Saturday, June 27, 2015

Summertime Gar

42" Trophy Gar 
Summer has arrived and now that I’m out of school, I have been able to fish a lot.   The last couple of months I have been thinking about fishing for gar, and now that I had time I loaded up my Kraken and went gar fishing. 



I saw several gar while fishing for bass last year, so I had a good idea of where to go.  I got my livebait, loaded up my Kraken, and went down to the lake.  It didn’t take very long for me to find the fish.  I paddled into a large cove and found fish rolling on the surface and gulping air, just like tarpon.  On the first day of fishing, I landed two gar with one of them measuring out to 40 inches, enough for a Virginia trophy fish citation.  After the first trip I went back out several times, catching them with livebait and sight-fishing for them on bass tackle.  My Dad joined me one trip, and caught a 41in gar.
My first Gar at 40"

Dad's 41" gar 
41" on a jerkbait 


My last trip was by far my best one.  I set out for a new location with bigger livebait, hoping to catch a really big one.  I was in a large creek off the main lake and gar were rolling all around me.  I put out my biggest bait and when it went down  I set the hook.  I could tell that this was a better class of fish,  it made long runs and stayed deep.  When I finally got the fish boat-side, I saw that it was a BIG gar.  I grabbed the fish and pulled it in the kayak.  It took up the whole foot-well because it was so long and I was stoked.  I beached the kayak and measured the fish out to 45 inches. I took a few pictures, removed the hooks, and released the big fish back to the lake. 

45" BIG Gar 
 I caught three more fish in the creek, and two of them were over 40 inches, the other was in the upper 30 inch range.  So far this year I have caught eleven gar with five citations.

42" citation Gar

Gar haven’t been the only fish I have caught lately.  I caught a lot of bass up to 21.5 inches on deep-diving crankbaits, Carolina-rigs, and jigs out on deep water ledges. 

21.5" Bass on a crankbait 


I have also caught several big sunfish up to 10.5 inches


Summer time is an awesome time to get out and catch fish.  Just remember to stay hydrated in the heat and stay safe out on the water. 

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