Passing Up Big Gar For Bigger Gar

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

Today I found myself passing up big Gar that I would've normally been glad to be catching for even bigger ones. I was amazed at the amount of big Longnose on this spot. Of course I lost one that may have been the fish of the year. It looked to be well over 60" long and very healthy. As you can see by these pictures these were some very fat Longnose gar. One of them was as fat as a football. I hope they're still there Sunday!

A Tough Day That Finally Paid Off

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

I took Chris Smith from Mike Patton Auto on his first ever Gar fishing trip. We started out heading up the Chattahoochee river toward Franklin when I decided to try a spot that prove to be very productive last year. The hunch was right, There were Gar surfacing everywhere. Strangely enough though, we couldn't get a single strike from the fish. The water was very heavily stained to down right muddy and the sun wasn't up very high yet so we decided to go on up river. My hot spot near Franklin was boiling with Gar when we got there but they still wouldn't hit a thing. It was even muddier there so that was when I decided that the Gar simply couldn't see the lures. Enough of this frustration so we made a bee line to clearer water to old fateful as I call it. This spot almost always produces something. I was right. Just as we got there I hung into a nice 8-9lb Longnose. As the fish made a run about 15 feet off the back of my boat it made a huge acrobatic leap into the air and threw my lure from it's beak. Man, what I day I was having. I finally did catch one Gar about 36 inches. By then the sun was high but so was the wind. A front was coming in from the west so I new our day was about to end. Well, up the river we go again to another spot I fished last year. The wind was very strong so we headed toward the back of a cove to get out of the wind. As I began trolling around the bend into the cove I spotted a large Longnose cruising by my boat. I was headed in and he was headed out so I cast out in front and past the big Gar pulled the lure right in front of his face. Bam! He nailed it! Then the fight was on. It was a very nice strong longnose and I was in the middle out a stump and stick-up field. The Gar started fighting like mad and it made a run for a stick-up away from the boat. But it wasn't just any stick-up. It had a wasp nest attached to it! Now I had to back the boat up while trying to stay away from the wasp and try to pull the Longnose back around the tree. Finally it came loose and after a few more runs and a couple of leaps I grabbed it up from the water. It weighed in at 14lbs-14oz and was 47 inches long. I told Chris I was was glad to be able to show him why I love to Gar fish although Chris came up empty. He has a nice camera though and makes a great photographer. I think I owe Chris another trip when it's not so muddy.

First Gar Of 2006

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

My 2006 Gar season began in a Huge way today. I started out fishing my favorite late spring and summer hot spots but there wasn't a Gar to be found. Timmy told me that last week he went up river toward Franklin Georgia to fish for Hybirds and that he saw some very big Gar but wasn't prepared to catch any of them. So, I decided to head up river to see if I could find them. I found them alright. In one place they were stacked up like lumber! They were cruising the bank in about a two hundred yard stretch. I couldn't really spot that big one I was looking for so I decided to blind cast out deeper from the bank. It payed off quickly with a nice 11 pounder. Since fishing deeper seemed to be the key for bigger Gar I continued the blind cast for them. After catching several nice Gar I finally snagged a very nice Longnose. It weighed in at 18 lbs-3oz. Over all a very successful day off. I'll definantly be going back there soon.

Good Day At West Point Lake

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

Took another Gar Fishing trip out on West Point Lake today. Talking about hot! But if you fish for Longnose Gar you know that that's the way they like it.

I started fishing at a new spot I discovered this year. It was very muddy from the runoff of recent rains but I managed to catch two and hung a really big one for a brief moment, but as luck would go it never got tangled enough from the start and swam off into the muddy water about as quickly as I hung it.

Then I moved back to one of my favorite honey holes and caught three more. One of which became the fish of the day. Pictures to prove it!

I then scouted around and discovered another new place I've be missing which was right under my nose. Straight accross from the boat ramp I usually put in at. There I caught two more Gar. Over all a very successfull day when you include the discovery of a new fishing hole.

