Looks like I'll be going around March 12 with some friends to Austin on a guided trip. Guaranteed fish and the guide has tons of pictures up of alligator gar going over 150 pounds on his website. Any advice for the trip?

It is a blast. Bring plenty of beer!

We used to go shoot carp at Decker (ie Walter E. Long) They put up a huge fight. We used to catch 20 pounders very regularly.

i would take plenty of beer.... if 06 was my college graduation year instead of high school. ha ha, i'm sure it will still be a blast though. looks like the gar put up a heck of a fight. so how does it work? how do you know where the fish are/where to aim? what kind of broadhead/tips do they use on the arrows? this is all new to me

Use fiberglass arrows with special tips that are basically just huge barbs. Dont forget to have a reel on your bow, or you'll just be going fish shooting, not bowfishing.

They make attachment kids for bowfishing if you have an old beater compound bow. You can get them at adademy.

Giddings,

It is almost like flounder gigging. Lights mounted on the deck of the boat allow you to see them in the 4- 5 ft range.

I've bowfished in Texas one time, so I've never really had a good chance to get some gator gar, but here are two needle-nose from an extremely dry nueces. And a little 13# carp I shot in a New Jersey town lake. It's fun as hell, but takes a bit to get used to, so def take some beer.



[This message has been edited by Reasonable Person (edited 2/26/2007 9:08p).]

Never bow fished but "spear" fished on lake Lewisville once. When I was in school, a buddy and me were bass fishing the shallows on the north end of the lake and noticed hundreds of carp and gar surfacing in about 1-2 ft of water. They were not interested in anything we had to offer so we promptly adapted. We took the long running light out and taped a knife to the shaft. We speared a ton of them but we also ended up covered in nasty hot lake mud. Good thing we had a cooler full of Olympia.
There you have it - a great moment in white trash history.

what do ya'll do with these fish? You're not eating gar are you?

Gar are supposed to be quite tasty, actually, but I can't say I've had it. I've just seen it in fishmarkets and heard of it being cooked. Just a real bytch to clean. You can steak them like a shark, from what I understand.

They're fish eaters, so they should have good, clean flavorful meat.

i usually just cut the carp I kill into big chunks and bury them in my garden. I will be going on my first offshore bowfishing trip this spring. I look forward to getting a shot at some rays or shark or whatever else is out there.

www.backwaterbowfishing.com

this is where I get my gear, FWIW

My Louisiana grandmother used to make gar balls (think salmon croquets) when I was growing up. No juice boxes or fruit roll ups here.

She also used to put the turtles she caught invading her garden in a 5 gal bucket to die a slow death.

She lived right near a busy highway in Olla, La (how anyone ever comes out of that place alive is beyond me) so we couldnt play out in the yard in fear of being squished by one of the 10000 logging trucks that rumbled by.

Had a problem with any of the above? Well mister, you received an invitation to go out in the front yard and pick out your very own switch!

Needless to say, I LOVED the annual visit.

Turles in the garden are bad? I wonder, what harm did they do? Must have been bad to receive the death by starvation scentence. How'd that gar taste, anyways?

If I remember correctly the gar are very bony.

The carp on the other hand we would give to the "east Austin locals." They love them and refer to the carp as a "Bugle Mouth Bass."

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She also used to put the turtles she caught invading her garden in a 5 gal bucket to die a slow death.

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Gar are barely edible. You're probably confusing them with gaspergoo.

Gar are not good and Louisiana grandmothers are tough old birds. Turtles be damned.

No, I know my fish pretty well. I saw a show on TV where some dudes in east texas were catching large gar using bluegills, and steaking them out, and the steaks were being sold at a fish market. It WAS east TX, though..

Gaspergoo/freshwater drum are actually pretty good eating, a lot like their croaker/redfish/black drum cousins, but lots of bones...

I wonder if anyone has ever eaten a grinnel?

Gar is simply disgusting.

In Mexico I saw some locals absolutely chowing down on gar tacos slathered in some vinegar-smelling hot sauce. I almost lost it.

Different cultures...

Went fishing at Falcon Lake a long time ago and we ended up going to Tiger Island and snagging some gar, one of the people I was with fried up a few of the smaller ones and they weren't to bad, but not something I'd eat on a regular basis.