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Alligator Gar on snopes


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#1 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 11 January 2008 - 04:01 PM

http://www.snopes.co...lligatorgar.asp

Just thought I'd share this as the photos are of a huge gator gar.

#2 Guest_viridari_*

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Posted 11 January 2008 - 05:55 PM

So how big of a tank...... :rolleyes:

#3 Guest_tglassburner_*

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Posted 11 January 2008 - 08:12 PM

So how big of a tank...... :rolleyes:

I was going to put it in a 20 gallon long!

#4 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 12:10 AM

That's a shame. Even so, I guess gator gar are plentiful. If I were a bowfisher I would have been thrilled.

It's still a shame. I remember those photos Charles Knight showed at NANFA 2000 of all those alligator gar killed during a "roundup". Hundreds of them. I enjoy fishing for gar but I always release them live. To each his own.

#5 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 12:14 AM

They may be plentiful down there, but the beasts haven't even been seen in TN since the 70's. I've never seen one in person.

#6 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 12:19 AM

They are awesome creatures, and I can't imagine killing one for sport. It would be like like killing a blue whale for fun. But I don't fault others for feeling differently.

#7 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 04:34 AM

Ha! Seen this photo months ago. It was sent to me from my cousin in Louisiana and description said it was caught in a Lake in Southern Louisiana somewhere. So I suppose many may have capitalized on the impressive nature of this beautiful fish and shared their fishy stories about it.

Daniel

#8 Guest_fuzzyletters_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 12:50 PM

I remember someone telling me that their father kills every gar he catches/lays hands on... for no reason really except maybe he thinks they're ugly or competing with 'real' gamefish.

#9 Guest_Cymen_*

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Posted 12 January 2008 - 01:51 PM

There was a somewhat interesting article about fishing for these guys a while ago in Field & Stream. Looks like they put it online here:

Field & Stream: Fishing for Dinosaurs

I think 20g is too small for that fish on snopes. Maybe 37G tall so it can swim up AND down :) . Seriously though, it is a real shame how people seem to want to kill anything that doesn't match their preconceptions.

#10 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 20 January 2008 - 03:28 PM

A lot of folks think gar are big predators of largemouth bass

#11 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 20 January 2008 - 03:48 PM

A lot of folks think gar are big predators of largemouth bass


That is mostly because they are ecologically retarded...
Like the guy who wrote this article
Attached File  holycrap.pdf   52.17KB   124 downloads

#12 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 20 January 2008 - 04:06 PM

On the other hand some are now getting the point and moving beyond the retardation.
Attached File  Gar_in_fishery_mangt.pdf   229.94KB   89 downloads

Which is a very welcoming trend in fisheries management...

#13 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 21 January 2008 - 09:08 AM

In-Fisherman fishing show promotes catch and release alligator gar fishing

As a fisherman I like that show

#14 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 21 January 2008 - 11:15 AM

A lot of folks think gar are big predators of largemouth bass


I know a lot of people who think turkey are major predators on bobwhite quail, too. :laugh: It's truly amazing how little effort many hunters and anglers have made to learn about the animals they interact with. I was recently called on to settle a dispute between two old fishermen about whether or not mudpuppies are real. More worrisome, I've met plenty of lifelong hunters who can't tell a copperhead from a ratsnake, or a watersnake from a cottonmouth, which seems to me like something anyone who spends much time in the woods or on the water would want to learn.

#15 Guest_netmaker_*

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Posted 07 February 2008 - 09:29 AM

I know this old but I just had to ask.

Back in the Day when we fished these critters commercialy, we were told by State Biologists that they eat 1/3 their weight every day in fish. In fact, it was the ONLY common ground that we had with sport fishermen.....they welcomed a boat load of gar nets ( 6-8" stretched mesh) if you were going into their honey hole and often told you about where they saw big gar rolling.



* I have seen them eat crippled Teal off a duck pond also.

It has been almost 20 years now that i have NOT put a net in the water for any purpose but assisting in survey sampling........but I know that the size of the big gar (pouison arme') down here have been greatly reduced. A "big fish" today is 90 lbs. Back in the Day, a night's catch almost always included 5-6 150 lbers. I think their numbers are decreasing for sure.


I am with you on this, killing a fish like these old giants just for fun is a shame.........amazing how your attitude on things changes aas you get older....maybe you get smarter???


