Michigan
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Good stuff Dave. That area can be great this time of year. I’m surprised to see the gar from the Muskegon…I’ve never come across them there and wasn’t even aware they were in there. Very cool.
Did you get into any fish on mice?
Hey Dave –
Just for perspective, not to knock your local water, but I have participated in a mass gar gigging in which we killed at least a dozen over 20 lbs. out of the 127 we killed in one night. (This was a one-time thing for me; gigging is highly wasteful). The largest one was 26 lbs. and change–I remember because it was just under the 27 lb. state record, which is a line record naturally. That fish was easily five feet long.
I found a photo of a longnose which was also 26 lbs. (this guy was not with our group):
They stay long, obviously, but they also thick up a lot.
Zach
I don’t know about other parts of the country, but in Northwest Arkansas, gar are considered trash fish and mostly left to the bowfishers and snaggers.
It is believed by many that gar are apex predators of young smallmouth and other game fish in most of the warmwater environments. If you have ever seen a gar chase down bait fish it is impressive. Long slender body and a snout full of teeth.
I do have a favorite stretch of the Kings River that I used to fish that I believe has been impacted by the presence of gar. Ten years ago, a popper cast tight against the bank would draw strikes from various age groups of smallmouth and goggle-eye all day. I never saw a gar in that stretch. Now gar are everywhere and the popper fishing has declined to a point where it is almost not worth the time to fish it.
steve
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