Do gar run off other fish?

[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....

[Bonefish]

Hold the fish up and cut the rope with scissors down each side of the gar's mouth and the rope comes completely untangled...fish unharmed.

[Danny]

Hey Bonefish.... Sometime maybe I can talk you into coming down to KY Lake and doing some gar fishing with me!! This time of year is perfect. I love catching Gar. My Mom and Dad used to kill them when they caught them in the river. I never liked that, but I remember, gosh I must have been about 4 maybe 5, and we were fishing on a sandy beach at Dam 48. That Dam is now gone, but my Mom caught a long nose gar that was in excess of 4 feet. At that time the only fishing I had ever seen on TV was saltwater fishing. I was running around yelling about it being a sword fish!! That absolutely had to be one of my favorite moments of my youth. There were a lot of funny times when we had our small aluminum V bottom, about 14-16 feet. We had a cabin on the Ohio, and would row out to the edge of the channel. Then we would fish, primarily for channel cats, but we would occasionally get a gar. It always created quite a stir and laugh as we tried to get that fish unhooked and back out of our "LITTLE" boat, which certainly got littler when a gar was in it!! LMAO

Great memories, thanks to all!!!!!


Danny

[Bonefish]

Danny, I live in Lexington, and I hate to say it but I hardly get to far away from this place these days because I have horses in training right now and trying to sell my home to rebuild down by Herrington. I appreciate the offer and will defiantly keep you in mind when I get the chance to come your way. I have fished the KY Lake a couple of times and have had a great time each trip. Herrington and the KY River are very active with gar right now.

[RoadToad]

Herrington and the KY River are very active with gar right now.

How long does this activity typically last?

[Bonefish]

They will feed July through September and the surface. You can also use small crappie minnows. Sometimes they will hit those before anything else. If you can find them where they are schooled on the surface, most likey they are feeding on small minnows.