Gar Oh My

[Nowak.jeff]

Decided to take the day off throw legal caution to the wind and take my inflatable pontoon to roaches run/duck pond/water fowl sanctuary. Fished along the banks using everything with no success. However when I got to the out flow to the Potomac there was a lot a surface action. As I got closer I could see large slender fish breaking the surface the diving back down similar to a dolphin breach. I began casting a large clouser with no success. As I drifted closer more I could see the spotted tail of huge gar racing through the water. They were traveling in groups and were in the 24 to 36 range and as thick as a football.  Needless to say I pulled my toes out of the water. 

Does anyone know a fly(colors) to throw to these spawning gar? I don't think they were feeding and did not seem agressive as the approached my boat sever times. 

Jeff

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note™, an AT&T LTE smartphone

[Scott Stankus]

All the Gar I've caught have been on the TeQueely Streamer. It's got a black and yellow marabou tail and the body is tinsel chenille in copper with 3 pairs of yellow rubber legs. Now it could be that I caught my first gar on a Tequeely so now I choose to fish it whenever I see gar... 

I've heard good things about rope flies, but never tried them. Never heard anything about a color preference, though... 

--Scott

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"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't"

[Greg Feder]

Here's a link to a step-by-step tying tutorial for the tequeely streamer:  http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=184

 

Cheers, 

 

-- Greg  

From: Scott Stankus <ssta...@gmail.com>
To: tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Gar Oh My

All the Gar I've caught have been on the TeQueely Streamer. It's got a black and yellow marabou tail and the body is tinsel chenille in copper with 3 pairs of yellow rubber legs. Now it could be that I caught my first gar on a Tequeely so now I choose to fish it whenever I see gar... 

I've heard good things about rope flies, but never tried them. Never heard anything about a color preference, though... 

--Scott

On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 12:59 PM, Nowak.jeff <nowak...@gmail.com> wrote:

Decided to take the day off throw legal caution to the wind and take my inflatable pontoon to roaches run/duck pond/water fowl sanctuary. Fished along the banks using everything with no success. However when I got to the out flow to the Potomac there was a lot a surface action. As I got closer I could see large slender fish breaking the surface the diving back down similar to a dolphin breach. I began casting a large clouser with no success. As I drifted closer more I could see the spotted tail of huge gar racing through the water. They were traveling in groups and were in the 24 to 36 range and as thick as a football.  Needless to say I pulled my toes out of the water. 

Does anyone know a fly(colors) to throw to these spawning gar? I don't think they were feeding and did not seem agressive as the approached my boat sever times. 

Jeff

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note™, an AT&T LTE smartphone

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[Lane Thurgood]

Saw plenty at Chain Bridge this morning too, pretty much mid-river.  Lots of them porpoising, like you say.  Happens every year.  I've never targeted them here.  The only time I did target them in Alabama, they'd take poppers, but the hook didn't set.  I do know that folks throw frayed rope. --- On Wed, 6/5/13, Nowak.jeff <nowak...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Vic Velasco]

I haven't caught one yet, but I've been trying.  Surf youtube if you are going to cast a rope fly - there is some insight there that shows if you go, bring more than just the rope fly.  You'll need to bring a small block of wood to help keep the fish's jaws open.  You'll need a scissors to cut away your fly if it isn't lifting out from around the fish's teeth.  You'll want gloves so the scales don't cut you.  If you don't remove the fly, the fish can't eat post release.

[Scott Stankus]

You bring up an interesting point regarding keeping Gar (though I don't imagine they're very good eating). 

I know that Gar are not permitted to be kept in the District (see Species Specific table):

http://green.dc.gov/service/regulated-fishing-activities

But it looks like there's no limit on how many you can keep in Virginia. They fall under "Other native or naturalized non-game fish" on page 17 of the VA regs - then on page 27 Native and Naturalized Exception 2 lists Longnose Gar as one of many "unlimited" species. 

See pages 17 and 27:

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/2013-fishing-regulations.pdf

That surprises me.

--Scott

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 6:21 AM, Vic Velasco <velasco...@gmail.com> wrote:

I haven't caught one yet, but if you do start going for them with frayed rope, make sure to bring the following stuff so you can get it out of the gar's mouth/teeth - a small piece of wood around 1" thick to use the keep it's mouth open, scissors to cut the material away if it doesn't lift out, gloves to handle the fish (scales may be sharp).   If you don't remove the tangle, the fly can't eat - which may be alright if you are going to eat it, but that's a decision for you to make.

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 12:59:23 PM UTC-4, Jeff wrote:

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[Lane Smith]

Oh cool another Lane on the board!

[Nedak]

I caught this one w one of Mauro's flies a few weeks back.  I think it was a black wholly bugger type.  He hit the fly then when I set, it was actually on the outside bottom of the jaw up towards the mouth, kinda foul hooked, outside the mouth going in.

Great fight on a 5wt.  Jumped 3 or 4 times.   A bit of a pain to get off without pliers.

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 12:59:23 PM UTC-4, Jeff wrote:

[Sardman]

the fly John mentioned is a sort-of mix between a clouser minnow and a crazy charlie, tied with marabou and a few strings of bucktail.I had a few hits from gar on this type of fly, but did not land any.

I started tying rope flies to try get some gar, but only got a few bites from other species. I hooked a carp and a huge crappie, but no gar.  The tail of the rope fly is a piece of 50lb mono with a  string of marabou tied at the end. It really looks like a needlefish in the water because the marabou moves much more than the rope. this one in the picture is a prototype.

Mauro