Gar Fishing Is Heating Up On West Point Lake!!!

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!
Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

Gar Fishing is really heating up on West Point Lake folks! Today I took my daughter Shelley with me. Many of you probably that last year we both caught a black Gar exactly 1 month apart from each other. Well I've got to tell you, Shelley is a very patient and good Gar Fishergirl and today she out done her dad one more time with the Gar of the Day. This brute weighed in at 16 pounds 8 ounces and measured 52inches in length. I pulled up a distant second with my biggest at 15 pounds and 3 ounces and 50 inches.

The Gar today were highly aggressive. The big one that Shelley caught was snagged around the head with no rope in its mouth. When I went to reach for the big Gar it reached out and tried to take a chunk out of my hand! It grabbed my glove and gave it a big snatch as if it was trying to draw blood. All I can say is that the gloves work or I'm quite sure my hand wouldn't be working today if not for the gloves! Shelley caught it on video so after a little editing to try and capture the incident in slow motion, I'll have it up on my website. We ended up with 9 Gar total with all of them well over 10lbs each.

With Gar season getting hotter and hotter it would be a great time to schedule a Guide trip with a chance for a 15 pound plus fish or better!

Just email me at dhink256@charter.net or call (706) 333-3876 to take advantage of the prime time Longnosse Gar Fishing!

Nathan's First Gar Fishing Trip

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!
Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

I took Nathan on his first Longnose Gar Guided fishing trip today on West Point Lake. Nathan has wanted to go for a long time and we finally were able to land on a date that would accommodate both of us.

Things started a little slow at first with the cool morning but when the sun got high and the water surface temperature started warming the Gar started rising just below that water surface all around us. I mean some whoppers too!

I snagged the first Gar of the day and what a big ole Longnose Gar it was! It fought very hard including one athletic thrashing jump! When I got the Gar to the boat it had a very healthy set of snappers on it and as I was trying to grab it and close it's big jaws at the same time it made a huge rush right out of my grip and unfortunately cut my line with it's teeth and swam away with a mouth full of nylon. It's very upsetting to see this happen especially considering the fact that I had it for a moment before it broke wild on me. I wish I had have just gotten a little bit better grip on it. This fish would have easily cracked 19lbs+ and 56 inched. Just a massive Longnose Gar. Luckily Nathan snapped some pictures of it as I played it to the boat. What a waste.

Later on I spotted a nice Longnose just underneath the water surface. With the sun getting higher and higher we started seeing Big Longnose Gar all over the place. This was a very fat and health specimen of Longnose Gar that weighed in at 17lbs-3ozed and measured 52 inches long. Nathan was still trying to hone his casting skills as I coached him how to make the right cast. As Nathan continued to lose opportunity after opportunity he quickly realized that it's a good cast at first that gives you a chance but it's also how you present the lure as well.

The next fish was a real fighter that gave the thrill of several long digging line stripping runs. The big Longnose just kept on stripping line from my Ambassadeur 6500each time I thought it would give up. This big boy weighed 15lbs-13ozs and measured 48 inches long and fat, but not as fat as Gar number one.

Now it was time to give Nathan all the opportunities for the big ones because I wanted him to come away with a Gar to remember on his guide trip. He could have caught many Gar of smaller or medium size but like me he would pass on them for the chance for that fish of a lifetime.

After Nathan's repeated attempts at casting at some real monster Gar, time after time he either couldn't get the lure in position or when he did get it there, either the presentation wasn't correct or the Gar would snub it's nose at the rope lure. I don’t think I was a very good coach that day because it was killing me to pass up the big Gar to allow Nathan a shot!

After such an unlucky day of Gar fishing I'll owe Nathan a return visit at no charge to redeem himself. Just let me know when you can go Nathan, because no one deserves the kind of luck you had today! At least you got to hold my biggest of the day, right? Not the same I know Nathan so we'll get great big fat one for you next trip. I think on our next trip instead of wearing sight fishing glasses I’ll wear a blindfold though because it was killing me to watch some great opportunities pass you by but that's just life for a Longnose Gar fishing guide! It takes practice.

Slow At First But Then The Sun Started Peeping Through

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!
Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

After waiting out the rain at home I saw a break in the weather on the radar so I loaded up the boat and headed out to the ramp. There wasn't much happening early or at least I didn't see one big enough to toss my rope lure too.

As the day progressed it got a little warmer and but the sun still wasn't showing itself. I was beginning to see some Gar now but I couldn't get them to hit my lure, then I remembered that I had some yellow worm dye in my storage compartment so I put on a new lure and dipped it the dye. Well, that was the ticket because I suddenly started catching Gar. The first one wasn't very impressive so I didn't measure or take a picture of it. Then I caught another small one. Now I had figured out what was working it was time to start getting selective.

