Today was what I call perfect Gar Fishing weather. It was about 90 degrees, the wind was light and the Gar were easier to see. Now if we can just get the water right. There's still a pretty heavy stain but with calm waters you can still see your target at times.
I was supposed to go into work at noon so I got up early and hit the water. I fished close by the boat ramp, an area where I caught a 16 pounder on Sunday. Well, it didn't take long to hang into a really nice 18 pound 1 ounce Longnose Gar that measured 51.5 Inches.
That was the extent of my action so I loaded the boat up and went into work for the rest of the day. My boss Mike Anderson saw me and said, "what are you doing here?" I said "you said come in at 12:00 so I'm here". Mike says, "that's next Tuesday!" I said, "well ok then, we'll see you tomorrow" and I headed back out to the lake and to a different boat ramp up river.
Man, it had gotten hot by now and the wind was light and I felt this would be a very good thing, so I buzzed my way up to my original Gar Fishing Honey Hole and man was I was right! It was one of those days when I could have caught 10 Gar but I went right into Big Gar mode. I began cruising and looking, passing up big Gar and looking for bigger Gar. As I cruised about 20 yards from the bank Gar were everywhere, but where is that Monster Gar that's is lurking just under the surface, waiting for me? I circled back around to make another pass when sudden, here she was, the Gar I was looking for and man was it big! I made the perfect cast, the Gar bite my rope and immediately began trying to back out of the rope lure like a big, mature, wise Gar will many times do. I moved to the back of the boat to turn on my video camera on then moved back into position and had just started telling about the Gar I had snagged when suddenly I felt my line go limp. I thought maybe the Gar switched directions and started moving back towards me, but nothing. You can here my frustration in the video, I had just lost my biggest Gar of the season and who knows; maybe the biggest Gar I've ever caught!
We'll, I'm getting ill just writing this thing, so long story short; I caught one more Gar that weighed 12 pounds, 5 ounces and 46.5 Inches. I had burned up my window of opportunity where the sun is high and the Gar are basking just underneath the waters surface. So I moved around a while until I got tired, loaded up the boat and here I sit. Left with the memory of a good morning, with an 18 pound trophy, but how I missing the chance for the Gar of a lifetime, and wondering what could I have done different to have landed that big Gar.
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