Any gar I’ve caught has been purely by accident. Around here they’re considered the trash fish that strips your hook, cuts your line, while cat fishing and I know a lot of guys that will slit their belly and throw them on the bank for the coyotes. I won’t, don’t see that doing anything but stinking up the bank with gar carcasses and I’d much rather make use of them. That’s why if anyone has tips on how to clean and prepare the meat I’m all ears.
As far as what they hit every one I’ve ever caught has been on live bait, though I’d assume cut bait would work about as well. I’ve heard, never tried, that you can tie a piece of rope to your line, fray out the end then soak it in some blood, throw that out for bait and when they hit it their teeth get tangled in the rope. No idea if that works though.

I caught a ****ing gar on the missouri river using a crappie rig on the BOTTOM from shore one time. Couldn't believe it. I've never even heard of someone catching a gar on the missouri river.

And yes, that yarn trick will work. I've seen people do it at a lake near here. Funny as hell.

Also, i think it was on river monsters this week where they were catching what they called needle fish with kites, spider webs, and string. Lemme check.

Found it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xe8xUdgjk04" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


and youtube has a TON of ways to clean gar. Just type in "how to clean a gar" or something along those lines and a ton pop up.


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r16h3gWFtGs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Seriously? The Neosho is loaded with them, and so is any other body of water it backs into during the spring floods. In August when the water is low and slow that’s about all you’ll catch out of the river, mostly long nose and short nose with an alligator gar every great once in a while.


Good idea, hadn't thought of that.

With as many different kinds of fish as there are on the river, almost noone wastes their time with gar. It's about like purposely fishing for carp around here.

I mainly fish Lake Francis Case and Lake Sharpe on the Missouri River. But I'm certain this stat will apply to nearly the whole river in SoDak.

http://gfp.sd.gov/fishing-boating/ta...s-fish-for.jpg

I've heard that you can cut fillets, crust the fillets with Montreal steak seasoning and butter, then smoke them on top of a piece of cedar. After smoking the fish for about 8 hours, take the fish and the cedar out of the smoker, throw the fish in the trash, and eat the cedar.

Yeah yeah, I know it's a stupid old joke, but I had to tell it.

1.) ROFL that the fish is so hard that they have to hack at it for a few minutes with a machete and then they have to hacksaw it.

2.) The dude holding the fish is a reerun and he's lucky that he didn't get his hand chopped off.

Yeah, if I need a machete to clean a fish, it ain't worth cleaning.

Last Sunday- 5' hammerhead on 25lb bite tippet, fishing white bait / threadfin NO SHIT

pictures please

I caught a 48 lb lake trout that was such a battle the two of us were both exhausted when I got him to the boat. He drug me all over the place and it took 40 minutes before I got to even see him come up for the first time. Almost an hour to get him in the boat. Strong frikken fish and being barbless made it tough.

No you didn't. That was someone else.

That's why I was asking about technique. These things literally have armor plated skin and it takes more than your typical crappy cleaning fillet knife.

Just use one of your 200 collectible Medieval and Samurai swords. I know you have them. Don't act like you don't.

Band saw?

ROFL

They should hang a gar for these guys to test their blades on.

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one of my great days a few years back... no dinks, all fish caught that day were big... I have not had a day like that since :(

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/42059564/Tru...Untitled-2.jpg

What's the limit in NC? It's 15 here in Missouri.

On that lake as many as you want to take.... On others it's 20 per person and they have to be atleast 8 inches

Heh, yea, no.
Diesel Mechanic buddy has his man cave walls covered with that crap, but he’s a Raiduhz fan so, you know…….

meh. that's no Hattori Hanzo sword

Yeah, they're pretty common up here as well in the illinois river, used to catch them all of the time trotlining as a kid & like Sofa said, they're considered trash fish & nuisances, they'd be killed & thrown out or given to us kids to ooh n ahh over.

