A Late "GAR"rival Report.
A GARrival that's better late than never... some 2014 gar pictures and a sorta short personal season report. Enjoy.
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Each spring when gar season arrives I look forward to treating family and friends to this unique fishing experience.
Now five years, it has pretty well become a tradition. No one gets more excited for the hunt... although some might come close.
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In 2006 during a rainy, no-bite, cold front, I was first introduced to gar fishing. It was seemingly something new online brought to the forums by a few, and it peaked the interest of anglers like myself. In 2009 during a more friendly day, I caught my first gar. A PB fish at that time, it was a slender 47-inches of spots, snout and teeth.
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Settled in 2010 back to my childhood home here in the valley, with the WarCanoe and new Lund in tow I set out to explore for gar along the vast Ottawa River. Alone or with my father, it was tough slogging while I plied new waters, trying my luck for these difficult to catch fish. It was this year when gar fishing really got into me... the year it all really started.
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Come 2011 the little local gar scene elevated. Noticing that over previous years no others had yet to rise up, having already built a raised casting platform for the WarCanoe and then the Lund, I later helped a buddy fit his first gar casting deck as well. This idea changed our fishing for the better, as suddenly and with regularity myself and friends were catching more and more bigger gar. Two memorable giants of that season were mine and my father's Ontario record beaters, which we released knowing even bigger fish were out there still...
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In 2012 more 50-inchers graced the gunnels, and there became a growing desire to introduce my girls and friends to the exceptional experience of gar fishing. Opening that door to others it was an awesome year for me and those aboard the Lund, highlighted with the catch and release of a truly exceptional 20lb, 4oz personal best, shared with a good buddy alongside. This was also a year which I deemed the net an unnecessary hazard to gar, and began experimenting with my own doctored lures as well.
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2013 was the "Fifty Gar Salute." A season of an unprecedented 21 fish over 50-inches. There was only one day the Lund came up an inch short of a perfect record. Everyone aboard had fun. It was a long season full of many perfect calm, hot, sunny days. There was peace in the valley and it was my favorite year of gar fishing.
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Gar are a cool catch and certainly worth the chase. Respectable strength though not the most powerful fighters of the big fish world, it's the "hunt" and the "take" that make your knees shake. Sight fishing, searching, spotting that giant shadow in the murky shallows and making the perfect cast, to then witness that head and long toothy snout suddenly snap sideways giving you your brief window to drive the hook... it's priceless!!!
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This year there were another 21 gar over 50 inches, and countless 48 and 49'ers caught as well. A shortened season due to a later spring start, an early end due to a death in the family, and some rather tricky weather days, it was a surprise come writing this to note it actually ended so well.
Friends Mike, Mike and Simon came aboard over three different occasions, Bren for another, Leah for two, and Summer joined in for one. Sneaking out myself four more times, this years ten outings took a five year total to exactly 50 days of gar fishing and 300+ hours. It's been a run...
A highlight this season was one incredible 3-day weekend which kicked off with my friend Simon on a Saturday, Leah the Sunday, and me solo come Monday. During these three days a 54, 52.5, 52.5, 52, 51.5, 51,51,50,50,50 and seven 49's were boated. That's just maybe a mile of gar. Simon for his second year seems to always time it right, and Leah just keeps herself happily amused reeling in everything I hook between play times in the boat.
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Overall the fish were long but skinnier this season. Some fatties were certainly hooked, though the cold and late spring did not make for an ideal gar spawning year. Available bait arrived later too, and as so, it surely slowed the gar down from getting a feed on. This said, there was one day like it happens pretty well every year, that I did spot that one gar which makes all others seem small.