Debbie's First Gar

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

My wife Debbie and I had a few days off together this week. After doing a few things around the house we decided to go out on West Point Lake for a little Gar Fishing.
It started out a little slow with it being a little windy and choppy in my main fishing spot. I did catch one that was 42" and weighed 12lbs-7ozs. I got a chance to break in my new gloves which worked very well. After that I passed on several Gar looking for that big one. I saw a couple of very nice Gar but either I was off target with my cast or the Gar had other things on his mind than my lure.

By about 1:00 pm it was getting very hot but also the wind had calmed down. I could see several Gar cruising the shore line but Debbie was having trouble seeing them with her sunglasses so I let her use my SolarBat sunglasses. It wasn't long before she spotted one and made a good cast to the Gar and it attacked her lure before her very eyes. She was very excited at the sight of the Gar nailing the rope lure while she was watching the action though a good pair of sight fishing glasses. The rest is history.

What a Chunk this one was

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

I Went fishing by myself on my normal Tuesday off. I'm still using the 1/2oz bullet weight with my homemade rope lure. This time I thought I would stop in at the Pic Nic Basket Bait and Tackle Shop to pick up some red dye with garlic scent. I used it in the spring with good success but I've been out for some time now. I'm not sure if the dye did it but I caught my biggest Longnose Gar of the month using it. It had to weight almost 15-20 lbs. Talking about a chunk now! It was about 50 inches long and fat fat fat! I wished I had someone with me to take a picture of me with this awesome specimen of a fish. I tried to hold it while I set the timer on my digital camera but as I held it off the side of the boat in case it got rowdy that's just what It did and Fatty slipped from my hand and into the water. I guess that's better than getting bit trying to do something that difficult.

Timmy says "I'd rather be lucky than good"

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

Timmy and I spent the day Gar fishing. It proved to be a very frustrating day for us. We caught a few small ones but had to endure watching a bunch of large Longnose surface for a gulp and then go right back down time and again all around us all day long. We just couldn't seem to catch them. Except for this one Gar. Timmy placed his rod in the rod holder to take a leak and as he was shaking so was his rod tip. Here's Timmy's skillful catch.

Julie lands her first Longnose Gar

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

My daughter-in-law Julie Monteith on her first Gar fishing trip lands a nice 3-4lb Longnose Gar. I showed Julie the fishing show, O’Neill Outside, featuring Longnose Gar lake guide Terry Smith on the Coosa River weeks before our trip. She remembered Terry showing O’Neill how he uses a hair brush to brush the rest of the nylon from the teeth of a Gar. He told O’Neill he called it "grooming your Gar". So here's Julie grooming her first Gar.

Largest Gar So Far

Selling Cars and Catching Gars!

Ask For Donnie Hinkle "West Point Lake Gar Grabber"

I caught this Longnose Gar on May 28th, 2004. It's the biggest one I've gotten all the way in the boat so far. At this point in time I didn’t fully realize just how sharp a Longnose Gars scales are. While I held it up for Timmy to take a picture it suddenly started thrashing and carved a nice cut into my little finger and the rest of them too. Now, I use two gloves on the bigger ones. You see, Longnose Gar have large very thick scales on them. Each one is like a thick layer of enamel with a sharp edge on it. It's no wonder that this fish has survived for some many years. I really doesn’t have any natural enemies except for man. Here's a picture of another whopper Timmy caught about 30 minutes later. They are very hard to hold with these leather gloves. We've got to find a better glove.

West Point Lake Longnose Gar Fishing

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

I've discovered over the past year that a huge sportfishing opportunity has been overlooked on West Point Lake. Longnose Gar Fishing! That's right. That may seem odd to some fishermen, but don't knock it till you've tried it. After all, they pull like a race car, they jump like a Tarpon, they tailwalk across the water, and grow to be very big as well. What more could you ask from a sportfish? I believe the reason they are not pursued as often as Largemouth Bass or other sportfish is because of the fear factor involved in boating one of these hard fighting prehistoric creatures with a 8 to 10-inch beak full of needle sharp teeth. Lets face it, when you do accidentally catch a Gar you're never prepared to handle one. This is why I've set up this information site, to post my fishing success as well as educate fishermen who may enjoy learning about how to catch a Longnose Gar. Believe me. It's very exciting fishing. And you don't use hooks.