Gar Lures

[sprestwood]

I've been wanting to catch some gar. RSimms and Gar-Man-Jack gave the ideas.

Nylon rope, and some lead-heads.

First tied up a spinning gar jig in the fly vise.

Then a smaller lead-head for the fly rod.

If these work I might fix some topwater lures with wood like a popper fly. The gar seem to be night predators, at least that is when I see them. They seem to scare off crappie and steal catfish bait. Maybe now I can catch gar to as an alternative.

I've tried to hook gar but the mouth seemed too hard for the hook to grab. Likewise I though that bowfishing was the only viable method to gar fish.

 

[MadBomber]

Back in the day, we used a 10" length of 1/4" nylon rope, Folded over and wrapped with line to from a 5" long lure. back then we used a wire leader attached to the loop. Unraveling and combing out the rope finished the job. This technique is at least 40 years old.

 

[AThornton]

take you some white panty-hose. cut them about 12-14 inches and tie your line in the center. No need for hooks. they will hit it and roll and the panty hose will draw their mouths shut and makes for easy handling when they get to the boat.

 

[cb1340]

Are you serious? panty hose? will that really work? I tried the rope trick a few weeks ago and the silly gar spit it out, maybe not combed well enough

 

[AThornton]

nylon rope usually works well too, but the panty hose gets in their teeth easier and it stretches so when they roll it gets TIGHT. you wont catch EVERY fish this way, but if they roll and the hose catches on one tooth, he's hooked. i remember doing it like this when i was a kid below Nickajack with Dad when we were Striper fishing. Thats been at least 10 years ago, but it worked. Id be interested to know if someone had tried this recently. I would give it a shot, but I have no interest in catching Gar these days. That's the way the old men I grew up around always caught them.

Just my $.02

 

[rsimms]

Panty hose... sounds like a good idea to me. Especially for folks using flyrods. I'm sure it would cast much easier.

Just have to very careful not to let the wife find them in my boat. emoEek

 

[AThornton]

emoUpsmile emoUpsmile emoUpsmile emoUpsmile emoUpsmile

 

[salecreekaviator]

That reminds me....I used to fly radio control airplanes alot and a retired friend I flew with wasn't a very good pilot but he loved fixing them as much as flying them. It seemed to never fail, he always took a damaged plane home with him every Sat morning. One Saturday the moon and stars lined up and he flew all morning with perfect landings just like a pro. He went home bouncing with energy and smiling ear to ear. His wife saw his demeanor when he came in, then she check the garage and saw his plane was intact. She immediately demanded a heart-to-heart kitchen table meeting on their relationship. "coming in all happy and no damage to that plane.... Where have you REALLY been all morning?!?!?!?"

Take rsimms advice, be careful with the panty hose.

 

[sprestwood]

I definatly want to hear about some more old ideas. These rope lures "hook" better if they are longer and you allow the gar to thrash a little to make the rats nest of the fibers. Seem like most gar flies are just a ring like a large split ring with nylon strung through it and tied off.

Here is an other spinning lure that can be made without a fly vise.

Get a drop shot weight of your target size.

Then tie off a fold of nylon fibers.

I will lacquer the threads to slow unraveling during its abuse.