The Great Eating Gar

[smallwaterpro]

Caught some Gar and ate them. Know what they were very, I mean very good. Now we will target them. Does anyone know if they are present in the Deepwater creek near LaDue, Mo? How about the Sac river by Osceola? We are going to give them a real try this year.

[blue79]

I think they are just about everywhere.I seen a pile of dead ones on the sac between stockton and osceola about a month ago.

[shaker]

If there is water in Truman lake there is gar. And there is a ton of gar in the lower Sac river year around. If you want some really big ones head to the Sac in late November and December and fish the lower sections starting where the Sac and Osage meet and head up the Sac a couple of miles, miles and miles of gar.

RB

[Wayne SW/MO]

Yeah before Truman the Grand and Osage were both full of them. I remember snagging one in the Osage that went 6'.

[strangercreek]

interesting.....how did you prepare them?

[big blue fever]

you cut them open ,good luck, take the big long piece of meat from its back it looks like a tenderloin cut it up and fry it

[Wayne SW/MO]

Old timers used tin snips to skin them.

[Hunter91]

Knew some people who use to grind the meat to help take care of the small bones. Then made gar balls or patties out of them. I have tried them before after someone else had prepared them and they were pretty good. Granted I am from Louisiana and they eat everything down there :-)

[Kelroy]

I read an article many years ago (Field & Stream?) where a fella would gut them and flash-freeze them. Afterward he used a bandsaw to cut them into steaks and grilled them. Said the skin falls off and the bones pull right out. Anyone try grilling? Sounds great to me, just wondered if anyone else has tried it?

[rainbow]

I was schooled on gar by a farmer down in the Ozarks. We were fishing a slough on their land and caught some. Just tossed them up on the bank and they said put them in the cooler. They farmer's wife cleaned them and cooked them in fresh ground corn meal from their barn. It was really good and no bones in that tenderloin.