that TPWD wants input from anglers on AG.. When we did our first angler survey on Falcon, where 85% of fishermen overall said to "kill em all", they didn't like the results and made our local biologists rewrite the survey, to, in my opinion, steer the results. I am sure in todays political world many of you know the procedure.

Manipulation of numbers is easy to do when you control the responses. Let me write the survey questions and I'll bet you get different results..

I am not for the annihilation of the species, just for some balance.

You cannot take a one size fits all approach to AG in Texas.. I am sure there are places where they need more protection than others.

Just like different lakes have different slot limits to try and enhance the fishery, lakes need different restrictions, or no restrictions, to keep the balance in place.

That's called management.. And according to PAW's own research, we are taking well below levels that would damage the AG fishery..

This should be interesting.. And I hope they will include a comment section.. And let everyone read the comments posted by fishermen, with no spin..

Yea, they are trying to “save the Sharks” all over again...

People used to kill sharks anytime they caught them. Not to eat ... they just killed them because they thought they were bad and dumped them back in the ocean. It was ignorance and in the last 20 years we have come to understand that sharks play an important role in the ocean's ecosystems. Species like gar and bowfin have been here longer than most of the other species in our lakes. Where is it that they are out of balance with other species and causing a measurable problem?

Lake Aquilla for one...anyone that gets on the water and opens their eyes can tell...if they want to see, that is.

Further, man dumps garbage in the ocean and calls that intelligent progress, much like the calls for saving the gar?

I can't speak for other places.. And never do.. But Choke Canyon and Falcon are off the charts..

What species are gar impacting? Can you post a link to some studies that show gar have a negative impact on Aquilla?


When did anyone call dumping garbage in the ocean intelligent progress? Intelligent progress is groups like 4Ocean ( www.4ocean.com ) working to clean up our oceans.

The gar have been there during the peaks and valleys of bass fishing on both Choke and Falcon. Are you saying the population has increased dramatically over the last few years?

Very Interesting topic. I pre registered for this survey.

They increase dramatically in the right years.. Did you keep up with the studies we did down here on growth rates? And the numbers we encountered?

And how many gar were taken from Choke Canyon in the eighties and how many are there today..

And are you making decisions about gar with emotion or with facts gathered by scientific methods?

Gar are the ultimate fresh water predators with a 75 year shelf life.. They reproduce like rats and it is pretty easy to do the math.. They are sexually mature at three or four and we caught a lot of six and seven year olds that weighed a hundred pounds.. The myth of the 100 year old gar that weighs a hundred pounds is [censored].. At least down here..

I do not speak for other parts of the state..

Some of the bigger fish have over 800,000 eggs in them.. That is not a typo..

When you have thousands of them in a lake, it is easy to see how they can get out of control..

Most of the lakes in Texas seem to reach a natural balance with gar. Other than a few bowfishermen, most people don't harvest them. I have no emotional connection to gar, but I do think they are often hated without reason. As for Choke and Falcon, you know more than I do about those lakes and I haven't followed your studies, but this would be a good place to post the information you gathered.

Sounds like a good plan, as they probably need to hear from fishermen, and bowfishermen; not just tree hugging, go with the flow, how much money did your tree hugging survey cost types...and no Mr. Greeson, that comment was pointed at you...I for one know most reasearch is flawed from the beginning...

I spoke about it in depth on my site a few years back.. And I remember it started a war of sorts on here as well..

In any case.. It has been two years more or less since the implementation of the five fish per day rule change for Falcon.. And as ordered, TPWD is going to be doing an assessment of the gar fishery here on Falcon again next week, to monitor the fish's numbers, and to continue the study they started, four years ago..

These fish will be aged, weighed, fertility tested, and eaten by the locals after data collection..

I will let you know what we find..

I, for one, would love to know...so thanks in advance...

That's a bold comment. How is most research flawed from the beginning?

Maybe why the bass fishing is so poor on that lake compared to how it used to be, IDK. They are going to do another electro-fishing survey sometime in 2018, hopefully it will convince them to stock some laregmouth for the first time since 1985...