Thinking my method will be simple topwater bobber fishing, using back hooked live bait, i'm planning to head south a few hundred miles for vacation this year & fish the mighty miss for them, i'll prolly have better luck getting decent sized ones than on the illinois river, this things choked up with these damned asian carp.

That sucks.
I don’t catch every episode but when there’s nothing else on I’ll watch Hillbilly Hand Fishing and it’s surprising how many of them are in the Red River. They had one come flying out of the water and nailed this model chick straight in the face, gave her a big ole black eye.

I just realized I never shared this pic from when I went to Hawaii last fall. Cutting myself (other than the arm) out of it so I don't end up as Fisty :)

http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/...dog69/fish.jpg

Oh man you are lucky! We only caught a couple of tuna at the end of the trip (6 hour trip). Who did you get your charter through? We used Maggie Joe.

Also, you won't end up as fisty unless you have a reeruned tattoo.

Nice sails. Did you mount them or something?

I think the ship captains keep them and take them to market.

After doing some research online, I ended up using "Wild Bunch".
The sailfish wasn't mine, I got lucky enough to get the marlin (207 pounds)
Didn't keep any part of them, as loochy said, the boat keeps pretty much everything to help keep the charter costs down.

Our captain was super cool. They kept the bigeye tuna that we caught and they gave us the yellowfin to eat. I think the policy on our boat was that we get to keep half of any fish under 100 lbs and anything over 100 lbs was the captain's property.

How tired did you get while you were bringing that thing in? I got pretty tired with my little 30 lb tuna.

I never caught a marlin, but I've caught a bunch of sailfish. My parents were crazy into deep sea fishing when I was growing up. They'd go to the Cabo area (without me) a couple of times a year.

I'm sort of surprised that they keep bill fish in Hawaii. In Mexico, from what I remember, they'd keep them if the fish wasn't going to be revived. Now mahi mahi... we ate those bastards like crazy.

Well ****. Was hammering some pike at the lake last night, and i hooked a monster. He ran to the boat, turned and ran away, which is the exact moment i realized my drag wasn't set right, he pulled, the line exploded, and i lost my favorite lure. The same lure i caught that big bass on last year. ****. Guess I'll need to buy more. I have 1 backup already.

Had to be 10 lbs. Gonna restring my line as well.

From what our ship captain said, smoked marlin and marlin jerky is popular with the Japanese folks in Hawaii...that's probably why they keep them.

Ahh, yeah. I forget about the heavy Japanese population in Hawaii.

Our Captain said they take them to the fish market at the end of every trip. I do vaguely recall something about being able to keep anything "small" (I don't recall any weight being given) but can't say for certain.
It only took about 20 minutes to get it in, though it seemed an eternity at the time, so I didn't get tired. To say the adrenalin was pumping is an understatement. It actually took the guy a lot longer to get the sailfish in. They told him that they had very soft mouths and not to horse it. They told me to just get to pumping and keep it coming toward the boat.

Another guy had one about tiwce that size (the captain estimated about 400) hit, but didn't stay hooked (which we were told is quite common). They said if you actually get one of every five that hits the bait to hook up you should consider yourself lucky.

As well you should. Best fish and chips I've ever had was made with mahi mahi. Had it in Maui last December. Would kill to find a good place in KS that prepares their fish and chips with those suckers.

I haven't gone through this whole thread so I apologize if this has been discussed.

Does anyone here have a fishing kayak or know anyone that has one or has anyone ever gotten to use one? It seems like a method of fishing that is becoming increasingly popular and for a few years now I have wanted one and now think I have the extra spending cash and I am considering getting one. I am wondering how well they handle and how stable they are. Also, my preference for now seems to be the sit-in kind instead of sit-on top kind so I wondering what differences are in those as well. Thanks in advance for any help and tips.

We did an overnight fishing trip out of Cancun, so we could go further off shore. We camped on an island out in the middle of nowhere that was some kind of scinetific research facility. There were monitor lizards everywhere. Grilled a half mahi-mahi on the beach and made ceviche with the other half, which was one of the best fish meals I'd ever had. Woke up in the morning and snorkled with manta rays in the bay before going out for another day of fishing. One of the coolest memories of my childhood.

