Gar Fishing...

[Master Carper]

We were using shiners...

We saw lots of gar...

I hooked 15 fish that morning but, was unable to move all but one of them. I grabbed the wrong spinning outfit and the 14 lb. line was about as useless as sewing thread! I set the hook on several fish so hard that the tip of my 7 ft. spinning rod actually touched the grip and as soon as these fish started to move off, my line would break...

When I did manage to get one close enough to the bank for Becky to get a good look at, before it made a last run and popped the line, she said she did NOT want to catch one that big because she was scared of it....


DAVID

 

[makeithappen]

lol well heck. I need to come gar fishing with you. Could stick an arrow in 'em as a gaff lol

 

[Master Carper]

I'll take you gar fishing but NOT with a bow - rod and reel only....

 

[makeithappen]

Heh, fair enough

 

[Master Carper]

Understand that I'm not talking about but, I have seen too many damn idiots and fools who would catch a gar, pry its mouth wide open and put as long of a stick as they could get it in its mouth and then turn it loose. With the gars mouth wide open and unable to close it, it would thrash around in the water till it died! Things like this are totally uncalled for....


DAVID

 

[makeithappen]

Uh, yeah, that's inexcusable. If you kill a fish, you eat it. If you kill a carp, you use it as fertilizer.

 

[dennishoddy]

Some people say carp is really tasty. I've tried it a couple of different ways. Tastes like mud to me.

 

[Master Carper]

My Grandma and Grandpa use to pressure cook and can carp and when made into patties and fried, it tasted the same as salmon patties and actually had the same color and texture as well...

Years ago, my Grandpa and I use to go below the spillway at Grand Lake every Summer carp fishing - until they turned that area into a stinkin golf course. Anyways, the carp always got cleaned and filleted out, pressure cooked with whatever ingredients they used and put in the freezer until it was time for some of them good 'ol carp patties to be fried up...

I sure wish my grand parents were still alive so I could invite some of you guys over when they cooked those carp. I guarantee you would want to come back for more...

I've also heard people say that deer smelled and tasted like a "sewer" and I guess like everything else, it just depends on how it is prepared and cooked. I can promise you that MY deer don't stink or smell bad and some guys will even say it is better than beef....

DAVID

 

[AllOut]

I'll take you gar fishing but NOT with a bow - rod and reel only....

What's wrong with using a bow?

 

[Seansworth]

I've had several guys e-mail me about making "gar lures" so I decided to post a couple of pictures on my rigging process...

Start with a couple pieces of nylon rope. I cut these to about 6" in length...

Start unraveling the rope till you have about 2" left. This will be part of the "head...

Other equipment needed is a heavy braided line to make a leader out of and to wrap the head. A heavy duty needle comes in handy to thread the line through the middle of the rope. I also use a bell sinker for weight and to anchor the other end of the leader too. this is also the only time I use a barrel swivel...

Thread the line through the needle and push the needle up through the center of the rope. Once done, tie on your bell sinker and pull it up snug in the unwoven part of the rope...

Make half a dozen or so wraps at the bottom of the rope, below the sinker, to keep the rope from becoming further unraveled. Now, finish wrapping the head of the lure (good and tight), then tie it off. I also added a drop of super glue to the knot to make extra sure it is not gonna come unwrapped...

After the lure is complete, take a brush and brush through the strands of rope to "fluff" it out and when your are finished, your new gar lure should look like this...

When a gar strikes this lure, it's teeth will become entangled in the rope and if it has a half way good bite on it, it won't be able to get off until you take it off...

I have been making gar lures this way since the late 70's and make about 10 lures a year. This will last me for a whole fishing season and you know someone will always be curious enough that you have to give one or two away...

Also, I sometimes die the head red and I even go so far as to add a glittery chennile in the middle of all that fuzz to add a bit more attractant to the lure...

I have found one of the best places to fish these gar lures is down below dams that have a good polulation of gar. If you see a gar slowly working his way upstream towards the dam, work your lure in front of it's face and nine times out of ten, it will strike and once it does, hold on! The fun is just beginning....

DAVID

I plan on trying this tomorrow. Thanks for sharing.