Gar Fly Pattern, Sort Of

[dpitt]

So was at the Spillway at Clinton Lake (KS) and saw some GAR, went home and tied up this pattern went back to give it  a try. No Gar, but caught a wiper and some Walleye with it.    

 

 

[Quillback]

Last summer, the James above Flat creek was loaded with gar.  I've never seen them that thick.  Dunno if it holds true this year, but that would be a great place to throw a fly for them.  With the high water it may be tough to get in the lake up there though.

[dpitt]

9 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Last summer, the James above Flat creek was loaded with gar.  I've never seen them that thick.  Dunno if it holds true this year, but that would be a great place to throw a fly for them.  With the high water it may be tough to get in the lake up there too.

Thanks for the intel, might have to check it out, will post results if I do.

[tjm]

My uncle used to catch a lot of gar using 6-8" of partially unraveled braided nylon rope, he threw that with spinning gear, but I expect a 9-10wt  might work. The key factor, he said was to give the gar something to hook their teeth into and become  tangled, he told me that he and his friends had never had much luck with hooks. The wing material you used doesn't appear to have muc "tangle factor" left after the unbraiding? 

[dpitt]

19 minutes ago, tjm said:

My uncle used to catch a lot of gar using 6-8" of partially unraveled braided nylon rope, he threw that with spinning gear, but I expect a 9-10wt  might work. The key factor, he said was to give the gar something to hook their teeth into and become  tangled, he told me that he and his friends had never had much luck with hooks. The wing material you used doesn't appear to have muc "tangle factor" left after the unbraiding? 

Yea I added that for flash, and I thinks it better to merge or incorporate it in with the Nylon fibers.  Worth noting that the nylon fibers undwind more and get finer when fished. I also added a little more material and probably should have made it a bit longer.   I was thinking about snipping off the hook bend, but decided not to.   I gave it a try and did not get a sniff from a Gar but the Walleye and Wiper liked the pattern. It looks pretty alive in the water. 

[rps]

Joe Krieger, a Tulsa local with a fishing show in the 60's, won a fundraising fishing tournament with challenged children participants one year with a rope bait spinner for gar (70? 71?). My assigned young man and I won a few years later (76? 77?) with strawberry pop and cornflakes doughballs.

[dpitt]

7 hours ago, rps said:

Joe Krieger, a Tulsa local with a fishing show in the 60's, won a fundraising fishing tournament with challenged children participants one year with a rope bait spinner for gar (70? 71?). My assigned young man and I won a few years later (76? 77?) with strawberry pop and cornflakes doughballs.

That's pretty cool.  I have fond memories of 70's Saturday morning fishing shows, especially Virgil Ward "From the lakes of Northern Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, wherever fish are biting, thats where were gonna go"  I think he lived in KC.  My dad did not fish, so only access to fishing info was buddies, BassMaster magazine and these TV shows.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

5 hours ago, dpitt said:

70's Saturday morning fishing shows,

I didn't think you were that old...

[Flysmallie]

5 hours ago, dpitt said:

That's pretty cool.  I have fond memories of 70's Saturday morning fishing shows, especially Virgil Ward "From the lakes of Northern Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, wherever fish are biting, thats where were gonna go"

I loved those shows. They were the best. Not the commercials they try to pass off as fishing shows today. 
 

 

[dpitt]

20 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I didn't think you were that old...

I'm pretty old 61, but fishing keeps me young at heart