Tactics

Gar fishing is a thrilling sport. In the areas I fish, longnose gar are caught mostly at night, on shiners, sucker minnows, or fatheads. For night fishing for gar, I use a lighted float, with the hook set to twice the depth of the water. A single large split shot two feet from the hook keeps the rig from drifting in the wind. Very sharp hooks are required to penetrate the bony skull of the gar. Once a gar takes a baitfish, it needs to arrange it headfirst in it's mouth to swallow it, so it's best to let a gar run with the bait before striking. Gar often lurk in extremely shallow water at night, so be careful not to spook them as you walk along the shore. Gar are perfectly comfortable in three inches of water at night.

Small longnose gar are almost impossible to hook, since their mouths are so narrow and bony that your chances of a solid hookup are almost nil. Gar may be fished on the bottom, freelined, or with floats - which is probably the best method. Gar may also be taken on artificials, including flies. Flies for gar should incorporate some frayed rope into the design, since the gar will seldom hook itself on the strike. It will, however, get the frayed rope tangled up in its impressive array of teeth, allowing it to be landed. Hooks on rope flies are optional. Mepps spinners and rapalas are spinning lures that may take gar, but such lures won't last long after the gar have been biting them, and reliably hooking gar on such lures may be problematic.

 

... we got some minnows and anchored where the big gar roll. With just a hook, we tossed our baits to gar we could see and left the bail of the reel open when they took the bait and began to run. We smoked back then, and the rule of thumb was used - had to let the gar run for at least as long as it took to smoke a cigarette. Then you’d set the hook and maybe he’d have the bait swallowed. You couldn’t set a hook in his bony mouth. Big gar put up a very good fight, leaping and running. They’re good practice for handling other big fish. And a lot of fun.

-Bob Todd, River Hills Traveller 2004