New Alternative Record Shortnose Gar

[Johnsfolly]

And to think that we couldn't catch one on hook and line when fishing with @FishnDave since they kept eating our floats and not our jigs 🙄. Maybe we should have just shot one instead 😉. I would have thought this was a longnose gar as well, since it is a huge shortnose!

 

Rich Porter’s 14-pound, 6-ounce fish also beats the current shortnose gar bowfishing world record.

 

Nebraska man shoots new state record shortnose gar Rich Porter’s 14-pound, 6-ounce fish also beats the current shortnose gar bowfishing world record. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Rich Porter of Omaha, Nebraska for becoming the new state record holder under alternative methods for shortnose gar. Porter was bowfishing at the Lake of the Ozarks May 16 when he shot the 14-pound, 6-ounce fish. The previous state record under alternative methods was a 13-pound, 1-ounce fish taken from Mark Twain Lake in 2006. “I generally come two-to-three times each year to fish in Missouri,” said Porter. “I have a friend I fish with at the Lake of the Ozarks. We were out on his boat that day bowfishing and he was playing guide for me.” Porter said they boated out to a final spot when he caught the gar. “Shortnose gar usually only weight three-to-four pounds,” noted Porter. “So, to catch one that big, we thought it was a longnose.” After contacting MDC, genetic tests were completed to confirm the fish was a pure shortnose gar and not a hybrid with the larger longnose gar. Not only does the fish qualify as a Missouri state record, it also beats the current shortnose gar bowfishing world record. “I’m a long-standing member of the Bowfishing Association of America, so to catch a gar of this size is very exciting – it’s something else,” said Porter. Porter’s gar is the 5th state record fish recorded for 2022.

[fishinwrench]

After seeing this I realize that I may not be able to properly identify a gar species.   I'm almost positive that I've seen bigger, many times. 

[Johnsfolly]

20 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

After seeing this I realize that I may not be able to properly identify a gar species.   I'm almost positive that I've seen bigger, many times. 

You are probabaly seeing longnose gar. They do get much larger than the shortnose gar. You really need to look at the top of the head and the taper of the mouth from the eyes forward to get an id on these guys when they are big ones.

[Dutch]

I see gar all of the time at Table Rock but never long enough to examine them.  Down by Piney it would be a bow hunter’s paradise.

[fishinwrench]

40 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

You are probabaly seeing longnose gar. They do get much larger than the shortnose gar. You really need to look at the top of the head and the taper of the mouth from the eyes forward to get an id on these guys when they are big ones.

The most easily identifiable difference that I see in illustrations is the lack of spots on the pectoral and pelvic fins.   Shortnose and gator gar don't have them.  Longnose and Spotted do.   

I'll have to start looking a little harder at them I guess. 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

32 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

The most easily identifiable difference that I see in illustrations is the lack of spots on the pectoral and pelvic fins.   Shortnose and gator gar don't have them.  Longnose and Spotted do.   

I'll have to start looking a little harder at them I guess. 

But aren't they all Alligator Gar?  Lol 

[Johnsfolly]

2 minutes ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

But aren't they all Alligator Gar?  Lol 

Aren't they all California Girls 😉

[fishinwrench]

Interesting memory that obviously means nothing to anyone.......but the very first time I ever drove a boat by myself, with nobody else in the boat, a 3' gar jumped right in front of me and landed on the bow of the boat.    

9 y/o on the Mississippi river.   

And since I really thought I had saw Bigfoot a week earlier, nobody believed me.  😅

[FishnDave]

Missouri is walking back the ID of this fish.  Now saying it is NOT a pure-strain shortnose:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/missouri-department-of-conservation-strips-fish-of-world-record-status/ar-AA10Xc4u?ocid=hplocalnews

 

[FishnDave]

On 8/21/2022 at 11:32 AM, fishinwrench said:

And since I really thought I had saw Bigfoot a week earlier, nobody believed me.  😅

I believe you. 😬