Do Bass Fear Gar?

[bootytrain]

I went to a favorite spot where I regularly catch bass, its a marina with a small cove. Ive been there the past 2 days and caught bass up to 1.5 lbs. Today nothing.. not even a nibble. I work my way around the cove and I see there are pretty big gar there and it looks like they are spawning(2 males following a big female around). I see a few more gar. Is the presence of the gar making the bass move out to different areas? Just for fun I poked the big female gar with my rod and it didn't even flinch.. its scales were like metal! lol. 

[deaknh03]

I'm afraid of gar.

[F14A-B]

I think you're right.... Alligator gar are quite the predator. I would agree with you're observations.

[WVbassin87]

I wouldn't tangle with a gar, doubt a bass would lol

[geo g]

In the everglades gar can sometimes become overwhelming in certain areas. I have caught bass with nasty wounds from big gar. They will slash a fish and then come back to finish them off. Gar can also be a sign of poor quality water. Fish will die off or become lethargic from low O2 and become easy targets for gar. Gar will gulp O2 from air and not be effected by poor quality water. You may not be catching bass, because the quality of the water has changed! Gar are a top line predator, their only competition and threat are from Gators. I have straightened many a hook on a big gar. Whatever you do, don't lip one!!!!!!!! LOL

[TorqueConverter]

You might be onto something.  One of my favorite late prespawn bass locations has big tiger musky patrolling the area every year looking to eat bass as they begin to bed down.  The bite definitely becomes more difficult and bass are tight to cover. 

[bootytrain]

I don't think the gar were there to eat, maybe to spawn?  The big female I saw had males literally attached to her sides wriggling around.  But I guess their presence was enough to spook the bass.

[Catch and Grease]

Which species of gar are we talking about? Alligator?

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Around here I catch decent bass in areas where longnose gar are present. Not sure where the OP lives or what type of gar inhabit the waters... but longnose/shortnose gar seem to coexist nicely with bass.

[Catch and Grease]

I'm sure bass are terrified of a grown alligator gar lol but in the lake I fish I don't think a big bass would be worried about a longnose gar, but a small bass could get devoured. That being said I have caught bass of all size with what looks to be healed bite marks

[Hyrule Bass]

You might be onto something.  One of my favorite late prespawn bass locations has big tiger musky patrolling the area every year looking to eat bass as they begin to bed down.  The bite definitely becomes more difficult and bass are tight to cover. 

 

sounds like you should target the hungry musky with bass colored baits. i know i would. but i like fishing for multiple species, not sure if you only bass fish or do other fishing...

[Smokinal]

Ask the bass in Falcon what they think.

[Mr. BattleArmor]

I've seen a ton of Florida Gar around bass in the everglades, although they weren't that large, it didn't seem to me like the bass tried to stay away from them any more than anything else. Around here you can find Gar in almost every pond you fish but they don't seem to have an effect on whether I catch bass or not... maybe if they got huge I could see change but most around here that I regularly see seem to be 2-3ft long.

 

By the way, word of caution if you don't want to hook into a gar....the ones around here LOVE X-raps, I can't even throw one around a gar cause it'll bee-line for it every time lol 

[AK-Jax86]

I have caught quite a few bass at this spot where I have seen massive gar, with parts of their tail bit off. I caught one 3lb bass and it had about an inch of its tail fin, that was the worst one I have seen.

[bootytrain]

Which species of gar are we talking about? Alligator?

Was definitely a gator gar because the snout was shorter and wide. Crazy because you never hear about them here in Tennessee

[Catch and Grease]

I'm a huge fan of river monsters and ever since the gator gar episode I want to catch one soooo bad!

[TorqueConverter]

sounds like you should target the hungry musky with bass colored baits. i know i would. but i like fishing for multiple species, not sure if you only bass fish or do other fishing...

 

Absolutely.  I actually caught my 1st tiger musky on a shaky head Flappin Hog bass fishing that area.  I don't think it was quite 40 inches, but it was a blast!  I ran out at bought some musky baits but I still need a bigger net and a mucky rod. 

[Bluebasser86]

Was definitely a gator gar because the snout was shorter and wide. Crazy because you never hear about them here in Tennessee

Several species of gar have shorter, wider snouts, specifically the shortnose gar that is often confused with the Alligator gar. 

 

I've caught bass around gar lots of times, including some very large ones. Gar will eat smaller bass, but aren't going to mess with adult bass unless it's a large alligator gar, but even those prefer rough fish like carp and buffalo. 

[FL Bass Abducter]

I can tell you one thing, there's no way I would go skinny dipping if there were Gar in the area. 

[RoLo]

I don't know if bass fear gar, but I do know that gar are fond of eating bass.

This is by no means a bad thing, but a part of Big Mama's master plan (alligators love bass too).

Unfortunately the range of the alligator gar has been sharply reduced, and here in Florida

the only way you can legally keep an alligator gar is with a special permit for scientific research.

 

It's odd that this should come up now, because just a couple weeks ago I hooked a Florida gar

on a lipless plug (Jackall TN/70). It was hooked in the tail stalk, which made it impossible for me to turn

the fish's head. I didn't know what I was fighting, but told my wife that it must be foul-hooked.

Every run was just as powerful as the first run, which is a sure sign of a fish hooked behind the head.

It made run-after-run for several minutes before I got the first opportunity to glimpse the fish.

It was the largest Florida gar I ever hooked (15-20-lb area) and luckily I didn't have to handle the toothy creature

because the treble hooks pulled out right next to the boat.

 

Roger

[The Fisher]

Check out this article in the Dallas Morning News today

In 2012, Bassmaster Magazine named Falcon Lake America’s top bass lake. Since then, the lake’s largemouth bass population has declined by 65 percent, according to surveys done by state fisheries crews.

The locals think alligator gar are eating all the bass and want the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to temporarily suspend the one-fish daily limit on the big gar. TPWD has launched a study to determine how many Falcon Lake bass are being eaten by alligator gar.

Low water could also be a problem. In the last year, Falcon has never been more than 40 percent full. It’s currently about 30 feet low and declining. Falcon is still a 39,000-acre lake, but that’s about half its size when full.

[slimshad]

They have Long nose gar in the tanks at Bass Pro with other species.  I don't see any of them shaking and pointing... 

[bootytrain]

They have Long nose gar in the tanks at Bass Pro with other species.  I don't see any of them shaking and pointing...

I'm sure its because they get fed on a regular basis. You never see any skinny fish in the tanks at BPS.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

My line fears gar.

[everythingthatswims]

Funny because the longnose gar we have here in Virginia are really skittish, hard to catch, not aggressive at all, and live in pretty decent bodies of water.