Gar On the Fly
Fishing for these species heats up as summer gets cooking.
By Cory Byrnes
In the peak of summer, when the water temperatures reach the mid to high 80s, fish begin to move from the shallows to deeper, cooler waters. Fly anglers put up their rods and wait for the weather to get cooler. However, there is an underappreciated fishery that heats up just as everything else slows down: gar.
They get big, and they are most active during the peak of Texas summer. Texas has four species of gar: longnose, spotted, shortnose and alligator gar.
Gar have existed since the age of the dinosaurs and have adapted to live in many different water conditions. Their primitive swim bladder acts as a lung that allows them to stay in the shallow water with lower oxygen content and even gulp air like a tarpon. This makes them the perfect target for sight fishing when everything else is out of reach for fly fishing tackle.
Gear and Tackle
When it comes to gar gear, things couldn't get more basic. Many anglers use a rope fly, which is essentially a piece of nylon rope tied to a shank, sometimes with a hook and sometimes without, and the end of the rope is frayed. Gar mouths are all bone, and they sport a set of fine sharp teeth. When the gar bites the fly, the frayed rope gets caught in its teeth, and you've got your fish. Gar are not picky when it comes to flies, and the rope fly, while basic, is effective.
That sounds simple enough, but big gar will truly test your tackle. The alligator gar is the largest of the gar species and the second-largest fish in North America. It can get up to 8 feet long and weigh as much as 350 pounds. The current state record is 283 pounds.
When using a rope fly, a set of jaw spreaders will help you remove the fly after you've caught the fish. Similar to musky anglers in the North, you can use this to hold open the mouth of the fish while you extract the lure or fly. It is a useful tool that keeps anglers' hands away from the sharp teeth and protects the fish from the wrenching and prying that can break the bones in its jaw.
Some anglers do use hooks for their flies — fine wire hooks that penetrate into the fish's bony mouth. These should be debarbed to make removal easier.
You will need a 7-weight fly rod for the smaller species and up to a 10-weight for the larger alligator gar. You'll also need a leader, which attaches the fly to the fly line. The leader should be heavy monofilament or even steel. A large net or tail rope is needed to land these fish. Because of their size, flipping them to the bank can be a challenge but is sometimes an option.
Gar inhabit many of the waterways in Texas and may be found even in urban settings. They give anglers a unique set of challenges to overcome, making them the species to target in the dog days of summer.