I really like fishing from a kayak. Are you interested in one for a lake, ocean, or streams? Where you intend to use it (or if you intend to use it in a variety of sitautions) will be a huge determining factor in the kind of boat you want. I'm not crazy into kayak fishing like some people, but I know a little bit and could probably point you in the right direction.

See below

Well I am in Overland Park, KS so ocean is out of the question haha. I would like to take it into streams and creeks above and below reservoirs as well as along the shorelines of larger lakes, ponds, and reservoirs during certain times of the season or for certain species.

Yeah even if a did live near the ocean and had a kayak I do not think I would be fishing for Marlin :eek: I would probably stick to the coves and shores for those redfish that seem to be really popular.

Another thing to consider: do you want to go with foot pedals? They're very nice because they leave both hands free to fish while you can still maneuver. They are more expensive, though. I know Hobie has a model, not sure if any other makers have joined that market, though.

This seems like a good starting point:

http://www.kayakreview.org/fishing-kayaks

Yeah I have seen those pedals online but I have not seen them in the models available at the Bass Pro or Cabelas. Bass pro carries a big selection of Ascend models. I was thinking that those could be added onto many models separately along with many other attachments which is something that I think would fun to do. Whether it be a fish find or an anchor it would be neat for sure. That said, the pedals would be something I would not consider too important for my purposes since I should be able to anchor myself as needed or be in calm enough waters or even tie up to a tree when in the creeks.

That link did have some good tips. I hadn't thought of the fact that I would get used to a thinner kayak and over time it would seem as stable as a wider one. Either way, I don't foresee the need to do too much long distance paddling so a wider and shorter one would suit me fine I think.

http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/file...17_digital.pdf

nice article on gar fishing and making a lure out of rope. you'll have to page down for awhile.
sec

Thanx, nice article, i love the shot of the gar that guy landed, just a beautiful fish.

I'll definitely be trying out the frayed rope lure.

Ran a treble hook through my hand last night. Right through the skin above the knuckle. Buried that son of a bitch.

Had to push the sob through the other side and clip it off with a side cutters. Brand new lure, had caught 3 northerns off it right off the bat. Finger is a little sore today.

I wouldn't recommend doing that. ****ing pike.

How'd you manage that? Were you unhooking a catch?

I can't believe that I haven't done that before while lipping a largemouth. I'm always kind of scared of it because they will start flopping right when you least expect it.

Wrap and yank method is more popular these days.

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Well. It was windy as hell here. I was in the open with an underpowered trolling motor. I was running the boat, and i hooked a 4 lb northern. My asshole brother netted the damn thing then dropped the net on the floor in the front. When i got the boat back to where it needed to be, i turned to the pike. He had rolled himself into a neat little ball with my #13 Original floating rapala in his mouth and the net. It took me forever to get that ****er outta there, and when i finally was close, he'd roll again. Well I had him at least unstuck from the net, and i was gonna pull him out to undo the hooks he had BURIED in past his gills, and the ****er rolled. BAM. Buried one straight into my knuckle all the way up to the curve of the treble.

Took a little while to get the balls to push it through, but by then it was pretty numb. I pushed it through and was able to clip it into pieces and finally pull it through.

Won't be doing that again.

LMAO.

I went home and youtubed that right away, and that's the video that popped up.

My treble wasn't nearly as big so i just cut it out. It will be fine tomorrow most likely. Only mildy sore today.

Is the Makers Mark a requirement to pull this off?

Yup, done the same thing myself. Works like a charm too, hook pops right out.

Turtles were out in force last night, got tired of feeding them so I left. Out this early in the season they're probably going to be as thick as the ticks already are.

Those bastards, i get fed up with'em all of the time, you're just throwing your bait away.

