Gar on topwater?

[tsewdim]

Caught my first ever gar on topwater while fishing for bass on a backwater area of the St Croix. Pretty cool looking things although they don't fight very hard. Gotta admit though, I was too scared to touch it even though I know they are harmless. I shook it off then caught another one a while later again on topwater. I was using a zara spook.

Do they bite on topwater often?

Caught a dogfish a few years ago too. I also didn't touch it. LOL.

[carpmanjake]

do you know what kind of gar? long nose or shortnose?

longnose gar have to surface every 15 or so minutes during the summer, so they will hunt that area as well. rope lures are the most effective way to fish them, i have a couple rope lures made especially for topwater. one is a large cork popper and 2 rope tails. (like the spro frogs) another is just a normal rope lure, with a heavy rubber cap on the front of the lure. the air between the rubber makes the lure float enough. but i made another i added high density foam for even higher floatation. my theory on this is that i will skip it across the surface on the retrieve, to imitate a panicing baitfish.

as with buffalo, i have neve caught a gar before, but i have done my research

[mainbutter]

My guess would be shortnose simply because there are many more of them(from what I have seen) than longnose in MN. Then again, we'll never know without a description.

[carpmanjake]

My guess would be shortnose simply because there are many more of them(from what I have seen) than longnose in MN. Then again, we'll never know without a description.

im not sure about that...

but likely a shortnose. its almost impossible to hook a long nose without letting it swallow the bait

[KTapper]

I wouldn't say almost impossible but difficult.

Yeah just make a rope lure I made one and it took a few minutes.

[LOTWSvirgin]

I catch them just reeling in a shad rap reeling real slow. They are hard to hook though nothing but bones in the mouth. I have tried rope lure with not as much success

[tsewdim]

I don't know what kind of gar it was. It was between 25-30 inches long.

[Flaco651]

Longnose Gar

Shortnose Gar [img:center]

[hanso612]

I have the best luck keeping them hooked, when I use a six inch piece of wool hair ribbon on th front treble of a floating Rapala.

[carpmanjake]

I wouldn't say almost impossible but difficult.

Yeah just make a rope lure I made one and it took a few minutes.

no not impossible. but very difficult

[carpmanjake]

I catch them just reeling in a shad rap reeling real slow. They are hard to hook though nothing but bones in the mouth. I have tried rope lure with not as much success

you have to fish ropelures right for them to work. they mainly only work for longnose. they are nowhere near as effective for shortnose cuz their mouth is more broad.

if they are longnose, you arent fishing the rope lures right.

there are alot of ways to fish them, at least a few ways for each type of rope lures. topwater, weightless, weighted. i have made a few with colorado blades on the leaders. so it is like a regular inline spinner. i caught a few pike with it while trying for gar on rose lake. had a few follows from gar. but they never hit. but the pike loved it! it was pretty cool catching a few pike with no hook.

you have to "set the hook" right with rope lures. when the fish hits. you give it a little slack, then just let that gar pull the line tight. when its tight, HOLD on. it will shake its head, and entagle the rope in its mouth. NOW you can start fighting the fish.

you NEVER actually jerk back to "set the hook"

[Neighbor_guy]

If you are willing to take the effort to fillet them. (tin snips required ) Gar is some of the best freashwater fish you will ever eat.

[tsewdim]

It was the top one...long nose

[DTro]

If you are willing to take the effort to fillet them. (tin snips required ) Gar is some of the best freashwater fish you will ever eat.

I'll have to take your word on that.

[carpmanjake]

If you are willing to take the effort to fillet them. (tin snips required ) Gar is some of the best freashwater fish you will ever eat.

i have heard the same. there is a how to on another site that i could copy. it does a very good job explaining how to fillet gar

[ec30_06]

I have never heard of anyone eating a gar. They look like they would be all bones

[carpmanjake]

I have never heard of anyone eating a gar. They look like they would be all bones

oh no. not at all. from what i heard, the gar are so good they are almost better than salmon. i dont eat fish, and even if i did i wouldnt really go through the trouble to clean a gar just for one or 2 meals.

[kittycatcher16-2]

Carpmanjake...All you do is tell other people off. When in reality you are just a know-it-all. Let people state their opinions for once. Im so sick of reading your bull****! Every single thread you have to add your two sense...its all garbage. You are a young kid...how about listen to other people once before jumping in on everything and claiming you know EVERYTHING! Let people teach you rather than trying to be the teacher about everything. BTW stop extending your arm in your pictures to make fish look bigger. That bass isnt even close to 5 lbs.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

LOL

[LoonState]

Wow. a little ruff there CC. He may be young but he also fish's alot, and by alot i mean a ton! Anyway pretty sure a forum is set up to get everyone's opinion(including there 2cents) so lets be respectful of everyones opinion and not try to stir the pot. From what i have heard also is that if you want to spend the time cleaning a Gar it does actually taste pretty good!

[JimBuck]

Easy ChannelChaser. There's no reason to get nasty on anyone here. I enjoy reading CarmanJake's threads and appreciate that even though he's young, the guy get's out ALL THE TIME and you can't replicate experience on the water. If your fishing that much, I think it's easy to say you will learn more than the guy who sits at home on the computer complaining on some forum. I'd give gar a shot if it was put in front of me but there is no way I'm going to fillet it.

[kittycatcher16]

For some reason it says my screen name kittycatcher16 saying that nasty stuff about jake...It wasnt me who said that.

[bronzeback]

to be honest he did kind of insult the guy by telling him he was fishing completely wrong, before I read kittycatcher's post I was a little put off by what he said as well. Clearly not as much as kittychaser 2 though.