Gar at Mallows Bay - how sad

[kevinfry]

Not to get off topic, but this brings up an interesting question. I've heard plenty of folks suggest tossing the remains of a filleted fish back into the water as they will quickly be cleaned by crabs, turtles, other fish, etc. I've always thought this was a little questionable and could be thought of as littering, but also understand the natural cycle. So...what is the preferred and appropriate disposal method?

I freeze fish carcasses until trash day andt then throw them out. Otherwise makes for angry neighbors.

[Cowpokey]

I freeze fish carcasses until trash day andt then throw them out. Otherwise makes for angry neighbors.

We do the same thing. Fish carcasses get foul quick, especially this time of year.

[1/2.A.Yaker]

The garr that are being left are from the bow fishing group. I have met plenty of them and they admit to shooting whatever they see. I have had them admit to going after garr,catfish, bass, and sh. The only fish they keep are the sh. This has become a real issue because they have a thirst to kill and will kill until their are not even any left. There was a guy bragging at the ramp about shooting spawning striped bass in shallow water this spring he said he shot 8 fish over 30" in a half hour. The bow fishing group could care less about the fishery and they will shoot anything available. Their main target this time of year is the rays, they left 50 of them by the ramp at st georges island a few weeks ago.

[chex]

To catch a gar without shooting an arrow through it, put a strip of cheese cloth on your line and retrieve it like a lure. The gar will bite and his prehistoric teeth will get caught in the cloth, allowing you to pull it in. Although I have never caught a gar using this popular method, I have caught 2 on lures: a small mepps spinner at Mattawoman, and a cicada blade bait at Fletcher's. That day at Fletchers, hundreds, maybe thousands of them were breaking the surface like sea monsters. I failed to land them both times, because i had no idea how to grab them out of the water. Beautiful creatures...

[pungomd]

There is a real cool video on youtube about how to skin a gar should anyone want to try to eat one. The guys in the video skin this fascinating ancient fish and then filet it, they reported the meat tasted like a meat and not fish and was very good.

[zeebyrd]

There is another similar gar lure that can be easily made at home. Take some braided nylon (?) clothesline, cut to about 5" length - it will be somewhat shorter after you are done, tie a knot in one end and melt that knot end tight with a Bic lighter so it won't unravel. Unravel the other end so as to make a "brush-like" effect.

The videos I have seen on YouTube seem to end up with something about 4" long. These can be put on a hook, running the hook into the knot so it's securely held. You can also put them on the hook end of a spinnerbait. A video I saw removed the rubber skirt of the spinnerbait, but I used one with a shorter skirt that didn't seem to interfere with the rope end.

I have not used them yet as my next task is to view some videos as to how to safely unhook a gar if I ever caught one.

Pics below of two lures I have made - one without spinnerbait and one with. The shining spinning blade is supposed to make it more attracting to a gar.

Just do a YouTube search for gar lures and you will find several.

image.jpg

[Yak Fish]

Off the subject of gar, but here's an article Jeff wrote on the current invasive/introduced species in MD.
http://m.kayakfishmag.com/features/i...-fish-species/