Did some bass fishing on the Potomac at the end of last week and came across a huge pod of long nosed gar suspended about a foot below the surface. We knew the fish were in the river as they sporadically surfaced for air from bank to bank, but I'd never seen this many fish just hanging out right below the surface waiting to crash some bait. The first four casts yielded hook ups, but true to the stories I'd heard all of the fish came unbuttoned in a matter of seconds as the hook wouldn't penetrate their bony mouth.
We took the boat back to the dock and my buddy Ryan played Johnny on the spot, walking back to his truck and reappearing with a bobbin of thread and a few cords of nylon rope. He tied up some makeshift rope flies, we rowed back out and somehow the first fish that ate my fly managed to tangle the rope firmly enough in his teeth to make it back to the net. We only boated one fish after that after about 20 or 30 hookups.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P6172450.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P6172476.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P6172462.jpg)
Most fun I've had fishing in a long time, and plan to try out some new flies later this week. Follow up report to come...
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P6172465.jpg)
Shit man, thats brave! I caught one in a canal behind my grans house in Fart Myers a while ago, adamant that I want the fly back, I ended up getting my hand sliced and diced by a prehistoric ugly bastage! Nice goin' Chris 'c; bd;0
If anyone out there has catching these dialed in, I would gladly take a trip to the flatlands with good asheville beer in tow for an opportunity to hook up with a good one.....
Kool Katch Kid!
Man, that looks like a cool fish..I bet it bent you up good.. 0:0
Quote from: Transylwader on June 20, 2011, 23:23:51 PM
I ended up getting my hand sliced and diced by a prehistoric ugly bastage! Nice goin' Chris 'c; bd;0
That was what I was worried about..especially because the fish were jumping and tail walking all the way to the boat. Luckily we had a net so we could manage to get their heads subdued in the gaps of the net. I'll have some leather gloves next time out for fly retrieval. :o
Quote from: blue ridge angler on June 21, 2011, 14:27:29 PM
Man, that looks like a cool fish..I bet it bent you up good.. 0:0
Yea, the pictured fish put an 11' switch rod to work and my six weight was a bit out of its league. Not blazing runs, just big strong fish.
'c;
As always...
Exceptional
Two tips....make the fly much longer....7"-9"
second...when they take the fly....let em' make off with it for a little bit....they'll "munch" on it....thats when it hangs up good.....then stick it to em'
If you experiment with flies...I've had good luck with braiding EP fibers and such....then eopxy a head on it.....they shed water good, cast easy and swim pretty well.
'c;
Sweet deal 'c;
Quote from: overbrook on June 22, 2011, 12:18:47 PM
Two tips....make the fly much longer....7"-9"
second...when they take the fly....let em' make off with it for a little bit....they'll "munch" on it....thats when it hangs up good.....then stick it to em'
If you experiment with flies...I've had good luck with braiding EP fibers and such....then eopxy a head on it.....they shed water good, cast easy and swim pretty well.
'c;
Thanks OB...I like the sounds of the braided EP fiber. Half a foot of soaked nylon coard doesn't exactly slice through the air.
i watched a fly show where they were catching gar. they were using a small treble hook as a trailer off of the fly. they seemed to get quite a few hookups. the trailer hook was like 1-2 inches behind the fly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7qerTl1t8w#ws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7qerTl1t8w#ws)
Went back out yesterday armed with a pair of $2.99 gardening gloves. The fish were there and me and a buddy each boated two of the slimers.
A longer hook-less fly did the job on the first fish...then the next fish took the thing. Without our best rope fly, we realized that a sharp hook and firm down-and-away set would stick them in the corner of the mouth.
Gar now give me nightmares.
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P62725212copy.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P62725242-2.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P61724772.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P62725202-1.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P61724682.jpg)
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u262/OldDominionAngler/P62725182.jpg)
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Again maihn, thats plain sick! You Arlington boys are woopin some azz up norf 'c;
Impressive 'c;
Nice work guys.
Those are some crazy looking fish. Definitely some scary, pre-historic looking mofos.
Growing up, my friends and I used to canoe the Flint River in Georgia a lot and we'd see gar in there all the time. I found a skeleton of one on the river bank once and it was pretty cool to see all the teeth.