Dont lip a gar!

[texasbasser]

my friend went to our "secret" lake in the middle of know where yeserday, and he comes back with a messed up hand. He caught a gar, and while trying to get it off the hook, his hand got stuck in its mouth. Now i always try to be careful when I catch a toothy fish, but is there really any other way to get the hook out of these things?

[Bender]

With pike and such up here I use a towel so they don't slip and grab their bodies if they are small enough. I have had to step on one before, but lightly. And use long nose pliers of course. Or just cut the line, like I should have last summer on a BIG dogfish.

[adamgambill]

The best way Ive found to unhook a gator gar is the 26" aluminum bat I carry on the boat. Some say that a gar is a trash fish, I say use the fillets and some corn meal to make gar puppies. The meat is firm and white simular to a red. If you catchem keep em cause when it comes to bream, crappie, bluegill, cats and gar-theyre getting ate. Bassin is just sport for me.

[WTL]

With Gar or Pickeral, I am less concerned with the fish surviving. That doesn't mean I out and out kill them, but I normally place them on the deck, step on the side of their head to keep em from shaking (I dont crush them, just put enough weight down to keep em still), then I jerk the hook out with channellocks. I do the same for mudcats. Then I throw them back in the water and let them at least have a shot at living. But my safety comes first, I aint getting bit by one of those ba$($(# and if that means a few get mangled up, well thats what it means.

[ToPwAt'R GuY]

The best thing to do is cut the line. If you ever just want to fish for gar though dont use a hook. I've learned that a separated peice of rope tied to your line will work great. It wraps around a gar's teeth and is easy to take out if its mouth.

[flbassman]

Originally Posted by ToPwAt'R GuY

The best thing to do is cut the line. If you ever just want to fish for gar though dont use a hook. I've learned that a separated peice of rope tied to your line will work great. It wraps around a gar's teeth and is easy to take out if its mouth.

Yup. If you soak it in blood, it's like a big gar magnet. For real fun with gar though, nothin beats bowfishing (so I've heard.....One of these days I'm gonna go.....)

[texasbasser]

ok thanks guys. Topwater I have treid the rope lure, but they still get stuck in the strings lol. Ill try these next time I happen to catch a gar.

[Super Fluke]

Use a towel or glovers

[ROBZILLA]

you have to grab them just behind the eyes in a pinching mode. this will paralyze them, this will only work up to 5 to 7 pounds .after that bring them on land hold them down with your foot and buy a pair of forceps(5.00) and use them to take out the hook.

[bassintxlady]

here in texas we step on em and pull the hooks out....then we throw them in the bush to die....these fish will kill a nice pond in a matter of months....they are not a friendly fish.....my mother when i was little used to shoot em with a 22 for sport i remember....seeing what they can do to a beautiful lake is enough for me....i'd trash them in a heart beat.....i am a lover of fishing....and i consider myself to be a conservationist when it comes to wildlife including fish....but these are a freak accident of the order of nature and i say they "needed killin"......

[texasbasser]

Originally Posted by bassintxlady

here in texas we step on em and pull the hooks out....then we throw them in the bush to die....these fish will kill a nice pond in a matter of months....they are not a friendly fish.....my mother when i was little used to shoot em with a 22 for sport i remember....seeing what they can do to a beautiful lake is enough for me....i'd trash them in a heart beat.....i am a lover of fishing....and i consider myself to be a conservationist when it comes to wildlife including fish....but these are a freak accident of the order of nature and i say they "needed killin"......

if your serious, thats totally wrong.

[Bender]

Originally Posted by texasbasser

if your serious, thats totally wrong.

That is what most people up here do to dogfish since they are not a sporting fish and destroy most everything else. Same thing with snakeheads.

[texasbasser]

IMO, gar have as much reason to swim in our waters as bass or any other fish do. They dont " interfere" with any other species, and I dont see why people treat them like trash. Bass have been introduced throughout the major part of their range, so in actual fact the bass is interfering with the gar. SO, I treat every fish the same.

[zooker]

up on catching a chain/jack pikerel in harris lake.i remember the words of a certain bassfishin.com member -bassenforcer-" lip him... lip him like a man...bring a yankee down south and all they catch is pike"...

he was certainly giving me a hard time about it -till he caught one smaller than a 5" senko...

i am crazy not stupid..

zooker

[bassintxlady]

Originally Posted by texasbasser

IMO, gar have as much reason to swim in our waters as bass or any other fish do. They dont " interfere" with any other species, and I dont see why people treat them like trash. Bass have been introduced throughout the major part of their range, so in actual fact the bass is interfering with the gar. SO, I treat every fish the same.

I am glad to see that you do this .......like i always say....to each his own....

[islandflyfisher]

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...=SearchResults

I use hook a hook remover for saltwater fish. It is amazing! I couldn't find the one I have at BPS online, but they have it at the store. It is silver. I have never tried it with trebles though. Don't get a cheap imitation. The curve in the bottom part is part of why I like it so much.

[lizardsrule]

Jeez, just get a pair on needle nose pliers and take the frigging hook out, before you even pull em into the boat. I wear them out, then just raise them so the tail is still in the water, grab the hook with the pliers and bang they're off. I will say they aren't good for much of anything, and fertilizer would be a decent use for them. You say gar don't affect the other fish is a bunch of baloney. Just like bowfin(mudfish), they eat bait, take up nesting areas etc... If there is some great movwement for them to become a sporting fish, then fine, but nobody I knows eats them or wants one on the end of their line. But if you go out and target them species specific, and fish for them, then more power to you. Please come up with a good recipe for them, and keep them all.

Lizards

[ILfishinman]

are there just no gar up in illinois? i have never caught or seen a gar in person, same with dogfish/mudfish

[zooker]

Originally Posted by ILfishinman

are there just no gar up in illinois? i have never caught or seen a gar in person, same with dogfish/mudfish

should be i have seen them in ny..
zooker