[b]Anyway, point of question:[/b]
Are these fish that voracious of a fish eater?


#16 Guest_Stumpknocker_*

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Posted 12 March 2008 - 11:33 AM

I know this old but I just had to ask.

Back in the Day when we fished these critters commercialy, we were told by State Biologists that they eat 1/3 their weight every day in fish. In fact, it was the ONLY common ground that we had with sport fishermen.....they welcomed a boat load of gar nets ( 6-8" stretched mesh) if you were going into their honey hole and often told you about where they saw big gar rolling.
* I have seen them eat crippled Teal off a duck pond also.

It has been almost 20 years now that i have NOT put a net in the water for any purpose but assisting in survey sampling........but I know that the size of the big gar (pouison arme') down here have been greatly reduced. A "big fish" today is 90 lbs. Back in the Day, a night's catch almost always included 5-6 150 lbers. I think their numbers are decreasing for sure.
I am with you on this, killing a fish like these old giants just for fun is a shame.........amazing how your attitude on things changes aas you get older....maybe you get smarter???
[b]Anyway, point of question:[/b]
Are these fish that voracious of a fish eater?




Down here at the Ochlocknee River where I live you can catch all the gar you want and these suckers ain't small. I guess no one really cares about them down here...heck some folks don't even know how to fish for them but man they fight. Of course I let mine go as well... :mrgreen:

#17 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 12 March 2008 - 03:45 PM

[b]Anyway, point of question:[/b]
Are these fish that voracious of a fish eater?

A few years ago I grew out some juvi longnose and man did they eat! I could barely keep up. I had to go catch feeders almost every day. I'd throw 30 feeders into a tank with about six 5" gars, and they were gone in minutes. It seemed like the minnows were just lined up inside their entire length. Voracious eaters? You bet.
-Thom

#18 Guest_DCBuckeyeguy77_*

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 05:15 PM

I cant see how any person who actually has a wildlife management job can do this. I fish for gar every summer down here in South Carolina and cant imagine killing a gar. They're just too cool. Why fight that whole time to catch a gar then shamelessly kill it for no reason? One of the best part of fishing is catch and release. I dont know, maybe im just different like that.

#19 Guest_choupique_*

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Posted 19 April 2008 - 11:23 AM

Exactly. Carp fishing is really big. I want to bet that one in a thousand is taken home and eaten. So what is the lure of this? They are fun to catch. That is the defination of a sport fish. Yet all these "sportfishers" seem to think only a select few fish are worthy of that title and the rest of the species are to be used as wondeful smelling ornaments up the bank.

Most of the fish talked about in the Ancient Fishes section are premiere sport fish. Many also make a fine meal. Sometimes taking a bit different approach to cleaning the fish, and sometimes cooking it, but never the less a fine meal. A grouse is nothing more than a chicken [ like sunfish is a bass for comparison], yet no one who grouse hunts expects one to taste like a chicken bought at the super market. Yet they are often the same kind of people turned off by the taste of fish that is unlike the walleye or redfish they are used to.

And as many others have stated. Besides getting out and enjoying ones self, isn't the point of fishing the fun in catching? Bringing home a meal is after that fact. If someone has no fun catching fish, then it would be cheaper and more worth their time to visit the super market.

This topic hits on one of my pet peeves. I have changed the minds of a few people who regarded bowfin as trash. I mentioned to them they looked like they were having tons of fun bringing in that " must be a ten pound bass" until they saw what was on the end of their line. Usually works, some others are just ignorant.

#20 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 19 April 2008 - 12:17 PM

Most of the fish talked about in the Ancient Fishes section are premiere sport fish. Many also make a fine meal. Sometimes taking a bit different approach to cleaning the fish, and sometimes cooking it, but never the less a fine meal.


The only fish I purposely try to angle for are Gar and I have no issue taking a couple back for the table. Gar is a very good tasting fish, it is just that for so long people have said they where not, that the reputation stuck.

I frequently enjoy preparing gar and then telling someone it is tilapia or some other fish. Often the comment I get is "This is not bland like typical tilapia, what’s your recipe to make this taste so good". When they find out it is gar they are often shocked about just how good it really is..

Nothing in my opinion is a better and more challenging sportfish than a gar..



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