# Gar Pike



## 2SloSHO

Anyone else here fish (not bow fish) for these things? Just wondering what setup's you guys have had luck with? It is a nasty fish, but a great challenge to land using a regular hook thus why I love fishing for these things.

I usually use a smaller treble with 2 dead minnows. Seems to work well for me, and makes it a challenge to get these things in. The biggest one i've landed so far was 45", and lost a few monsters.


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## deadboi77

nope.but this year,my buddy and i are gonna go try and catch some.
how hard is it to remove the hooks?i`ve read that there mouths are realy boney like and a PITA to remove hooks.


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## RyGuy525

If you are looking for a new place to try and fish for them try independence lake off N Territorial. I saw huge schools of them last spring while fishing bluegill. I had never seen so many of the things at once!


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## Jnamo

They were looking for nests to raid. Gar pike do some terrible things to young fry. I would like to remove a few hundred of them from my lake up north. I too am interested and waiting for a gar pike expert to chime in here...


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## FishermanJohn

I used to see some large (3 foot plus) gar that would always hang around the docks at my cottage when I was young, but I never hooked one in my life.

I was reading once before (In-Fisherman, I think) of making flies out of rope...the unraveled strands of rope would get tangled in their teeth, and you wouldn't need a hook or any bait. Has anyone ever tried this?


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## axisgear

Here's something that always worked for me as a kid. 

Step 1) Go swipe as many of your father's high E guitar strings as possible[Hey,I was young and couldn't afford any heavy duty light gauge wire:lol:E strings are still the best.Especially the new out of package D'addario ones(Don't ask me how bad 
my behind hurt after that:yikesSerious about the high E strings,though] 

Step 2) Go out to the garage and take a pair of his good side cutters from the second drawer of his toolbox and cut said guitar strings[light wire]into 12 to 18" lengths and place them in your hand-me-down-well-past-it's-useful-days-Kmart-blue-light-special tackle box[I was a kid for crying out loud.Never pass on a freebie]

Step 3) While in the second drawer grab his GOOD pair of needle nose pliers and place them in said tackle box next to some of your larger red and white bobbers[any float capable of suspending a minnow will work]

Step 4) Take his best flippin' rig from the supposed-to-be-out-of-reach rod rack in the basement[very important you get the good one]With all items in order on the home front grab your Dad's.....I mean your gear and a good bucket then pedal your bike down to the local fishin' hole!

Step 5) Get some good lively shiners somewhere between walleye and pike size.If you don't have a net,just take your old man's minnow trap,I'm SURE he won't mind:cwm27:.Once acquired,place these lovely silver creatures into your bucket with some water.

Step 6) Take one piece of wire from your box and twist a loop on one end just like the ones on the spinner baits that mysteriously seem to go missing from your Dad's tackle box all the time..... and carefully thread a shiner from the side onto the other end and tie that end onto the wire withe a slip knot making a lasso[the bait has to be balanced properly or it won't work as well]

Step 7)Quickly tie this setup to the line on the good flippin' rig that you borrowed and promptly lost the jig that was previously attached;place your bobber about 6 inches to 2 feet above your rig and cast it out.

Now leave it alone!

Once the fish starts to run with it DON'T "Bill Dance" the hook set.....WAIT! When it stops moving,set the snare with supreme authority and,if you followed my instructions,you will have one angry gar trapped by the upper jaw.

After that you can repeat steps 6 and 7 or just snip the knot from the lasso and reuse until the loop is too small. That's it,easy as pie!

(Disclaimer! I am not responsible for any punishment you may receive from any of this,but it is THAT fun! Oh yeah,I'd do it all again...... )


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## West Side AK

When we used to go down to a place in FLorida called Homosassas (no smart *** comments...) I would catch a bunch of them on shrimp tails. Some words of wisdom though... If you want your hook back... use one w/ a long shank... and don't try to pry their mouth open with your small plastic minnow net... because those hundred teeth are razor sharp... one bad move can be devastating... I have a few pictures to prove it... :yikes:


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## Sailor

FishermanJohn said:


> I was reading once before (In-Fisherman, I think) of making flies out of rope...the unraveled strands of rope would get tangled in their teeth, and you wouldn't need a hook or any bait. Has anyone ever tried this?


This works ! A friend of mine (now deceased) gave me the following recipe:
1) Cut 1/2" to 3/4" white nylon rope into 6" to 8" lengths.
2)Melt an inch or so of each piece of line.
3)Whip the melted ends and tie on a large swivel.
4)Unravel the rope (after its been trolled or cast it will completely unravel)
5)Troll at varying speeds about 30' behind your boat while zig-zagging.
He said the nylon threads tangled in the Gars teeth and if they were too tangled he would cut them out and tie on another 'lure".
He never told me what he did with the fish...and I didn't ask.
He used to fish Portage Lake in St. Joseph County and said it was his favorite fishing.


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## WHITE-DEER-SLAYER

I catch some gills or perch. Fillet them up and take the remander of everything and tie it to the end of the dock on Lake Lelenau. About 15min later a bunch of gars come in. I then take nylon rope like the guy before said and throw it out there by hand. ABout a 6-8 foot section with the end fraid. Then i start throwing them on the dock. They fight HARD.


