Do gar run off other fish?

[RoadToad]

A friend of mine took me fishing on the Kentucky River today right below lock #2 at Lockport. He's had great success there in the past, but we were got skunked pretty good. He caught a small drum, and I caught a longnose gar on a Rat'l Trap. We got lots of strikes on simple 3/8 ounce jigs with 3" white grubs, but just couldn't hook up. The guy at the grocery store said nobody had been catching much the past few days, mainly because "the gar are running," which he said runs off the other fish. This makes sense, because we saw what we thought were fish jumping all over the place, but in hindsight I'm thinking it may have been gar "gulping." Any thoughts?

[Grumpy]

I do not have any proof other than personal experience and observation, but I do believe that Gar run off other fish. At least I never seem to catch any Bass when there are schools of Gar in the area.

Probably the bites you were getting without hook-ups were also Gar. They tend to pick up baits but with their boney, hard jaws it is very hard to get a hookset.

As far as the "jumping" and "gulping" you saw, you are probably correct. I remember one time at Barren, I was fishing the Island on the Skaggs Creek side of the Beaver Ramp pennesula (?) when I heard a bunch of, what I thought were fish in the jumps behind me. I cast into them and had a bunch of hits without hookups but every time I got a hookup, I broke off and lost the lure. I fianally figured out that they were Gar and put a steel leader on a Rattle Trap and caught several Gar. I still had trouble getting hookups.

Earlier this year, I was up Nolin River near "five fingers" when the same thing happened to me. Gar can be fun to catch but there are hard on your lures. Anyhow, as I said, every time I remember seeing Gar in the area, I have never caught any Bass.

Grumpy

[tracker4stroke]

but they are sure fun to shoot at. i have had the same luck on rough when you find the gar that is all you get.

[DJD]

I agree that if i have been around an area with alot of Gar then the bass fishing seems to die off.
When we would flip into areas on West Lake Toho that had a lot of Gar we would get out of there since the bite would go away.
I found the same thing to be true with Carp...when they are up shallow flopping and spawning(?) i don't do as well while fishing for bass.

[Danny]

RT,

I, like the rest only have my own experiences to relate, but I've caught bass around gar, and then other times I haven't. I remember once on KY lake I caught a 5lber while there were huge schools of gar that were surfacing. Kind of like dolphins, I suppose. Other times when the gar are like that I have been skunked.

But my best imperical information came on a recent trip to KY lake in a bay with lots of grass, and very clear water. I was able to see fish for a long distance, and only got hookups on very long casts. But back to the gar, I could see all types of fish in the water. I saw pickerl, long nose gar, smallies, LMs, bluegills, and a couple of species I was unable to identify.

Something new for this year. In the past we have had discussions about catching fish when there are those little black skuttle bugs on the top of the water. It seemed none of us had caught fish when these bugs were around. That changed this year. In one bay, under the bugs, I got a largemouth, and in another bay, same day, under the bugs I got a smallie.

I'm beginning to think there are fewer and fewer things I can say with certainty in regard to hunting these great fish.

One more thing, if you fish with a wire leader, and you catch a gar, I'm telling you, no specie of bass will fight as well or as hard, nor be as dangerous to land!! LOL... BTW, don't lip them!! LMAO

Danny

[Grumpy]

Danny, very few things is nature have IRON CLAD rules for their behavior. The thing is try and figure out what is NORMAL. As with the Whirlygig Bugs, in the previous posts on the subject, a very few people did say that they had caught fish where the bugs were dancing; however, enough confirmed that you won't NORMALLY catch any Bass around them, that I no longer waste my time fishing in areas where the Whirlygigs are.

DJD, I also have failed to catch Bass in the same areas where Carp are flopping around. Serveral other people I know have said the same thing; however, I have read a couple of things where people say they like to fish were the Carp are flopping because that stirs up the Craws and gets the shad moving, which attracts the Bass wanting a meal. Go figure.

As I said above, I try to figure out what is NORMAL and I normally won't fish where Whirlygigs are dancing nor where Carp are flopping.

Of course, what do I know? I got skunked on Rough yesterday and I never saw the first Gar, Carp or Whirly Gig!!

