Gar Cooking

[Feathers and Fins]

Gar is by no means a trash fish! But you feel like a contractor after cleaning one.

Gar have often been called a no good trash fish and I have seen many killed and just left to lay on the side of creeks and lakes and to me there is no greater crime in nature than someone killing something with no intent on eating it, especially when it is such great table fair.

Gar is definitely not easy to clean for the inexperienced angler but after a few you learn it is actually faster than most species. So first how to clean it!

You will need the following tools;

1. Gloves ( Heavy yard type ) this is for griping the mouth without getting tore up by teeth
2. Hack Saw
3. Tin Snips or heavy duty scissors
4. Sharp fillet knife

First thing you want to do is grip the mouth and with the saw cut off the head, then take the tin snips and cut down the middle of the back of the fish. The next step is to take your fingers and peal the skin away from the meat ( you may need a fillet knife ) but most times it peels off. Finally take the knife and fillet the meet off the bones you will end up with a very nice boneless backstrap.

You will notice this meat does not look like a normal fish and it is not. The texture is closer to Chicken or Deer backstraps and not at all flakey nor does the meat have a fishy flavor.

Now for this recipe I lightly season the meat with Garlic, Lemon pepper and salt, Bake in the oven for 30 minute on 350 wrapped in foil. Then place on a pan and broil for 5 minutes. For this dish I made one of my favorite Butter Sauces.

Simply Melt a ½ stick of real butter in a sauce pan,. ¼ sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon, 1 teaspoon red pepper, 1 teaspoon red pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika and, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and mix in with the butter and gently stir for 5 minutes

This dish also had a loaded potatoes’ and sugar and honey glazed peaches just for good measure.

[Guest Brian B.]

I have heard they are fantastic- but barely worthy of the work,-considering..

We have these nasty Asian carp over here on the Kaskaskia- a few. Guys that chat up fishing here have finally given in and cleaned. A few, they claim they are some of the best white/ flaky fish- deliciousness they have ever eaten. (I just don't know if I'm man enough- OMG, that slime is so nasty, I just don't think I could let one come into contact with my fillet board. (Yuk) But they claim- same as the work you put in, that if you can hang- that it is very much- well worth the effort.

[Quillback]

The finished product does look tasty, glad to see someone getting something good out of those gar. There certainly are a lot of them out there to catch and eat.

[Guest Brian B.]

They are fun to catch IMO, but heck I enjoy catching Chub minnows on the cricks too, so my "fun" factor may be a bit off.

They take a fluke eagerly- but the hook ste, that can be tricky, it is roughly 30% hook- up ratio, LOL

[Feathers and Fins]

Quill, they are very tasty in all honesty, only takes me about 5 minutes per Gar to clean. Well worth the effort but needs to be 3ft at least to make it worth the time. If you eat one you will want more.

[Quillback]

I did catch one on an Ol' Monster a couple of weeks ago. Stinky, slimy suckers, but F&F can turn them into something edible. We should have a "get together" gar feed. F&F can show us how to cook and clean them.

[Feathers and Fins]

Any time, BBQ at PC sounds like a good idea to me.

[fishinwrench]

Alright I'm gonna try it, it actually does look delicious. Any resemblance, meat texture-wise, to gator ?

I've been looking for a reason to buy a cordless sawzall, so this might be it.

[exiledguide]

Before I first went to Canada in the early 80s we were always told Northern Pike were not fit to eat until we were shown how to clean them we were also told that carp were not any good.

[nathanhooper]

I honestly have never heard of eating gar. First for me. I know where there is a bunch though...

I'll try it for sure. But the question is how do you catch gar? I am pretty sure I had one the other night, but seems like it just pulled the bait off the hook. Maybe the circle hooks I was using?