Its so bad at my local lake, they're basically trained to show up anytime they see people, they putter around in circles with their heads out of the water maybe 20-25 yards from you & as soon as the bait hits the water they go under, a few seconds later its bye-bye bait.

Just got back from a 2 day trip down to Truman with my dad.

Yesterday was brutal. The local reports said to hit coves and pockets with spinnerbaits and crankbaits, but we only ended up with 8 fish that might've weighed 4 pounds.

Today was much better. We went back to our wheelhouse, broke out the t-rigged worms, and ended up with 34 on the day, including a couple of 3 pounders, one four pounder, one five and a 3 pound Kentucky that fought like a 7 pound largemouth.

Sounds awesome for a slow day, eight fish sounds fun enough to be worth it.

34 the next day is a bonanza... what is a t-rig worm, is that another way of saying wacky rig? and also, whats a Kentucky?

I love turtles and reptiles in general. I also don't fish with anything they would be attracted to so I have never had any problems some of you are speaking of, and actually until now have never even heard of these types of issues with turtles.

I was actually thinking something more like a Gammo Whisper in a .22 cal., something that wouldn’t get as much attention when I pop a shot off here or there.

http://www.airgundepot.com/gamo-whisper-22.html

Specifications:
• Caliber- .22
• Velocity: 950 feet per second (fps) with PBA, 750 fps with Lead
• Weight: 5.28 lbs
• Length: 46 in
• Barrel Length: 18 in
• Trigger Pull: 3.74 lbs
• Cocking effort:30 lbs
• Action: Single Shot
• Mechanism: Single Cocking System, Spring Piston
• Manual Trigger safety
• Barrel: Fluted Polymer Bull barrel
• Non-removable noise dampener (with up to 52% reduction)
• Cocking Effort: 30 lbs
• Trigger: Second Stage adjustable
• Automatic Cocking Safety system

Where are some of the places you guys are fishing? Lately I have been hitting some of the local lakes in the area (Johnson County outside KC on the KS side) that I have never fished to see what I could find. Such as Lake Olathe and Cedar Lake. I used to fish Shawnee Mission Park Lake often just because it was so close but that place is such waste of time. I haven't hit Kill Creek yet this year but I imagine by now the bass fishing there is epic. Last year you could see endless 13-16 inch bass guarding their eggs from the shore so by now there must be some decent size fish there.

Other than the local lakes I usually enjoy the reservoirs such as Perry or Clinton and on occassion John Redmond because you never know what you will catch, especially in the outlets.

They aren’t much of a problem in the river but lakes and ponds are swarming with them. They’ve pretty much ruined fishing the bottom in several spots. Only choice is to find a hole deeper than the turtles are going or go to slip bobber rig and keep your bait off the bottom, which is what most of us around here are doing.

Another silent option.


Get a cement block. Tie string to it, make sure there's not enough to get all the way to the surface. Add a hook, add some minnows or cheese or whatever they're biting on. Tie a rope to the block (or don't) and toss it out in the water.

This is how a buddy of mine caught and ate the campus ducks when he was in college.

Now that you mention fishing the bottom, I wonder how many times I have lost bait thinking it was a fish but was actually a turtle. Because occassionally I do like to just relax at a lake and fish for catfish. I was thinking you were referring to fishing with minnows or something which I never really do so I guess I never made the connection.

I’m mostly going after big flat head and blue cats so I’m taking a perch or goldfish about the size of your hand and putting them on the bottom. It’s been a successful strategy but the last few years the turtles have been taking over to the point that I can’t keep bait on long enough to actually attract what I’m after.

Edit: I should say that not all the lakes around here are overrun like that but the one I was fishing Friday is.

Sometimes I am happy just to catch a fish that big, yet alone use one as bait :) Where you been fishing if you don't mind me asking? Don't worry I won't go there and impose on your turf :thumb:

Its fine, just public lakes. I don’t have any super secreting honey holes that no one else knows about.
This is the one I was fishing Friday.

http://www.stateparks.com/wilson_sta...in_kansas.html

Its actually a very deep lake for around here and it holds some huge flatheads.