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## BradU20

Jnamo said:


> They were looking for nests to raid. Gar pike do some terrible things to young fry. I would like to remove a few hundred of them from my lake up north. I too am interested and waiting for a gar pike expert to chime in here...


...or they were just soaking up some spring time sun????

Ever see a group of yearling bass attack a newly hatched fry ball? How about small bluegills? Everything eats young fry.


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## bowhunter1670

Sailor said:


> This works ! A friend of mine (now deceased) gave me the following recipe:
> 1) Cut 1/2" to 3/4" white nylon rope into 6" to 8" lengths.
> 2)Melt an inch or so of each piece of line.
> 3)Whip the melted ends and tie on a large swivel.
> 4)Unravel the rope (after its been trolled or cast it will completely unravel)
> 5)Troll at varying speeds about 30' behind your boat while zig-zagging.
> He said the nylon threads tangled in the Gars teeth and if they were too tangled he would cut them out and tie on another 'lure".
> He never told me what he did with the fish...and I didn't ask.
> He used to fish Portage Lake in St. Joseph County and said it was his favorite fishing.


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## fathom this

Watch out for the front protruding teeth they will do considerable damage to a bare leg if they go to thrashing in a boat.


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## big_phish

axisgear said:


> Here's something that always worked for me as a kid.
> 
> Step 1) Go swipe as many of your father's high E guitar strings as possible[Hey,I was young and couldn't afford any heavy duty light gauge wire:lol:E strings are still the best.Especially the new out of package D'addario ones(Don't ask me how bad
> my behind hurt after that:yikesSerious about the high E strings,though]
> 
> Step 2) Go out to the garage and take a pair of his good side cutters from the second drawer of his toolbox and cut said guitar strings[light wire]into 12 to 18" lengths and place them in your hand-me-down-well-past-it's-useful-days-Kmart-blue-light-special tackle box[I was a kid for crying out loud.Never pass on a freebie]
> 
> Step 3) While in the second drawer grab his GOOD pair of needle nose pliers and place them in said tackle box next to some of your larger red and white bobbers[any float capable of suspending a minnow will work]
> 
> Step 4) Take his best flippin' rig from the supposed-to-be-out-of-reach rod rack in the basement[very important you get the good one]With all items in order on the home front grab your Dad's.....I mean your gear and a good bucket then pedal your bike down to the local fishin' hole!
> 
> Step 5) Get some good lively shiners somewhere between walleye and pike size.If you don't have a net,just take your old man's minnow trap,I'm SURE he won't mind:cwm27:.Once acquired,place these lovely silver creatures into your bucket with some water.
> 
> Step 6) Take one piece of wire from your box and twist a loop on one end just like the ones on the spinner baits that mysteriously seem to go missing from your Dad's tackle box all the time..... and carefully thread a shiner from the side onto the other end and tie that end onto the wire withe a slip knot making a lasso[the bait has to be balanced properly or it won't work as well]
> 
> Step 7)Quickly tie this setup to the line on the good flippin' rig that you borrowed and promptly lost the jig that was previously attached;place your bobber about 6 inches to 2 feet above your rig and cast it out.
> 
> Now leave it alone!
> 
> Once the fish starts to run with it DON'T "Bill Dance" the hook set.....WAIT! When it stops moving,set the snare with supreme authority and,if you followed my instructions,you will have one angry gar trapped by the upper jaw.
> 
> After that you can repeat steps 6 and 7 or just snip the knot from the lasso and reuse until the loop is too small. That's it,easy as pie!
> 
> (Disclaimer! I am not responsible for any punishment you may receive from any of this,but it is THAT fun! Oh yeah,I'd do it all again...... )


 Now that's some out of the box thinking. By the way, anybody has a pic of one they've caught. I've seen them in magazines only.


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## Jim..47

They eat bluegills too, I caught one by accident 2 years ago fishing from my plastic blowup boat :yikes: I was a little tence trying to control it so I didn't sink. :lol:


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## mike the pike

I've caught them by hand ice fishing. The will come thru at the bottom of the hole as they are sunning themselves and i slowly reach down and grab it like a summer sausage. They are slippery , but a cool prehistoric looking fish


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## portagelaker

mike the pike said:


> I've caught them by hand ice fishing. The will come thru at the bottom of the hole as they are sunning themselves and i slowly reach down and grab it like a summer sausage. They are slippery , but a cool prehistoric looking fish


 
Liar....you just like to eat em'. Bodey and I've seen you take them home off the ice in your sled personally :lol:.


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## T.J.

portagelaker said:


> Liar....you just like to eat em'. Bodey and I've seen you take them home off the ice in your sled personally :lol:.


ill eat um there a pain to clean but there good. my brother catches them on shrimp. not real sure of his set up i my self do the hole force fed deal.


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## Southend517

I would like to hang a big one up on my wall but that would cost $$$$.


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## Jim..47

T.J. said:


> ill eat um there a pain to clean but there good. my brother catches them on shrimp. not real sure of his set up i my self do the hole force fed deal.


How do you clean them? I tried cleaning the one I caught a couple years ago and it was like scraping my knife on concrete, dulled very quickly. I eneded up letting the ***** have it :lol:


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## shadow

I read that their eggs may be poisonous to humans and birds. Wierd fact huh.


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