During those fifty outings there have been five huge gar sightings now, one year not seeing one at all, one year seeing two, and all five fish scattered throughout different areas of the river. This years fish and 2010's were surely two 25-pound class fish, breaking the 55-inch mark and pushing to 60. This seasons gar... well... incredibly upon just releasing a 53-incher, as I looked up to see my boat had drifted a little in the light breeze, there in front of the bow was a gar which appeared double to almost triple the width and, with what had to be four or five more inches in length than the 53 just measured. I could still see my recovering gar resting in the shallows just to compare. This huge wide barrel of a gar blew me away. Unfortunately, when I went for my rod the giant fish on that awkwardly breezy day got the jump on me out of the shallows and cut through some weeds for deeper water. Before my Minnkota could even try and keep up I was losing sight of it in the rippled waters. It did not race away, it was just so frigging big that regular tail kicks propelled it too fast for me to keep up. Lagging further behind, unable to get a clear cast at it in time, all I could do was watch this PB record shattering gar leave a wake before dropping and disappearing from sight. I was left to wonder if maybe it was my 54-inch, 20 pound-plus from two years earlier, grown even bigger today. All I can hope now is to see it again next year...
Upon first introduction many people unfamiliar to gar will comment on how ugly they are. If they know nothing of the fish they might even ask where in South America or some other travel destination does one catch such a thing. Anglers in Ontario for the most part know of their existence and have seen them all over parts of the Province at one time or another. To me they are not ugly at all. Going beyond any horrific thought of those teeth piercing flesh, from snout to tail gar are gorgeous fish. In the Ottawa River several varieties of the longnose are swimming as well. There is the common well dressed spotted appearance over golden-brown-beige skin as pictured below. There's also a more pale gray to silver look with the spotting less defined found oftentimes on bigger fish, and then finally there's the least common and mostly smaller blackish-brown gar as seen in pictures 11 to 14 above.
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Over the past few years I have gotten away from netting gar. Landing the fish with a handling glove allows instant control. If it hasn't fought itself out already, a gar might try two or three good thrashes to escape the hold, but it does so safely in hand and over the water. With so much strong bone and even some teeth protruding outward from it's snout, a good no-slip grip and ready arm is all that's needed. The best gloves are thick cloth or rubber work gloves, a $5-10 pair usually lasting me about a season.
Having used nets in the past I found too easily a gar's narrow snout would slide through the mesh, sometimes with lure attached and, sometimes as far as the head to the eyes and gills. Those teeth too can make it quite slow and difficult to get that head back out. It's during this unnecessary stress that fish might thrash or roll as well, further injuring themselves as a result. Although gar have great body armor, solid beaks and can handle slightly longer periods out of water than most fish, it is their fins and tail that are quite delicate. Over the water or in the boat, nets easily tear into these soft, rubbery-like, leafy fins, and enough times now I have re-caught what were likely fish damaged by nets, some with no fins at all. Simplest remedy, good glove, strong arm, man-up, be careful, and take safe control of the fish the second it's at boat side. Oftentimes this way, fin damage is nil, less time is wasted, and the fish tend to settle much easier for measuring and photos once lifted in the boat. If fishing solo I would vote it be the only way.
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The best chances to learn and experiment are when alone on the water. A tougher fishing day can turn into a great outing if just taking the time to look around, shoot some interesting and different photographs, and play with various lures. This year it was actually during a very good bite when the water conditions and fish temperaments were screaming for me to try the fly rod. Alone, I'll dabble time-to-time with the 9-weight, but over a good few hours on this one day in particular, I tried bettering the fly fishing skills while hunting for bigger gar. Timing was perfect, and although a good few fish were missed or lost, I was able to get three to the boat with one of them a new fly best at 52-inches. It wasn't this season's biggest fish by any means, but it was a favorite... and such a good feeling too conquering gar by what is likely the most difficult method... Sorry for the cheesy-fly gar pic.
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This year on Facebook it appeared more and more new anglers were trying gar fishing, and many having success too. As anglers like any and all people, we all do things a little differently, shaping our own experiences through what we ourselves have learned in the past, plan and practice in the present and, hope to learn in our futures. These timeless gar having survived millennias before us, will forever be shaped by us, for hopefully what will be a healthy many more millennia to come. Rarely threatened, barely fished, little known and yet a very cool and worthy species to target, it is anyone's guess how gar fishing and especially the gar themselves might adapt "if" the fishery is to grow. So, in the meantime and for always, if out there enjoying the gar, we should try and take our best possible care with these great toothy fish.
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Until next year all the gar can rest up and grow bigger...
Bunk.