Grumpy

[PatientlyWading24]

i know on elkhorn that there a quit a few gar swimming around in there. hasn't seemed to affect whether i can catch the bass that i know are there too. it does seem to affect me having to retie sooner than i would like. you try to set a hook on a gar with 6lb test, well you normally lose that bait.

My friends get out into the creek with me and think that there is a lot of topwater action sometimes, just looking up the creek. but more times than not that topwater activity is just the gar poking their nose out of the water going back down and flapping their tail.

Fishing behind greenup dam one summer for big hybrids, out more towards the middle of the river the gar were surfacing like submarines. coming way out of the water nose to the sky and then just belly flopping down. pretty odd scene, there were actually a few that looked as big as a small boat.

[RoadToad]

My friends get out into the creek with me and think that there is a lot of topwater action sometimes, just looking up the creek. but more times than not that topwater activity is just the gar poking their nose out of the water going back down and flapping their tail.

THAT must have been what we were seeing yesterday! I remember thinking at the time, "What the heck are those fish DOING?" because they certainly weren't leaving the water, but the splashes were louder, and just kinda different, than typical topwater feeding. I'm new to river fishing (if you hadn't guessed), and hadn't seen this before. I didn't mention if my post that there were schools of baitfish everywhere, which led me to assume that what we were seeing was fish feeding, but now I'm pretty sure it was not. Thanks for the replies, everyone.

[DJD]

I bet that 327 lb alligator gar that was shot in Oklahoma back a few years ago would scare off some fish for sure! Did any of you see that pic? I think it was over 8ft long!

[PatientlyWading24]

I saw that, it made both of the men standing next to it in the picture (the one where it was hangin from the tree) look tiny. that thing could eat a child, easily. i'm glad they arn't floating around much in KY.

[Bonefish]

If you have fished the Ky River lately you would have observed millions of very small river minnows that act like shad in that they school on the surface and just under the surface. Gar love these little minnows this time of year and they herd then around lke stripers do shad. Herrington is a great place this time of year to observe large numbers of Gar off the deep cliff walls. If you want to have fun on a hot July or August day when everyone else is waiting for the fall cool down, just take a piece of 6" to 8" white nylon rope and untwist a section out of it. Next, seperate the fibers to some degree, double it and then put a small plastic tie around it. Then, connect a 6" wire leader to the rope loop and connect the leader to your #6 or #8 flyrod with a 8 to 12 lb tippet. Just cast it to the working gar, and most will attack the rope. When they do, the fine strans of nylon gets wrapped around their teeth which makes no hook is necessary. If you prepare a number of these ropes, all you have to do is cut the rope out of their mouth without bring them into the boat and let them go and then just tie on a new one. In Herrington, you can connect with a 30 to 40 pounder at times. You can get some strange looks from the bass fishermen too when your boat is being pulled around in 30 minute battle. You can also use a spinning rod. The Gar will jump as well as any bass and can give you all you want as far as sport, especially on a flyrod.

[DJD]

If you have fished the Ky River lately you would have observed millions of very small river minnows that act like shad in that they school on the surface and just under the surface. Gar love these little minnows this time of year and they herd then around lke stripers do shad. Herrington is a great place this time of year to observe large numbers of Gar off the deep cliff walls. If you want to have fun on a hot July or August day when everyone else is waiting for the fall cool down, just take a piece of 6" to 8" white nylon rope and untwist a section out of it. Next, seperate the fibers to some degree, double it and then put a small plastic tie around it. Then, connect a 6" wire leader to the rope loop and connect the leader to your #6 or #8 flyrod with a 8 to 12 lb tippet. Just cast it to the working gar, and most will attack the rope. When they do, the fine strans of nylon gets wrapped around their teeth which makes no hook is necessary. If you prepare a number of these ropes, all you have to do is cut the rope out of their mouth without bring them into the boat and let them go and then just tie on a new one. In Herrington, you can connect with a 30 to 40 pounder at times. You can get some strange looks from the bass fishermen too when your boat is being pulled around in 30 minute battle. You can also use a spinning rod. The Gar will jump as well as any bass and can give you all you want as far as sport, especially on a flyrod.

Help me to understand this please....Do you leave any rope in their mouth? Will it hinder their ability to feed and survive? I'm not a Gar lover or some nature freak but i wouldn't think it to be very cool to basically kill something for the sport of it and not eat it. Even some stinky old Gar....