Closer to home..

[HideHunter]

I just had more fun in two hours 150 yards from my back door than I did dragging minnows around for a week in Canadia.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/9729081488_577d14e56d_z.jpg

Caught about a dozen of these. I was experimenting with "rope" flies - no hook. Teeth get tangled n the fibers. They jump like a tarpon. These are short-nosed and don't get too big. Got to find some long-nosed. :bj


I know - it doesn't take much to amuse me. :moon

[LW]

Thats pretty cool.

[Big Muddy]

That's lots of fun down here, too, Hide....and, we got the big ole long-nose gar and alligator gar varieties....have to curl 'em up to fit in the bed of a pickup. ;)

We just use a short piece(about 6 inches long) of frayed nylon rope, tied on the end of our fishing line with just enough weight to throw it....no hook, no bait, no big expensive rod/reel, just a ton of fun!!! ;)

Come on down, and we can have a ball in these cypress sloughs!!!

[Captain]

Never heard of such. It sounds like a ball! If I ever get down Your way I want to give that a try, and crappie fishing, and dove shooting, etc.... :D
HH I bet them things gave you a fight on light tackle?
Take Care, Captain

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Big Muddy]

Cuz, it's a blast, come on down....after catching one, I just knock him in the head with a hammer, and throw him back in the water....some folks make gar balls outta the meat, or fry up the ribs, but I ain't got that hungry----yet. ;)

This is the new world record alligator gar from Lake Chotard, MS....327 pounds and nearly 9 foot long.

1662

[HideHunter]

It is fun - and I tend to always be looking for something "different". They go absolutely "berserko" Cap'n. Tarpon jumps - the whole bit. They would be a ball on a 3 weight but the "flies" are 5-6" long and throw like a wet sock. I was using a 6 weight. Eddie - Basically the same thing I'm doing but I tie a little "fancier" head on them. We have some longnosed - no gators of course. About the biggest I've heard of around here was a buddy caught one weighed 18# on cutbait. That would make the 6 weight scream. ;) I'd love to fish for those gators sometime. I used to think I'd like to shoot one with the bow - but I don't know - they're a pretty neat critter.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Skinny dippers beware!

BKB

[Thumper]

I know, I know ... NEVER shoot at water. Ok, so we break the rules sometimes. We used to go out in the backwaters in the evening when the gar were "rolling" and pick 'em off with .22's. Us kids had tons of fun with that. I'd heard the frayed rope thing before but have never tried it personally. We have all the gar we need down here ... I just never was a fan of catching them. Dang! You think Walleye have teefuses!

[BarryBobPosthole]

We used to do cruel stuff to gar when I was a kid. My uncles would wrap mono around their bills and turn 'em loose. I've broken off bills with pliers and turned 'em loose. Stupid stuff. But its like we looked at gar as cruel fish themselves and anything we did was justified. Funny how your outlook on things changes over the years.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yeah, so true. I've never been one to be cruel to ANY animal, but when I was a kid, my buddy and I would collect a sack of toads and head over to Colonial Drive (Hwy. 50) in Orlando. It was the main East-West route through town back in the day and was 4-lanes wide in town. We'd each grab a toad, toss it out toward the middle of the road and see who's toad would make it back to the curb without getting splattered! Sounds sick now, but it was a lot of fun when we were kids. I think that was probably the cruelest (is that a word?) thing I ever did ... but heck, they were JUST fat ol' toad frogs! ;)