Suddenly a saw a whopper gliding along the shallows so I tossed my lure out in front of the Gar and she nailed it right away. This was a very strong Gar too! It took about 10 minutes to land it and when I got the rascal in the boat I found out it wasn't nearly through fighting. This thing just kept on whipping around until I thought my thumb would come right out of the socket! It had a nice set of choppers too! I wish I would have got a picture of them but I'm not sure this Gar would have stood still for that. She was a strong girl for sure.


I caught one more that was smaller but great fun when it made three huge leaps. This one was also tough to hand in the boat. Overall it was a good day for this early in the season.

What A Day Of Longnose Gar Fishing It Was!!!

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!
Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

Today I took Timmy and Julie Monteith, my stepson and daughter-in-law on their first Longnose Gar Fishing trip of 2008. Julie has been reminding me all winter about how I forgot the camera the day Julie caught her biggest Gar of the 2007 season! You can bet Julie didn't forget because all winter long when Gar Fishing became the topic she would always remind me. This year I put it in the boat before I went to bed.

We started out at our original Gar whole with no luck so we took the long ride up the river where I new we would have some luck. Timmy started the day with a nice 10 pounder that measured 44 inches. Then Julie got in on the action with her first Gar of the season. It went about 9 pounds and a good fighter. Later Julie and I land a double while Timmy held the camera for a shot. Both of these went about 10 pounds each.

After we had worn this spot out we headed back down river to the area we first began fishing but a different hole. There we saw some very nice Gar but none of them were biting, just nudging the lure around as if they were escorting it out of their region. It seems they are in a pre-spawn mode and mostly uninterested in the rope offering. Then we moved to the next spot and that is where the action began.

This is a good fish story so listen up! I spotted a very nice Longnose just beneath the water surface. I tossed my rope to it and like the others, it began to escort the lure away but it was close enough to the boat that I just reached out and looped the lure around its beak and then it was on! She didn't want any part of my rope or me as I let it free spool out into the deep. I wasn't sure I had snagged it very well when suddenly the big Gar leaped out of the water with massive headshakes and slashed back into the water with all the fury of a monster Longnose Gar! At that moment I new it was bigger than I had thought previously! As I worked the Gar to the boat it got really heavy. As I was trying to pull the big Gar up from the depths it was backing up, or down I should say like we were having a game of Tug Of War. I was still afraid it wasn't hung well so I asked Timmy to make a grab for it while I gradually pulled just hard enough to get it's beak out of the water. Finally, the Big Gar was in the boat and we all were stunned at how much bigger it was out of water than in it. This was an old Gar with amour that looked like a car that had oxidized paint from lack of care. I started getting my scales to weight the beast and just as I got the scales into the nylon that was still around it's beak to weigh it, the Gar started releasing eggs all over the back of my boat and I shouted, "Be careful, a Longnose Gars row if poisonous!" Well, Timmy with a hand full of heavy Gar hanging from the weighing scales started moving it out over the water so that the rest of the row wouldn't go all over our clothes and I noticed Timmy was holding the scales only and I was afraid the Gar would pull loose from it's weight, so I started yelling, "Timmy, hold it back over the boat!" He said, “ I’m trying to dip the roe off the Gar", but, I could see he was only holding the scales and I was afraid still that it would pull loose and fall into the water. Suddenly Timmy's grip gave away and the Gar and my new scales I had just bought fell into the water. We all just stood there in disbelief. I didn't get a picture of it out of water, never really weighed the huge Gar, and no measurements! I'll have to guess but I would say at least 18 pounds, maybe more and 58 inches, maybe longer, but that's just a guess with the Gar smimming of with the nylon still on it's beak with my scales hanging from it! It made us all sad to know that this old Gar will eventully die from starvation. More lessons learned I guess.

Right when you think the story has ended the Gar came back up from the depths and tried to shake the rope and scales off of her and we spent the next 30 minutes chasing this Gar around while it showed itself time and time again just beneath the surface. Every time we were in position to reach into the water and grab it by hand it would go under again. Then it was gone. End of story.

It would have really been a great story if we had caught it again and that nearly happened on a few occasions. Too bad we couldn't free it and to bad I couldn't catch my scales too! At least we got some good camera shots of the day with Julie as the star of the show! Lots of proof that Julie Monteith is very good Gar fishermen or fisher lady. Are you happy now Julie? Probably not because the Gar isn't big enough, right?

First Gar Of 2008

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!
Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

I caught my first Gar of 2008 today. I went up river to do a little Gar scouting, and to my surprise I started seeing them surface up ahead. I began to blind cast for them without any luck. They weren't that thick so I started to cruise the bank to see if any Gar were in the grass. The water level on West Point Lake is higher than I've seen it in fours years in April. That's where they were! Just outside of the grass line. I didn't see any really big ones but did manage to catch two. One went 9lbs-10 oz and 41 inches and the biggest was 15lbs-5 oz and 49 inches. Not bad for this early in the year. That sunny afternoon really paid off.