Not a bold statement toward you, actually a typo....what I said was that the statement was NOT pointed at you...however that is not what showed up in my comment, so my apologies, to you for my inaccuracy...I meant no offense to you at all, not my demeanor, at all.

Now on to the bold statement part...show me any research you want me to dissect, and I will, in detail dissect it and rip the credibility to shreds, if in is in fact biased reasearch, as most research is biased from the very beginning...that said, it takes many years of reviewing biased material to perform the dissection that I am capable of performing, and a few sentences or a 40 page dissertation, will not come close to explaining it to you...to your satisfaction...however, post up some “study” you think is representative of good work, or “ the truth” then ask me to critique it...and I will, for you and everyone, including the authors to see...and I will support my findings.

Let's keep conspiracy theories off our press releases. We have the Bunker in our Off Topic forum set up for this type of discussion.

Fine with me, although I am not much on conspiracy theories...as I worked too long in federal service for that thinking...

Are you a biologist? Most of what you have posted is a direct contradiction to published studies on Alligator gar. I would love to see some the data from the scientific studies you have done.


Somebody want to post up these studies that were done on Falcon, Aquila or any other Lake showing that alligator gar eat enough game fish to actually impact fisherman's catch rates or the health of the fishery?

Maybe I am reading fake news because every study I can find says exactly the opposite of these claims of how terrible the alligator gar is.

You can call Randy Myers, biologist at TPWD San Antonio office.. And he will corroborate all I have said.. As a matter of fact he is at Falcon doing a continuation of the study as I type.

Everything I have stated is fact.. I have worked closely with them and they ran the study out of our shop.

Yea, some folks don’t care much for the facts, especially when it gets in the way of their opinion.

I Remember the best advice I was given on opinions...A persons opinion is usually formed by which side of the table they sit on and who they are sitting by and relying on for support.

I think he was taking issue with the statement that “most research is biased from the very beginning”. If so, I would agree with him. “Some research”, “a lot of research”, “much research”, “most research that I’ve seen”...etc. sure - but “most research” as a blanket statement? How would one even go about validating that statement?

The statement is writing checks that couldn’t possibly ever be cashed. I think that was the point.

Fair enough, point well taken. I just happen to believe statement I made, based on my past experience, accurate, so we can agree to disagree. I do appreciate your point of clarification, though, it was well received by me, and it was a thoughtful response from you.

I don't have my own facts, I have data/information which is straight from TPWD.

It is clear they do not have an impact on game fish. In fact the latest study on stomach contents was even from your Lake Falcon and they reference studies back in the 1970's having the same results.

It is clearly understood that alligator gar do not "reproduce like rats", TPWD studies show on average it takes 10 years for an alligator gar to reach sexual maturity, not 3-4 years as was posted. And while it was not the Falcon Study but the Trinity River Study showed that out of the last 47 years only 17 had conditions that allowed alligator gar reproduction.

So here are my facts straight from Texas Parks and Wildlife, everything quoted below is from TPWD not from my personal bias or opinion. I am not for or against raising the limit on gar. What I am for is real data to support whatever decision is made. Not the myths and misconceptions that are hold overs from yester year.


What Do They Eat?

One factor that feeds the gator gar’s “nuisance” reputation is the widespread belief that it eats up the game fish that license-buying anglers prefer to catch. Results of diet studies suggest that’s not the case.

Last year, TPWD biologists analyzed the stomach contents of 392 gator gar collected at Falcon Lake on the Texas/Mexico border and found carp, tilapia and shad. Game fish made up 20 percent of what the gar had consumed, with largemouth bass accounting for only 8 percent. Studies at six other Texas reservoirs, dating back to 1970, showed even smaller percentages of bass in the gars’ diet, and there’s no evidence that the big fish are having a significant impact on bass populations.

Terre notes that many of the state’s best bass lakes — Falcon, Choke Canyon, Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend — have robust populations of alligator gar.

“These fish have coexisted for eons,” he points out. “We can and do have great fishing for largemouth bass and alligator gar in the same place at the same time.”


Alligator gar live a long time and take decades to reach trophy size. A 7-foot fish could be 40 years old. The world record, caught in Mississippi in 2011, measured 8 fee 5 inches and weighed 327 pounds. TPWD researchers examined ear bones from that fish and estimated its age at 95 years.

