# Gar and/or Drum hotspots?



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

lol I know these are two species not many people target or even like to catch, but I'm just trying to change it up a bit instead of the normal bass and panfish. I have never caught a gar before and find them pretty cool fish. Just last weekend I came across my first one fishing Little Beaver Creek and now I have the bug to catch one, just to scratch it off the list.

I have only ever caught a few sheephead before, in the Lake Erie watershed, and got one last week also in little beaver, but like I said just want to change it up and catch some species I'm not used to catching every day.

So are there any good spots that I have pretty good chance of hooking up with either species and maybe both in the Ohio River watershed? The farthest down I'd want to go would probably be around Wheeling, and anything north would be better. Looking to go within the next month or so, not official, but just an idea. Want to do something differrent. Might want to try to catch my first sauger too while I'm at it. Thanks in advance!


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## CincyFisher (Nov 12, 2010)

This past Sunday the gar were stacked up in paint lick creek in the markland pool. Saw a school of 50 or so feeding on small shad. If I wasn't in a bass tournament I would have targeted them. Good luck.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I guess I should have been more specific location wise, but thanks anyways. I'm mainly interested in the river and tribs from say East Liverpool down to Wheeling, WV. I think Cincy would be a little far of a drive going for the day lol.


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## lark101_1999 (Apr 12, 2004)

just check the creeks. watch the water you can tell when gar are there the gar will put the long thin mouths above water time to time. i use to use a float and a small shad to catch em. look under shade trees to on sunny days. good luck i only got a hook set 1 out of 20 times


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## Bostonwhaler10 (Apr 30, 2012)

CincyFisher said:


> This past Sunday the gar were stacked up in paint lick creek in the markland pool. Saw a school of 50 or so feeding on small shad. If I wasn't in a bass tournament I would have targeted them. Good luck.


How do you keep track of your fish count. Paper and pencil?


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Well, I decided to go to the NC dam today for the first time ever. Fished the WV side. Had no problem getting into sheep, they provided steady action the whole time I was there. Drum......check. Gar......almost. I was fishing down by the rocks and every once in a while I would see a gar swim by. I had him hit a jig, a live minnow, then I did the hike back to the truck to get the fly rod out and used a rope fly and finally hooked one. I had him hooked for a few seconds then he spit the fly out after doing a pretty acrobatic jump. After that I didn't see any gar, maybe the conditions weren't good enough, I guess they prefer hot sunny weather. Also got a few decent green sunfish in the slower water above the dam. There were a few other people fishing on the wall and I saw them catch a few drum, a small cat, and what looked to be a decent hybrid, but it could of been a pretty big drum.


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## lark101_1999 (Apr 12, 2004)

all in all id say you had a good day


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## CincyFisher (Nov 12, 2010)

Excel Fish Log


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## terryit3 (Jul 15, 2011)

I landed my first gar yesterday on a white jig. All in all, it didn't put up much of a fight. The thing that surprised me most was how bad the thing stunk!


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

> I landed my first gar yesterday on a white jig. All in all, it didn't put up much of a fight. The thing that surprised me most was how bad the thing stunk!


Really? People say sheephead, carp, suckers, etc. stink, but I have NEVER caught any fish that smelled, and I catch a heck of a lot of "rough fish." Now I have fished in waterways that smelled, but have never caught any species of fish that smelled. But then again I never actually tried to smell a fish lol. 

Although that gar I hooked on Saturday was the only one I truly hooked, it put up a great fight for the brief amount of time I had him on. Jumped at least a foot out of the water. I have heard though from other people they aren't great fighters, but I still want to catch one after losing 2! 

For those of you who fish NC frequently, how common are gar there? I have a feeling all those gar I saw were the same fish, it kept coming in that same spot and after I hooked it I didn't see any others.


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## terryit3 (Jul 15, 2011)

I've caught plenty of sheephead and carp and they have nothing on the odor that gar was putting off. After I grabbed it, my hands smelled the rest of the afternoon.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Where were you Terry???


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## terryit3 (Jul 15, 2011)

The Little Scioto River between Minford and Dixon Mill. The cool night we had Saturday really turned the bite on for us. We caught a lot of nice Spotted Bass and Smallies. We also lost a lot of good ones trying to get them into the canoe.


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

I can't give you any locations in your area, but I can give you a technique that will work on drum. My buddy and I drift down the Ohio River and wherever you find rocks you will have a good chance of catching drum. We use Flitterbaits off the bottom. You will catch sauger and catfish this way too. It works best in the fall. As for gar, I don't care to catch them. They don't fight and they do stink. They have destroyed many a good gizzard shad meant for catfish too. The hookup rate is terrible. That is just way too frustrating a fish to even consider targeting. I did want to catch one just to cross it off my list though.


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## jastew (Nov 18, 2011)

The problem with hooking a gar is they have those bony beaks, no soft tissue for a hook to grab. I've had them hit baits plenty of times without a hook up.

I've never fished for them specifically, but several of the ones I managed to land had the line actually wrapped around their beak.

I've read articles over the years that reccomended letting them swallow live bait, or instead of a hook, use some frayed nylon rope. They have really fine teeth and apparently the threads from the rope get tangled in their teeth.

Good luck!


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