Well here it is! We went to this Gar lake in hopes of catching some nice longnosed Gar. We scoured the weed, rock, and sand flats all over the lake for ten whole hours yesterday and didn't see a single Gar surface or gulp air. We did end up seeing 8 longnosers, randomly around the lake and had one follow out of 12' of water, but most were spooked by our boat and were chillin' on the bottom in 5' of water. The water was pretty clear, probably 6-7' water clarity. The largest one we saw was about 2.5 feet, they all pretty much looked like small hammerhandle northerns; except for their beaks. We spoke with many residents around the lake about the Gar. Some didn't even know the Gar were in the lake while many others told us that the bowfisherman get quite a few of them in the spring, up in the shallows. So for clear lakes I found that the Gar seem to hang in 5-12' of water and act very much like the nature of a northern. It also seems that they may only be up in the shallows in the spring to "spawn" maybe?

What do you guys think? Are my findings typical of a lake like this or was something wrong? I'm thinking about trying it again, but I will wait until spring when it seems like their active.

We did end up catching a 23" and a 24" Walleye while trolling 12'of water with bass spinnerbaits with nylon rope trailers and steel leaders, if thats not crazy!

Here's one of the Walleyes.

If you're talking about Western Minnesota, I've seen bowfishers kill 30 gar per day in the spring in those lakes. They come into the shallows to spawn and are dead meat. There's one guy who has "GAR KILLER" painted on his bowfishing boat in big red letters.

It would be hard for them to resist freelined live baits - did you try a lively shiner? The weather has been a bit cool, so not ideal for gar - you want it to be HOT. Maybe just the wrong day.

I'll try it again in the spring; and if I run into any bowfishers I'll troll by close.

I would give it another try in the summer if you can. The springtime is good for shooting them, but not necessarily for fishing for them. Summer is best for fishing for gar. They are a southern fish, they like the warmest water possible for feeding.

Maybe I'll have to try freelining some shiners. I'll end up gut hooking them all or not hooking them at all won't I? I made a shit load of rope lures, it's just that as soon as I saw them they were darting away; fast! Other than blindly float fishing them with a shiner, I don't even see how I could cast to one without spooking them?

I'll give up for now. I have to try to plan my St. Croix trip sept 6-9. I've never been and it's hard to find good information. I'll give Gar another try next year; maybe it'll be a hotter summer?

Corey is right. The hotter the better when it comes to gar. This summer, especially this August, has been abnormally cool.

Sorry I can't help you out on the clear water. But if I was fishing clear water I would definitely use live minnows over rope lures. My opinion is: gar are sight feeders and in murky water they don't have a chance to inspect your lure for long so you may get more reaction strikes. Also, an approaching boat does not scare them because they don't know it's there until it's on top of them. And if gar are actively feeding on gizzard shad, rope lures will work but if they're eating something else you need to switch tactics.

You're welcome to come down here next summer and try it here. I'll show you how we do it and where likely gar spots are on the Mississippi. The spots we find them in are pretty similar and they hold true all the way up the river into Minnesota.

We'll be out this weekend. Hopefully we'll have pics to post.

Well, I won't give up on them; but I may have to go fishing for Longnosers with Corey and Rich. They seem to know how to get some big MN fish.