Catchin' Gar
Andrew Meikle
Dateline: 11/22/99
I caught my first Gar this last summer, it was 7 pounds, and very tricky to catch... after finding the right lure (ended up using a slow sinking grub/larvee lure) we (my brother and I) finally started landing them. Even still, it's hard to land a gar, they are very aggressive, and thier long snouts are very hard... But it's not like you didn't know that :)
We probably caught about 15 to 20, but only landed 3 that day. Oh, BTW the gar that I caught slaped me!, and left it's tail imprint on my arm for several days.
Ok ok, I'll be honest. The truth is I didn't really know how to handle it, with it's rows of razor sharp teeth and body just flipping to and fro like it was being Shocked! It was kind of all new to me...
Thinking about it, I have landed 15 to 40 pound Muskellunge, but didn't really know what to do with this fighting fish. so after a minute or two(seemed like hours) it finally calmed down enough to attempt a landing. Here's the stupid part... I thought if I could grab it by it's snout and keep it closed,(just like you would a Crocodile) I could then grab it's body with my other hand.
OK OK- now that you have finished laughing, let me continue. :) As you know that is a big NO NO! I learn quickly though, but not before it showed me another neat trick. I then decided to grab it with both hands, just beneath it's gills, thinking it's going to be very slimy, Not so. It was easy to grip, and I pulled it out of the water. Not really sure how long it took, maybe five or ten seconds before it just started to freak right out. That's when it did it's slap, I wasn't even expecting it. it just came to life again! and wailed on me.
I released it feeling like I just survived some Amazon river trip. :) But not before I got a few pics of it, and my arm, where the imprint of it's tail was, for three days :) Btw I took off my shirt and used that for the next one, and my brother used my shirt too, for the second one he caught.
Fishtales One Year Ago: 11/23/98 - Lure a Kid To Fishing - Jim Delricco explains how his bait system will keep a kid's interest up!.
