# Left the girlfriend for the water



## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

Couldn't sleep last night after I got home with my girlfriend from Miami.. Started thinking about all the people I saw out on the river yesterday so I had to get out.

Thinking to myself..ok its 5 am you should just go to sleep, if you wake her up trying to get out of bed she is guna kill you, f it..just slide out real smooth.. Fail. 

So I tell her I'm going to see my other girlfriend Sam and that she is much smaller than she is, is 90% lean muscle, and hates when she's not wet.. After a priceless look and smack I save myself more abuse by explaining it's Sam the Smallmouth haha

Get out to a few holes with weak bites.. keep moving upstream to hook a few dink smallies and keep getting taps on my lure, wasn't sure if it was bottom or fish at this point bc it was happening so often.








Turns out it was fish and I caught my first gar. Very impressed with the fight and the acrobatics..hard to beat such a long tail dance across the water from this torpedo of a fish. Can't wait to catch more of these guys in the future considering I see them EVERYWHERE. I caught another smaller gar with similar acrobatics about 5 minutes after the first in the same hole.








~28"

Hiking about 20 minutes upstream I saw all kinds of wildlife. 12 deer together, 2 of them being young bucks. Several hawks took off from branches and swooped low to the water.. I was totally waiting for one to grab a fish.
Saw several large snakes, one rat snake being all of 6 feet and fat took off when I got within about 5 feet without noticing him.

Hiking back out I stepped right over this guy..








of course he struck at me, I noticed afterwards that something had taken a decent chunk out of him, probably why he was so aggressive.. 









thankfully he didn't connect considering the gravity of the situation. I for sure wouldn't have made it out alive being bit by a death adder.


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## BlueWater (Feb 13, 2005)

Man you had a good day.


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## JoshGibson (Feb 18, 2006)

wow that was an enjoyable report to read. I am and addict of Sam myself. Mainly due to those tail dances!! I must inquire about your location. Gar sound like a lot of fun. You say you see these a lot... I have never saw one myself. I do remember some thread on here a while back that some people said to use yarn or something to catch them. The yard aids in hooking I guess due to tangling in the teeth? (Bony, hard to hook solid) Any way Im in Downtown Dayton areas when I fish. Is this too far north or not? I am assuming you are getting these out of the Great Miami? What does one use for bait? Evening or morning times better? Very interested in which kind of Gar are possibly in the GMR? Educate me please. Also what kind of Gar is that you caught in the picture? 

Thanks


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## russ9054 (May 4, 2011)

Nice catches! That snake isn't a death adder though.


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## Duane867 (Jul 11, 2011)

Copperhead


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## BassAddict83 (Sep 21, 2010)

Very nice! I leave the ol' lady every Sunday morning to go spend time with Sam. She's always like (in a very whiney voice), "why won't you ever just sleep in and cuddle with me???".... Silly woman I got fish to catch.

Nice catch on the gar! I'm still looking to get my first.

And I'm pretty sure that's just a big water snake. It won't kill you but it sure will bite the crap outta you if it feels threatened.


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## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

I am new to catching gar but it came from below Hamilton. I haven't heard the guys on here mention them up around Dayton..but I'd trade you the gar for the pike in your area lol I see gar pretty much every time I go out to the GMR, you can see them surface for air most of the time. As far as I know they eat shad and other baitfish. I got it on an inline spinner with alot of flash. 1 treble was in the beak and the other was hooked in the top of the beak. Based on the size of this one, which I don't think was matured, and some of the other ones I've seen I think it's a Longnose Gar but it could well be a Shortnose Gar.

And about the snake.. come on guys it is clearly a common death adder (native to Australia)


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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

that looks like a northern water snake to me.


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## MuskieLuv (Oct 29, 2007)

They all look like Death Adders to me!!:Banane36:


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Josh, that is a Long Nose Gar, 99% of Ohio River and its lower tribs have Long Nose Gar, there is a a very rare chance in SW Ohio you may get a Short nose but very rare! As far as LN Gar in the GMR, the numerouse dams have about wiped out the LN Gar anywhere north of Hamilton as they are upstream migratory spawning fish and then Young of the year are downstream drifters so once you put in dams, they are doomed. We do catch them all the time in the lower LMR near Ceasers creek which is about as far North as we typically see them in a fishable population. 

a 28" fish is a 2-3 year old fish, just maturing, once they get to be about 30-32" they are old enough to spawn. We classify a 36+" one as a nice fish and 42+ is a really nice one and trophy size is bigger then 48" (over 10 lbs)

They jump, tailwalk, bigger ones make long strong runs and they always make 1 final dash before the net or hand that will test your fish landing skills. 

Salmonid


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## homebrew (Apr 13, 2009)

sammerguy said:


> that looks like a northern water snake to me.


That's because you aren't a giant sissy. The OP was kidding about the death adder, I'm pretty sure. 

The "copperhead" guy likely believes it.


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## walleyejigger (Sep 29, 2009)

all i can say about that snake is if i had steped over it and it struck at me it would of been a real smelly snake ...................................................


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

walleyejigger said:


> all i can say about that snake is if i had steped over it and it struck at me it would of been a real smelly snake ...................................................


LOL!!


Ive caught more gar in the past 3 weeks than I have in my life. My sons fascinated with them so Im making an effort to catch them which I never really did before. Id rather catch a pike or a muskie of similar size but a gar can definitely get your adrenaline pumping, some fight harder than others though. Ive been catching most of them on lipless crankbaits. Id like to catch one on a fly rod but that hasnt happened yet.


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Duane867 said:


> Copperhead


A lot of people say that but here's a little info.

http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/venomous-look-a-likes/copperhead-look-a-likes/copperhead.asp

Might as well ad the cottonmouth too.

http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/venomous-look-a-likes/cottonmouth-look-a-likes/cottonmouth.asp


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## trailbreaker (Oct 11, 2008)

copperheads are in the south in KY


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## russ9054 (May 4, 2011)

We have copperhead up in NE ohio.i came across one while water proofing my house,i took is head to the nature center and they said it was a copperhead.


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## russ9054 (May 4, 2011)

Anyone ever hear of the "corn back rattler"?


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

a .410 shotshell would have been a great gift to those snakes!

as far as the Gar, thankfully we have the dams to keep them from migrating north of Hamilton! i am sure we wouldnt have the great Smallmouth fishery that we have in this area if they were around. i will admit though, they are fun to catch and are very good to eat if cleaned right.


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## backlashed (Mar 19, 2011)

russ9054 said:


> We have copperhead up in NE ohio.i came across one while water proofing my house,i took is head to the nature center and they said it was a copperhead.


I've seen them several times in S. Ohio, the last two in the Hocking Hills SP.


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## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

I have seen copper heads before and actually stepped on one in Hueston Woods when I was younger running in the woods near the creek..thankfully stepped right on it's head so it had no chance. Almost all of the snakes you'll come across in this area are just water snakes like this one, those big rat snakes worry me more than coming across a venomous snake.. If you don't know snakes very well and get close enough to startle a big one that doesn't decide to run, you will be scared s-less when it puffs it's hood up lol


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

trailbreaker said:


> copperheads are in the south in KY


We have 3 dangerous snakes in ohio. The copperhead, Masassauga rattler and the Timber rattlesnake. The latter is rare. Tom


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## Daz (May 13, 2009)

I've lived here my whole life and I've only saw one copperhead in the Batavia area while doing some pond work a couple of years ago. It was a mean little bugger not to be messed with. Those gars are big time action for sure.


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