Night Gar

[catman529]

Small longnose gar tonight around 11:30pm on a dead shiner. Circle hook went through the beak which is unusual. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic....

Earlier in the evening, right as dusk was closing to night, I hooked a catfish about 5 pounds or so but the line broke right at the knot on the hook when I was trying to get him in landing net range. A little while after that, I hooked a soft shell turtle :mad: and broke the line off because I was not going to haul it up the bank.

Moved back to the creek mouth around 10:45pm and caught the gar, and then the biggest snapping turtle I have hooked. He looked to be 15-20 pounds but I did not pick him up. After the pics he bit the line off and swam away.

 

[Trapper John]

Better than sitting at home watching the storms come in.

I can't remember...is there a turtle season for snappers? I know alligator snappers are off limits but I've heard of guys going after the common ones.

 

[bowriter]

#1- Those turtles are great eating, especially the soft shell.
#2- Now you can see why gar are so hard to solidly with a bow.
#3- I can show you a knot that never breaks but not electronicly.

 

[stik]

#1- Those turtles are great eating, especially the soft shell.

common snappers are the only ones you can eat. softshells and all others are protected

 

[catman529]

#1- Those turtles are great eating, especially the soft shell.
#2- Now you can see why gar are so hard to solidly with a bow.
#3- I can show you a knot that never breaks but not electronicly.

Stik is right about only snappers being legal, but I wouldn't eat one either, they smell too bad even when alive. I will clean a lot of animals but a turtle is one thing I have never felt like taking apart. Maybe one day in the future if I get over-curious I will try one.

I doubt longnose could be taken easily with a bow at all. Seems like unless the gar was huge, the arrow would deflect off the narrow body covered in armor. They are even hard to hook. Usually I have to let them run for 5-10 minutes with the bait before setting the hook to be sure the hook is in the mouth and not in the teeth. But sometimes it just works out and hooks the beak.

I just use the clinch knot for the most part. I still haven't learned the palomar or most any other fishing knot.

 

[RUGER]

catman,
Here is what you need to catch gar.
They work like a charm.

http://www.garmanjack.net/hookless.html

 

[RUGER]

A man as smart as you will probably be able to tell how to make one on your own just from the pics.

 

[stik]

catman,
Here is what you need to catch gar.
They work like a charm.

http://www.garmanjack.net/hookless.html

i was just about to suggest a frayed nylon string. :)

 

[catman529]

Thanks for sharing Ruger. I have actually tried one or two in the past. A lot of gar fishermen just buy twisted nylon rope and unravel it and make a lure out of it. I've been told it doesn't start working real well till the rope is real good and tangled. I tried a few times, tangled it up on purpose, but for some reason could never get one to catch. Maybe I will have to try again this summer when the gar are near the surface. Knowing that many people use them and they work, I can't just let it go because the first time failed...

Heck I have had gar attack a piece of white trash bag on a line. They will eat anything that remotely resembles a fish.

 

[spitndrum]

:COOL:

 

[easy45]

definitely better than sitting at home and to be honest turtle or not I just like to catch stuff

 

[bowriter]

We use to tie four inches of frayed nylon behind a silver spoon and catch the heck out of them below a spillway.

I have shot a few needle nose with a bow but they have to be pretty big.