# Alligator Gar



## NKUSigEp

Just read that the range of these monsters encompasses the Mississippi river drainage basin, including the Ohio river and have been caught as far up as Southwestern Ohio.

Thoughts?


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## RichsFishin

Growing up my uncle seen them in a river somewhere in Chillocothe..Rich


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## TIGHTLINER

Milton Trautman's "Fishes of Ohio" book talks about the Alligator Gar, and the possibility that they could make it into the Ohio River, but in all likelihood it is still slim to none. The Longnose Gar to get incredibly big in the river though!


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## big_b16

NKU, if you fish for wipers in the ohio by the dams, you'll see the effect of gar (longnose I think) if you use thin line and shad type crank baits. Those crazy things will slash at the bait and cut your line. I've had friends in boats near me catch them. I've only felt them thrashing my line. They get pretty big, I think the one my friend's boy caught was in the 3'-4' range. Not sure I'd want to wrastle with one of those things without a long nose pliers.


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## RichsFishin

Then again maybe my uncle was wrong on what kind of gar it was.....Rich


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## Carpn

While historically it may have been possible for Gator Gar to make it up the Ohio this far modernization of the rivers and all the dams that have been built between here and the south where there are viable populations of gator gar make it unlikely they could ever make it up this far again.


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## cincinnati

Handled many longnose gar, during college, as a flunky for real biologists on the OH River. Never feared the teeth. Aside from their ability to flap everywhere, even w/3 or 4 hands securing them, they were quite docile.

Never saw it first hand, but guys who worked the Wabash River told me that a shortnosed gar on the floor of the boat would keep the crew standing on the seats for some time before it quit biting & thrashing.


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## riverKing

i have handled shortnose, spotted, and longnose gar but have yet to see an alligator, had to check a large longnose if it was an alligator gar(alligator gar have two rows of teeth on the top jaw, shortnose one, that was a fun task). in theory there were at one time alligator gar as far up as WV but there is almost no way one could be as far up as ohio anymore. even the shortnose and spotted that i have seen were downstream of ohio except for one, shortnose are extremely uncommon in ohio and there has been only one spotted gar to my knowledge taken in the ohio part of the ohio river. there are supposedly still some alligator gar in the lower ohio but most are in the lower tribs of the mississippi river. there are some very large longnose in the ohio river and its tribs, though i have never seen the 8ft fish all the crazies talk about i have caught 56in fish, and weighed fat 50in fish(9lbs), but the ohio record is 25lbs, that has always made me think it could have been an alligator gar but who knows, the world record is 42lbs btw, how long would that have been??


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## crocodile

Our water temps get to cold. Ally gar are native to the flordia panhandle and texas. Ronnie


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## wave warrior

not sure which gar they are but i can assure you they ARE in the tuscarawas river and its tribs!!! the "x" and i each had one on at the same time 3 years ago...neither were landed but was a HOOT!!! each were in the 4' range caught(almost) on the tusc...also caught gar of some sort at cumberland lake in KY. but small ones...20+ inches...


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## tornwaders

Im dying to catch gar this summer I have caught 2 in my life one of which came from the tusc below phily. Been doing some reading on them. Where else in the tusc. have the been spotted on a frequeint basis?


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## wave warrior

tornwaders said:


> Im dying to catch gar this summer I have caught 2 in my life one of which came from the tusc below phily. Been doing some reading on them. Where else in the tusc. have the been spotted on a frequeint basis?


these were in phila as well!!!see them hover in calm pools but rarely hit a bait!!!


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## reeldirty1

we dont have alligator gar here that i know of . I call them needlenose gar ,im not sure of the correct term but there are plenty.I dont know what the state record is guessing 15 lbs see alot 5 lbrs


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## tornwaders

I want to chase them with a flyrod and the rope fly. The one I caught from the tusc. came from rope we saw it it swimming by so I tied in a jig head with nylon rope on it an the rest is history. They are a really cool fish and quite beautiful with thier markings. I love dinosaur fish


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## BigMha

i was fishing the mississippi in missouri...i was using minnows as bait and wasn't targeting them on seperate occasions. i thought my father in law would know how to clean them the fish up, since it was my 1st time catching this type of fish, but he said the meat was like mush after cleaning so i should just use it for fertilizer in the garden. 

the 1st 1 was caught in a back water area off of the main branch of the river...the second was in a " slew " off of a small inland lake...the water was almost stagnant because it was HIGH SUMMER and the water levels on the lake were down.

their teeth look fearsome but for all it's struggling, i really didn't have any trouble removing the hook after it had settled down a little. they weren't snapping at my fingers while i was reomving the hooks, or trying to bite me...they just were a real pain to hold onto with all the thrashing about.

i see them down at 55th-72nd inside of the small " shoe " but they chase bait but don't strike...pluse they were small in comparrison to those 2 from missouri.


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## Rob

If you want to catch a Gar, go to the portage river early this May. They spawn in there and you'll see them surface sometimes. These aren't gator Gar, but another species that is smaller. They're very mean!!! We used to wade for White Bass in there and we'd often hook a couple.

Rob


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## river wader

try catching a 3' to 4' on a 12 ft crappie rod while jigging for crappies in tenn. hook them all the time only landed 2 one small and one 2'.


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## fishwhipped

i know that there are decent size gar in portage lakes. have had them strike at buzz baits up in the shallows.


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## Thunder

I've caught lots of gar in the Ohio fishing for cat fish. Most times they cut your line before you get them in, or close to the boat. I've caught some large ones but never fooled with them, usually just release them. Last July at the Greenup damn, they were in heavy spawn. They were like carp in May, they were everywhere on the surface. And sometimes so close to the boat you could dip them with a net if you wanted. Probably destroy your net I would imagine. So if you want to catch gar, the dams on the ohio is a good spot, and if you go during the spawn, you'll see hundreds.


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## catmando

Try catching this on your crappie rod!

"The second-most dangerous shark in U.S. waters is likely the bull shark, a large (up to 12 feet), aggressive animal that is the only shark species to regularly enter fresh water, traveling up the Mississippi River as far as the Ohio River. "


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## mjgood

We caught a dozen or so last year at Wiers rapids (on old river road just upstream from Waterville) in about a half hour in June on minnows. Their mouth is hard to hook and I talked with some guys who say the best way to catch them is to fray some nylon rope and tie a hook in the middle for the minnow. Their teeth actually get caught in the rope and not on the hook. Good luck...


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