I Can’t Catch a Freaking Gar!

You like to catch fish on a fly rod right?  I mean, you wouldn't be reading this if you didn't.  Chances are, you like to catch different species on a fly rod.  If we take that idea a step further, there is a chance that you like to catch species of fish on a fly rod that you have never managed to catch on a fly rod.  I'm definitely that way.  I've been fortunate to catch a wide range of fish on a fly rod.  I even caught a Mayan cichlid in Florida a few years ago and an albino catfish here in Missouri.  There is however one genus of fish that eludes me and that is the gar.

A Mayach cichlid from Florida.  I don't have a digital image of the albino catfish because it was taken on a disposable 35mm camera.  Kids, that's before everyone's cell phone had a camera so yeah...it's been a while and yes that makes me old.

Gar are in the genus Lepisosteidae and there are multiple species of gar.  The ones common in the waters that I normally fish are the longnose gar and the shortnose gar.  I know they typically eat small baitfish and that they are a non-game fish.  While many anglers consider them to be "trash fish," I see them as the fish that will bedevil my days until I land one.  I know wooly buggers are good flies to use as well as "rope flies" that don't even have hooks.  Rope flies simply have unbraided strands of string which are supposed to entangle the many teeth of a gar.  I've thrown both with limited success.  Speaking of success, let me share a couple of brief stories with you to show how this species eludes me.

It was the last day of school in 2019.  All the kids went home for summer break and my colleague Howard and I decided to kick our break off with a little fishing excursion.  We decided to fish the spillway on the back side of Blue Springs Lake.  As we fished, I saw 3-4 longnose gar gulping air in the pool below the spillway.  They ranged from 2-4 feet long and I decided I was going to only target these fish and I was looking for one bite.  That bite came on a wooly bugger I was throwing.  By my estimation, I hooked one of the bigger ones and the fight was on.  My six weight was doubled over and I even saw the fish some to the surface a few times.  But then, the worst case scenario occurred.  I guess his teeth eventually rubbed on the line enough that it lost its integrity.  That one hurt.  

This one did too.  I was at Capital Federal Sports Complex in Liberty, Missouri, the other day.  I was again targeting gar.  If truth be told, a large reason for me doing this was because my buddy Corey sent me a video of him the night before catching a gar in the Smithville Lake spillway.  I finally found three gar that were interested in my John Deere.  They were circling it like sharks and I was ready to see who the lucky winner was going to be!  My indicator went down and below is a picture of what I caught.  The little devil ruined my plans and spooked the gar.

This little guy blocked me from potentially hooking a gar.

I even had multiple chances last Saturday on the Little Blue River and couldn't get a bite.  I bet I saw 20 gar!  I ended up spooking them or throwing a fly that they just weren't interested in.  

This story WILL end with me landing a gar and I will be sure to keep you posted.  I'll get one some day, but until that post if you would like learn more about gar, just click on the the link below.  The Missouri Department of Conservation has extremely detailed information on gar as well as every other fish that lives in Missouri.

Link: https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/gar