Gar fish caught by hand

[fishing fr3ak]

SO earlier today i was walking up a very small creek the water was never more than a foot deep and i walked up the creek about a km (30 minutes or so). I looked about 10 feet in front of me and saw this guy just sitting in the water. I took a few pics then tried to get closer.. and it didn't move much. so i tried to catch it by hand. The first 2 times I tried it just swam away slowly with out much of a fight... the third time i got a good hold of it and after 20 seconds of mayhem it calmed down so i could get a better look at it. Can't believe a Gar was in this lil creek or that i caught it bare handed. What an amazingly cool fish. I didn't even know they were around in this area.. but i guess this is proof.

 

[GuitarBuildingAngler]

Nice hand fishing! Nice Gar as well.

 

[fishing fr3ak]

I've caught a lot of fish in my days but this has got to be one of the coolest catches ever. A rare gar and by hand... how FN cool is that!

 

[hamiltonangler94]

Nice gar man! Im pretty sure southern ontario is the gars northern limit cuz theyre more of a souhern fish

 

[richardjai]

Time to go noodling for catfish. You are ready!

 

[fishing fr3ak]

Time to go noodling for catfish. You are ready!

lol... think i'd much rather have a catfish biting on my hand than this guy.

 

[Kit]

That's bad ass. They are very rare.

 

[concant]

Nice gar man! Im pretty sure southern ontario is the gars northern limit cuz theyre more of a souhern fish

Caught one ice fishing in north bay this last winter. Have a picture ill upload it when I get home.

 

[hamiltonangler94]

Really? Thats pretty awesome! ..never heard of them that being that far up

 

[Drop_Shot]

NIce !!!! Les Stroud don't got nothing on you !! LOL .. You should take over that Survivor man series !

 

[Alfiegee]

That's bad ass. They are very rare.

They're not really that rare, a lot of anglers just don't target them or know how to fish for them.
In a recent thread I told of how 4 friends and I landed 20 in about 6 hours and lost 7 more due to sharp teeth in the Grand. The Grand is full of them, so is the Thames. Lakes Erie and Ontario have lots in shallow bays around the shoreline. Lake Huron also has a population of them.
Fly fishing is probably the best and most exciting way to fish for them, they are very acrobatic when hooked. A minnow, live or dead fished a foot below a float is also a good way to get them.

Alfie.

 

[kaministiquia]

Thanks for sharing your Gar pic proof fishing fr3ak!

 

[concant]

Here's the gar from north bay picture as promised.

 

[hamiltonangler94]

Nice man! It must have beem a surprise when it came through the ice!

 

[fishing fr3ak]

Here's the gar from north bay picture as promised.

very cool (no pun intended,,,lol) They are a very interesting fish. I dunno why they are not targeted more often.

 

[crutton]

Nice fish, how big was it?
Can we see more of the gar pics you took? :mrgreen:

 

[getin]

I dunno why they are not targeted more often.

I would love to catch one of these prehistoric beauties if i know where. Have fished Grand quite a few times but never spotted or hooked one

 

[hamiltonangler94]

I think the main reasons that they're not targeted more is because they are hard to hook in their mouths because they're mouths are very boney which makes it difficult. Also they're is alot of people that don't even know gar exist. For example I can think of only one fishing show episode that an angler (Italo Labignan) actually targeted them. I know the shortnose and longnose gars bigger and meaner cousin the alligator gar is highly sought after in the southern USA, but the alligator gar don't live in our cooler waters.

 

[Kit]

They're not really that rare, a lot of anglers just don't target them or know how to fish for them.
In a recent thread I told of how 4 friends and I landed 20 in about 6 hours and lost 7 more due to sharp teeth in the Grand. The Grand is full of them, so is the Thames. Lakes Erie and Ontario have lots in shallow bays around the shoreline. Lake Huron also has a population of them.
Fly fishing is probably the best and most exciting way to fish for them, they are very acrobatic when hooked. A minnow, live or dead fished a foot below a float is also a good way to get them.

Alfie.

Well you learn something new everyday. I only heard of them being caught in the Niagra area.

 

[AaronKrick]

Nice catch!