Longnose Gar

[largemouthTLOCD 0]

The water level is high on the st johns river so the bass fishing isn't the best right now. I decided to break out the rope fly and try to catch some longnose gar. caught a few but only got pictures of these two.

[SILKHDH 0]

I do this in Kansas. I love it. Do you know what a gar jack is . if not google it. I made my own. Is real handy when trying to get the fly out. As you know , one slip with a gar and you may need stitches. But im sure you wear gloves.

Check it out. Gar jack. Easy to make.

[michaelray 0]

Nice! I do it a bit here in Arkansas. I just need a Gator gar to have the state slam. Longnose, Shortnose, and Spotted can all be caught in the same sloughs of the Arkansas River here. I wonder if anyone has ever caught an Alligator Gar on a flyrod.

[Crotalus 0]

Nice fish!!

 

I have tied a few gar (rope) flies for customers but have never fished for them, they look really fun and are definitely on my bucket list.

[TheCream 0]

Rope flies are effective and fun to use...until you have to get it out of their beaks. As stated above, always wear gloves. A trick that works for me is using a stick or something laying around and use it to prop their jaws open. Then with a hemostat I can usually get the rope free quickly.

[SILKHDH 0]

TheCream,

You need to go check out a "Gar Jack". Just google it and go to images. You will see them I action. Will securely hold the gar while you are removing the fly. It really makes it a lot safer. Easy to make yourself.

[robow7 0]

A couple of long nose and spotted gar. The larger gar are a lot fun to play, but unfortunately the smaller gar tend to not put up much resistance.

 

This one was 4 1/2 ft long, largest I've managed came in at 5 ft and 20 lbs. Those are fun !

 

 

You can see the rope fly present before landing and releasing the fish.

 

[sniperfreak223 0]

Gar are definitely on my bucket list...but I live in eastern PA, so oppritunities are few and far between. I'm planning a trip to Lake Erie/ Presque Isle Bay this spring, and the bay has a pretty good population of both longnose and spotted gar, so hoping I can knock them off the list there, as well as a bowfin.

[SILKHDH 0]

_{I repeat. If you are using rope flies to catch gar, google a "Gar jack". Is a simple piece of wood with l holes in it to stick the beak of the gar through and wedge mouth open with a piece of pvc pipe cut at a angle. Makes untangling the fly sooooooo much safer. Stupid simple to make. O course mine is made of space age lexan and folds up . I will wave to post a pick.}

[mojokayak 0]

Anyone ever try circle hooks? I read online a 3/0 circle hooks around the beak. I hooked one over the summer and lost it when it jumped.

[robow7 0]

Mojo, good luck on the circle hooks, I think you'll have far more hits than hook ups but try it and let us know how they work out.

 

silkhdh, thanks for the heads up on the "gar jack", I should be able to create something similar. I generally use pike jaw expanders but am always looking for something to make the removal process easier.

[fishslayer88 0]

I have had them hit circle hooks a lot and never had one stick.

[mikechell 0]

The problem with any kind of hook and gar (and the success of rope lures) is the way they hit. Gar will snap their jaws on prey several times to maim it. They disable it so they can turn it and swallow it. This causes lots of hits, from the same fish, without ever being able to get a hook set in that long, almost flesh-less jaw. Lucky hook sets get the point between the bony sections.

 

When gar snap at the rope lure, they tangle in the fibers ... resulting in caught fish without the need for hook set.

 

Since the circle hook generally settles in the corner of the mouth, it would be ineffective on gar, which don't get the hook that far back until the actual "swallow" part.

[captkenroy 0]

Years ago we caught lots of Sailfish on rope lures. While Sailfish don't have big teeth like Gar, they have small, rasp like teeth that get hung up in the rope.

I'd troll a rope on heavy spinning tackle way back past the wake and get bit often. No skill at all involved. I've caught several of the small Tuna species as well as an occasional Wahoo or

Kingfish on Rope lures. Most of the time, toothy critters cut off.

 

I still fish for Gar occasionally and once in a while I righ up to catch Neeldefish when nothing else is going on.

 

Circle hooks will catch Gar but you'd have to let the Gar hang on a long time before you even had a chance of hookup.

[Steve P 0]

I am doing something all wrong I've never been able to successfully land a gar on a rope fly. I always tie very simple zonker flies on 2x #10 steamer hooks. Slam that hook home on the first hit and my ratio is pretty high. I fish a lot of gar here.

 

Steve