It takes 10 years, on average, for gator gar to reach breeding age. They require certain conditions for successful spawning, and those conditions don’t come around every year.


“Results suggest that no reproduction occurred in 17 of the past 47 years,” reports Dan Daugherty, a research biologist at TPWD’s Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center

•Binion, G. R., Daugherty, D. J., and K. A. Bodine. 2015. Population Dynamics of Alligator Gar in Choke Canyon Reservoir, Texas: Implications for Management. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 2:57-63. ◦Population estimated at 5437 Alligator Gar (≥ 43 inches); age range 0-27 years
&#9702;Harvest estimated to be < 3% annually
&#9702;Bow anglers harvest 1 fish for every 50-100 hours of effort

I don't think I would call those numbers off the chart. That is study of Choke Canyon. 5437 Alligator Gar (&#8805; 43 inches); age range 0-27 years

I think those numbers are plenty high..

Falcon is an outlier on all the numbers.. Both on rate of growth. And Sexual maturity..

When we did the study here, TPWD's survey said our bass numbers were down 66% from the year before.. So not a lot of bass showed up in the stomach contents..

If you want to do some research, you can google up the Texas A&M study on lake Guerrero.. Where they found 50% of the fish's diet to be bass.. Very similar climate and lake conditions that we had the few years before the study..

Will be posting this weeks results on my site in the near future..

Let's keep it scientific..

Like I said.. Call Mr. Myers at TPWD in SA.. But wait till next week.. He is here at our place right now..

I am only reporting the facts..

From what I understand, the study on Choke ONLYincluded the waters from 99 bridge to Mason Point.. So it was not a complete study of the entire lake..

What the actual numbers in the lake are, are anybodys guess..

Ok I can see that it may be that those population numbers are not exact and may have only included a certain portion of the lake. I thought of it as an educated guess so to speak as it is likely based on statistical evidence.

I am not trying to be offensive, I will freely admit that I am wrong if that is demonstrated. The thing is I cannot find any studies, data, or articles published by TPWD that says alligator gar are negatively impacting sport fish populations, reproduce like rats, are over populated etc...

I have truly tried to find data that supports what you and some others have said and I simply cannot locate any.

I found some quotes from Mr. Meyer in news paper articles, but do not find where he claims that gar eating the bass caused the decline in Falcon bass fishing. Nor do I find where he claims they reproduce like rats. In fact there is a link on the new Gar site that takes you to the published TPWD studies and they seem to say quite the opposite.

Again I have no problem with raising the limit if Falcon or any other Lake needs that for biologically sound purposes. These decisions need to be based on sound data not the opinions of local anglers, guides etc....and maybe they just have not published it yet but as of right now there is no publicly available data that supports what you and other say about how bad the alligator gar is.

I will have to agree.. TPWD is slow in publishing data..

We are not looking to increase the daily bag limit on Falcon.. But the research done a few years back did lead to increasing the daily bag on Falcon to five fish per day.. Which is the way it should be.. Regs founded in science and research..

As I said, falcon is unlike any other fishery in the states..

What we are doing now is a follow up to the research that was done a few years ago.. As mandated by the original research program plans to make sure we are not taking too many..

I don't want to kill em all either.. This research is intended to keep a good healthy viable fishable population of gar in the lake.. If things change, and numbers seem to be declining, I am positive you will see a reduction in daily bag limits..

Alligator gar do figure into my bottom line.. I believe a decent number of them are good for business..

We have a lot of folks that come to catch them.. And like I said, that is good for business..

How many people per day come to actually catch and take gar Home on a daily basis, if you had to hazard a guess, based on folks that stop-in to fish for them,versus just sport catching them (catch and release.)

Not much catch and release around here.. Today we had 39 gar to give away.. And we had fifty cars waiting on one..
(From TPWD study) The locals are crazy over eating them. And I must admit they are pretty darn good..

On a daily basis it is hard to say.. Some days there might be four gar boats on the water.. Most days there aren't any..

