# Ohio River Gar- 9/20/08 Personal Best



## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Mark (Salmonid) and I hit the Ohio on Saturday. We were just going to practice drifting, since we're new to hit, but not much was going on. We ended up anchoring in some deep water (50+ ft). I was using a 10 inch live Shad when this thing hit. It got wrapped around something on the bottom, after about a 15 minute fight we realized it was "just" a gar, but then realized how big it was. This thing fought just like a Flathead, making several dashes under the boat and tugs straight down during the fight when it was close to the boat.

Ended up being 49 1/2 inches and 14#'s. It was amazing how thick it was. This pic doesn't do a good job of showing the thickness. If I could go out and get one of these each trip, I'd start Gar fishing and hang up the catfish equipment! Even though he was bleeding like heck, he swam away fine. (Swallowed the hook and there was no way to get it out.)


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## mrfishohio (Apr 5, 2004)

That's some good eatin' there !!!  UFM82 would've cooked it up with hush puppies....


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## BottomBouncer (Jan 20, 2005)

A 14lb. toothy is good no matter what!! Nice fish


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

mrfishohio said:


> That's some good eatin' there !!!  UFM82 would've cooked it up with hush puppies....


yeah man, gar is awesome! dude that is a big gar!


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## Flatty01 (Aug 9, 2008)

Glad u got that bait stealer. How was the catfishing?


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

The catfishing stunk, but we were trying to practice drifting and also a few new spots so it wasnt unexpected. 
Here are the 3 pics I took with my camera that better show the massive girth of this beast. 3rd pic is best, just remember that Bryan is a very tiny framed person so the fish is not as big as it seems.. 
It was a magnificent fish!!




























Salmonid


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## KATKING (Jun 10, 2006)

Thats one big gar...congrats


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Nice, congrats...theres some bigguns out there


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## Fishinfreak (Oct 12, 2004)

Thats a big gar for these waters. The cats you had to work hard for. I think the high winds last weekend and high pressure this week helped slow things down. The fall bite will soon begin. Stay at the drifting it will come to you.


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Man that is a beautiful fish I love the spotted tails always a telltail sign of a gar, I always went to deep water when we started getting them in shallow, Boy you blew that theory out the wind Mellon, I don't mind catching them as long as I'm not tournament fishing but yes they do have some power to them. Good choice on the leather glove near those razor sharp million teeth

Doc


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## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

1 loaf white bread, slightly stale
1 cup whole milk
1 medium onion, diced small 
3 eggs, beaten thoroughly
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp salt 
Dash of pepper

Mix all together and form into balls. Fry at 350&#176; in oil until they float. Oh, notice I never told you how much gar to add. That's because that's GROSS!!! Who'd eat a gar? Man, I can't eat fish that are uglier than MrFish and that's saying something. 

UFM82


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## PhattyB (Dec 11, 2007)

Grandaddy's Gar/Carp Recipe:

Take a pine board.. make sure it's pine because that's the secret.

Chop up some carrots, celery, potatoes, onions and other other veggies you can find. Put the fish on the board and the veggies around and on top of the fish. Sprinkle some lemon juice over it all. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Rake all that crap into the garbage and eat the board. Salt and pepper to taste.


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Gar is actually pretty good. Ya just hafta get ones big enough to clean and not these little 3' ones that ya usually see in Ohio...The meat is white and has no fishy taste.


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## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

Congrtas nice fish !!!


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## fisherman5567 (Jan 3, 2007)

Awesome fish Mellon! Lovin it!


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## tom_912 (Aug 16, 2006)

I had the chance to try fried alligator and gar a few years ago.. I actually liked the gar better. I was surprised as I thought it was the gator!


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## fishknife (Apr 13, 2004)

That's a big gar around here.


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

Thats a big ass gar!!!


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