Cool. You actually aren't too far from John Redmond (an hour or so?) which I have visited from time to time. You ever go up there?

Haven’t made it up there yet, heard there is some decent fishing, particularly below the dam.
Redman actually feeds the Neosho River, so I keep an eye on this site that monitors what the Redman dam is doing.

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/JOHN.lakepage.html

Here’s one for the river where you can track level and flow.

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/web...1.current.html

They actually have sites like that up and down the river from Redman all the way to Grand Lake.

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/PENS.lakepage.html

I use those army corp stats sites often as well to monitor how the react to rain, etc. The outlet at Redmond is where the best fishing is at. The damn itself is one of the larger ones in area that I am aware of and the river is also wider than most. Right now they are doing some work on the damn and are not releasing much water. But there is a point that the catfish people LOVE to fish below the damn. If you have access to google Earth you will see the point I am referring to that gives you access to so much water to fish. I love using google Earth to follow the rivers and such and get a different perspective of the areas I am fishing.

Hit the lower Elk River today. Floated from about 13 miles to about 3 miles up from the OK border and Grand Lake. Caught a variety today... That stringer has 4 Drum, the biggest at 24 inches, 1 Channel Cat (caught two more while we were filleting them), 1 Crappie, 2 Blue Gill, 4 Goggle Eye. It was a damn good day. We set out lines while we ate lunch, and that big Drum pulled my pole out of the boat, my Dad ended up catching it on one of his lines, and that 24 inch Drum was on the other end of my rescued pole.

A solid day.

http://i44.tinypic.com/oibsx2.jpg

A float trip like that alone sounds incredible, but thats a killer mixed bag indeed, those kind of days are always the best.

Drum are fighters in their own way, not athletic but they really know how to hug the bottom, in my experience they'll pull down like a catfish twice their size, took my trusty Zebco spincast several good turns to get them in... just a thick slab of a fish, i've heard they're not the best eating though, so havent tried that, supposedly very bony & oily.

That must have been nice out there with the cooler weather the past few days. Drum are insane fighters and I love catching them but they really aren't the best eating, at least not in my experience. The worst part about catching them is if fishing for crappie and you hook one thinking you have a monster crappie and the drum shows up but oh well. What is a goggle eye? Looks different anything I have seen.

Check out these pics of monster crappie from John Redmond. The one with my hand weighed in at 1lb 13 oz and was one of a full stringer of crappie that size. The other pic is 2 lb 3 oz with proof on the scale! That was such a big one my dad and I let it go.

What the hell is a goggle eye?

Drum are fun. Late in the summer when the river is down I like to wade around with some light gear and a jig to pull drum and white bass out from under cover. I just don’t know that many other people that keep them. Don’t know why I’ve eaten them before and thought it was delicious, at least as good as channel cat meat.

Just got back into fishing last year after several years away. Don't know why. Just got to be such a hassle when the kids were little.

Now one boy is an adult, the other is 15, and my daughter is 10. All good ages to really get into it now.

My poor middle son....I felt so bad for him last year as we were all catching fish and he couldn't seem to snag one. I gave him as many pointers as I could but he just had bad luck. He did finally catch one in one of our last fishing trips of the season last year. We were very happy. :)

I just mainly fish for catfish. Been that way since I was a kid. Tried several of my old spots last year but ended up liking the Shawnee State fishing lake the best. Kind of odd behavior at times though. I could be there for an hour and a half with hardly a bite. Then, catch about 3 fish in 10 minutes. :doh!:

Around here I think it’s a type of perch so I Googled it, heh, and found that in Florida what they call a Google Eye looks more like a drum.

In southern MO and northern Ark, a goggle eye is a rock bass.

lol why are you making that awful face in the second picture?

Haha that is my dad. He is not the most comfortable in photographs LMAO