Sunny skies.. Warm water and no wind.. Those are the types of days you'll see a few boats out.. You gotta remember we are in the middle of nowhere..

Six months out of the year nobody is chasing them..

I was just wondering...the studies typically don’t seem to take fishing pressure into the equation when deciding on establishing limits (or not) in relation the “viable population” metrics, that they use to support their analysis/decision criteria on the harvest regulations...don’t know if they ever talk about that on this study, but at some point, they should. Basically, if no one removes the resource, then no regulation is necessary...if everyone removes the resourc, then regulation may be necessary to maintain a viable population, depending on the population metrics of a given lake. Any information you could shed or share on this idea, would be greatly appreciated.

Harvest was certainly considered when the limit change was enacted a few years back. Eating "Catan" as the locals call them, is certainly a part of the culture around here. And was discussed at length with state representatives and TPWD at hearings way before the law was changed..

Many folks probably don't know how long and drawn out the process was to get the limit raised..

Yesterday the boys brought in 39 gar. After processing, all were given away to the local community.. Must have been fifty cars in line for a fish.. You'd have to see it to believe it..

I appreciate the enlightenment. I, for one, do understand the regulatory enviroment, and changes to those processes, policies, laws and regulations.

You know, many times I see pictures of dam construction, lake clearing operations, etc., posted up on the wall in a marina that occurred many decades before, and think this is a once in a lifetime type picture...accordingly, that must be a sight to see...you should get someone to take pictures of these sights, for future generations to see and enjoy. And if you didn’t mind sharing them with us, well it just might add to the weight of the work that is being done, out there.

NoWeighers I think we agree on way more than we disagree.

It sounds like ya'll have a good plan going to gather factual data and adjust the limits according to the findings. I can certainly be for that!!!!!!

I was just concerned about folks spreading the old myths that gar eat all the game fish, reproduce so fast they will take over, they are "trash" fish, kill em all etc.......

On another note I can certainly believe people are coming to get these fish. I live and was born and raised in the river bottoms of SE Texas, have folks in South Louisiana. I have eaten and seen many gar taken for the purpose of eating.

I cannot understand those that kill them with a bow for fun and toss them over or dump them somewhere and "claim" they are using them. That is one of the things about these fish that I cannot be for. They are very good to eat, no reason to treat them any different than any other Native fish species.

The studies I have read do take fishing pressure into account. They have to in order to set the bag limits.

In a nut shell they estimate things like adult breeding population, age of maturity, reproduction rate, growth rates etc... to estimate the number of adult fish that can be killed with out negatively impacting the population of healthy fish. Once they have that they estimate the fishing pressure and then adjust the limits up or down so that fishing pressure only takes the numbers of fish that are sustainable.

There is quit a bit more to it than that of course but that is the general idea. The process has rule and regs that guide it. In a lot of cases they will even conduct public meetings and such before making the change.

I would also like to say this is a great discussion. I think this is the first time that I have seen stay on course and civilized this long.

It is proof that these type issues can be discussed, agreed on and disagreed on with out getting ugly.

PAW finished up their latest survey on the Falcon Lake Alligator gar yesterday evening, a day earlier than anticipated.

In the four earlier capture sessions, it took three days to collect approximately one hundred specimens. But in two days, they caught 96 AG, ranging from 2.5 feet to over six feet in length.

And being this is a scientific study, the number of nets and length of nets were the same. And they were placed in similar areas as the collections that took place back in 2014.

Early findings revealed NO bass in the stomach contents. Less than twenty five percent of fish had any stomach contents.. We have had an explosion of white bass here on Falcon in then last three years, and a lot of the stomach contents consisted of them.

Like has always been seen in the past, AG consume what there are a lot of..

I am sure I will get a lot more info after the aging of the fish has been done..

But I think it is safe to say that the AG population in Falcon is doing just fine, and the increased bag limit
has had no impact on the numbers.. If anything, it could easily be argued that the numbers are still increasing..

And I do believe that.. I will pass on any other info I get in the near future..

Thanks much...

NoWeighers,

Thanks for that great info there. I always have my Bow with me when I go to Falcon for Gar.

What would I need to do to catch all of these white bass? I never caught one there, but I have never tried either.