2 Fish. 75 Inches. About 8000 Teeth.

[Poke 'Em]

Went out today and caught who knows how many smallmouth, and two gar.

First one right at 40".

This one came in in the mid-30's:

Unfortunately, my real camera's a little under the weather, so I was forced to take a picture with my camera phone...

[Wheatenheimer]

On a flyrod, none-the-less!!!! Very impressive, man! I couldn't tell what your secret Gar-slaying pattern was in the picture. You got a recipe?

Thanks for sharing!

Kevin

[ozark trout fisher]

On a flyrod, none-the-less!!!! Very impressive, man! I couldn't tell what your secret Gar-slaying pattern was in the picture. You got a recipe?

Thanks for sharing!

Kevin

I caught a gar one time on accident. For being a "trash fish" it put up a pretty good fight.

[Poke 'Em]

On a flyrod, none-the-less!!!! Very impressive, man! I couldn't tell what your secret Gar-slaying pattern was in the picture. You got a recipe?

Thanks for sharing!

Kevin

An old 1/0 plastic worm hook with the point removed at the start of the curve. Preferably a hook with little "barbs" near the eye. This will keep the rope from slipping off. Tie in about a 3" section of nylon rope (when it's unraveled, it will be about 4"), tie in some flash, tie in some grey bucktail. Voila.

When you do get a fish to strike, don't set the hook! (Well, for one, there is no hook). Just let the fish swim with it for a few moments, then slowly tighten up your line. It's a blast.

By the way, for some reason Gar have a reputation as voracious eaters who will consume anything and everything (particularly, people don't like them because they think they eat bass and other game fish). Studies have shown, however, than a gar's diet consists of less than 5% game fish, and almost entirely consists of forage fish. In fact, in the same hole where I caught these gar yesterday, I saw several nice bass, both smallies and Kentucky bass. On several occasions, I had small bass follow my rope fly back to me.

[trizkid]

what weight rod are u using

[Poke 'Em]

I'm using a 7 wt. It's plenty big enough for the fish. A bigger rod would make it easier to throw the fly though. Those rope flies get HEAVY when they're wet.

[Geoff]

i cant see thepictures cause of works stupid firewall, but i cant wait to try me some rope flies with gar. i had that idea the same time as the whole carp on the fly things caught me. but i can find carp semi-easier

[trizkid]

i want to try and make some smaller rope flies that i can cast with my 5 weight

[Geoff]

thing im more worried about is after they are tangled in the teeth, how the heck do i get em off haha

[Poke 'Em]

thing im more worried about is after they are tangled in the teeth, how the heck do i get em off haha

That part is actually fairly easy if you have the right equipment. Pry their jaws open with a pair of needlenose pliers, and stick a dowel rod in the back of their mouth to keep it open. Once you get that, it's pretty easy to pull the rope out of their mouth with the pliers. Oh, and I recommend a good pair of heavy gloves for handling the fish. Not only do they have all those teeth, but their scales can be pretty sharp too.