I was out fishing a muddy creek last night, and saw a gar cruising top-water. After a couple casts with a small yellow popper, he took it, and I knew the fight was on…
… but it wasn’t. This thing was over 2 foot long, but didn’t give much of a fight at all (on my 5 weight). I just basically drug him in to the bank.
Are gar always that lethargic? I’m just curious.
what type of gar was it, I catch alligator gar here and they put up a great fight on a 5 wt. the spotted gar are not near as much fun IMO.
darryl
I haven’t caught a gar yet that didn’t put up a decent battle. But I fish a lot of carp as well, and occasionally I’ll have one of them roll over on his side and come in without a fight. I would wonder if it had more to do with water conditions than the species. I know extremes of water temp can make any fish lethergic (the lazy carp I’ve caught have all come out of pretty cold water). Other than that I couldn’t say why your gar went so quietly, but I can tell you they aren’t all that way.
I’ve only caught long nose gar, and they always put up a good fight.
It was a short-nose gar. Water was warm, but muddy (rained last night).
Guess I’ll try and catch another.
Thanks,
John
John, one gar may fight like crazy, and the next one of the same species will just let itself be dragged in. I don’t know why, and I’ve caught many.
Maybe it was just playing 'possum
Maybe it wasn’t healthy. I have never caught a gar that didn’t go psycho on me. They jump, spin, tail-walk, hiss, dive for the bottom, and everything in between. It’s like freshwater Tarpon or Barracuda, sort of.
Semper Fi!