Frosty Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Are gar good eating? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 Jerry A lot of people here love to eat Gar, they have a lot of good meat on them, a pretty good sized blackstrap, they are really good eating if cooked right, the big problem with them is you dang near need a pair of tinsnips and a saw to get through those armored scales! Lol as far as I’m educated on them they are a living fossil that pre dates the trex, and i guess they’re style has worked for them because they haven’t evolved much over the last few thousand years, they are big they are ugly and they have a lot of sharp teeth! But I’m personally not going after them for the meat I just want to catch an release them, they are an apex predator and they do their part to keep our streams balanced the best way to catch them isn’t with a hook or lure, it’s actually by cutting some nylon rope and burning the end and fraying out the strands, when they hit it their long snout gets all tangled up and you reel them in, another interesting fact about them is they can breath open air unlike alot of other fish Some people consider them a trash fish and try to cull them because they are worried about them eating the game fish but that’s mostly hand me down old wives tales without much research to back it up, from what I’ve read they don’t really harm their ecosystem and mostly eat smaller fish that most people would throw back anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Gar are good eating, we mostly fish for the alligator gar because they have more meat. Smaller ones we use tin snips to cut along the back then peel the skin off, big ones we use a machete to cut a strip off the back then peel it off you can smoke, fry, or best of all we make fish balls or patties. Cook the balls in a gravy and fry the patties like crab cakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 Les that sounds super tasty! Do y’all use the rope method down there too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 I don't know Billy I don't think they're so ugly and some look like a cheap Hollywood movie monster they're so big. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gar+fish+pics&t=chromentp&iax=images&ia=images Now I gotta see what I can find on their evolution, etc. The rope fishing method sounds like catching rabbits with a split stick. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 I’m trying to figure out how to add a link to an article I read about them but I can’t figure it out, my phones being stupid On another note I received a magazine in the mail called “tracking trout Alaska” it’s a great magazine! Only thing is i didn’t order it!?!? Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 Gar article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 It's an Alaska Magazine subscription, that issue is "Tracking Trout." I heard you like getting mail, even junk mail so thought you and Max might like something with pics and stories. There's a lot about gar online. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/how-living-fossil-fish-north-america-vacuums-its-prey Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 I was wondering if you had something to do with that magazine! Lol yes there’s a ton of info I’ve been finding, I thought it was cool that they where living fossils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoGoodWithUsernames Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 How do y'all cook larger fish? I grew up creek fishing for said "pan sized" trout and when cooked you can just peel them off the bones and you don't even need to worry about scales since they're small enough to not be a bother. Lately though I've been going out on the lake trolling for trout and have been catching bigger fish and have been having a hard time cooking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 scale them, then fillet them, cook them leaving the skin in the pan when you remove to eat, grew up on lake Michigan eating various types of salmon and steelhead and other large trout, my preferred method is smoking them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 28, 2023 Author Share Posted August 28, 2023 Oooh smoked salmon is good! I had some when I worked up in Northern California and that’s some good eating! I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to do some salmon fishing sometime! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 That's almost exactly how we cooked and ate trout Nogood, maybe it's a California thing? The only difference is we didn't scale them, the meat just slid off the skin into our mouth when we lifted it up. Didn't work on larger trout like Browns or Steelhead, those we ate off the skin on a plate. We smoked yellowtail and used bonita for bait but albacore is good eating anyway you have it. Halibut we ate in lots of ways but gave a lot away too. Dad preferred stronger flavored fish and Mother wouldn't touch it. Since moving to Alaska I've smoked fish under a green stick TeePee over a slow smoky fire. Cooking it on a forked stick over a fire is "possible" but . . . Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Billy, the old folks gaffed them, nowadays most people are bow fishing for them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoGoodWithUsernames Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Frosty, might very well be a CA thing. And yes I learned the hard way that it doesn't work so well on the larger fishes ha! The two cats enjoyed the lesson though since they got a lot of scraps! Steve, I will give filleting a try next time, might have to bust out some you-tube to learn how. Why scale them if you leave the skin in the pan? I guess maybe if you don't the skin will not stick to the pan? I probably will stick with lemon pepper and butter for seasoning, it just brings back memories of being up in the mountains with grandpa, and that's worth as much as any flavor in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 I dont like the smell or taste of burnt scales for one, for another I dont want scales in my meat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2023 Share Posted August 28, 2023 That's some interesting reading Billy, it's a real mouse hole if you start following links. It makes me want to adopt a homeless gar, the sweet little fossils. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 On 8/27/2023 at 10:20 PM, TWISTEDWILLOW said: best way to catch them isn’t with a hook or lure, it’s actually by cutting some nylon rope and burning the end and fraying out the strands, when they hit it their long snout gets all tangled up and you reel them in, I have not checked out the link yet but gar like chicken guts, you thread the intestines over the hook and up the line. We used guts or crawdads for bigger catfish but pulled in gars too. We didn't keep the gars though. Like you say. I heard tales some nailed them to a tree to clean them. That was a long time ago. They used to serve it fried up at the airboat clubs annual wild game feed. Not bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 When I used to bass fish in S Florida canals, I would catch Gar on any top water lure that looked like it was wounded like frogs, shad, shiners etc. I never kept them but usually there were black folks bank fishing with cane poles and they were thrilled to have them. Some of the families I got know would invite me over for a fish fry and Gar was always on the table both smoked and deep fried with corn meal breading. One Cajun couple would make gumbo over rice and it was delicious and quite tangy. The largest Florida Alligator Gar I ever caught weighed 18 pounds and measured 4ft 8 in long. That fish was a fighter for sure and I released it to grow bigger and maybe some day be a record, which at the time was 130 pounds if my memory serves me. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 Good on you Randy, nobody wanted them in our neck of the woods. So we released them. Catfish were the primary catch we were after. Funny, we kept all the carp we caught and fried them up. Everybody seems to hate them. We even pickled them. Any body heard of the low life river skipjack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 29, 2023 Share Posted August 29, 2023 Yep, a strain of Herring in Florida we called them river Shad. Kinda a strong Tuna flavor but pickled they were good. Also used them for bait while trolling for Striped Bass in the Inter Coastal Waterway and Marlin in the ocean. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Shouldn't you be smiling with a fish that must be 4' long? The pipe makes you look serious. Of course fishing is serious business. Is that the pond you're been rehabbing? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Lol Jerry the top four pictures are from the pond at our new place the last it needs a lot of work, but no it’s not the reservoir that I put a lot of work into last year, the last two Pictures are from the Baron fork creek, I fish there year round, this time of year you got to wear waders though cause the water is freezing there’s two separate Game preserves and a third stretch of stream on private property that I fish on the Baron fork it’s really good for small mouth and there’s some large mouth and spotted bass as well, and loads of perch, That little bitty guy had some serious goals in life lol, I think that’s the smallest fish I’ve ever caught! Max really likes having a pond we got out and catch those little perch all the time there is some larger stuff in the pond to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Nice fish, Billy. I really like the pipe photo! You look a bit astonished. I must say, it's nice of Max to give you a little credit by letting you hold up his catch for the camera.... You guy's are having too much fun!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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