Anybody else caught Gar on a crankbait?

[golf n fish]

Everything was biting yesterday.  About 20 bass total, biggest one 5 pounds, and lots of dinks.  Caught 1 crappie that was about 2.5 lbs on a small lipless sexy shad crank.  Plus, I caught 2 Gar (one on the lipless, and one on a fat free shad).  I didn't know Gar would hit a crankbait!  Crazy.  I had a tough time getting the lipless crank back because he inhaled it so far, but I got it.

Anybody else catch Gar on a crank?

David

[Grey Wolf]

I have caught one gar on a crank about 5 years ago on the Ohio river.

[Krzkev]

They will eat anything down here in florida. We mostly get bit by them on soft plastics,  but it isn't uncommon for them to hit spinners or cranks, usually the slower you retrieve the better your chances for something other than a bass.  They follow a bait for a while before they attack.

[HitmanFO]

Never caught a gar on a crank, but I did catch a catfish on a Rat-L-Trap during a bass tourney in October... that was unexpected.

[golf n fish]

The two gar that I caught were babies.  Only about 15 to 17 inches long.  Maybe the young gar are more likely to hit the cranks? 

They sure do flop around a lot on the ground.  A lot more than bass.  The gar barely put up a fight as I reeled them in.  That is, until we could see each other, at which point they went nuts.    I was working the cranks pretty slow with a steady retrieve.  No aerial displays from the gar either.  They were trying to dive deep when they got close.

Is gar meat any good?  What do y'all do with a gar when you catch one.  Kill it or throw it back?  Don't they compete with bass for food?

David

[golf n fish]

What kind of cat was it?  I would expect that blue cats would hit a crank.

[alwayslooking]

caught some big gar on traps,,,catfish on bandit 200 series,,,all suprised me,,,thought for sure, i had big bass,,,

[J_Pearson]

I've caught one on a popper..Huge strike! lol..

[Use ONLY Stren]

I caught about a 10 pounder on a chrome Rat l trap, and one that was close to 20 on a brush hog. Both in the St. Lucie river. The bigger one dragged my jon boat down the river and into multiple dock pilelings. ;D

[RoLo]

Anybody else catch Gar on a crank?

By all means, yes.

We've found that gar will strike just about anything that a bass will strike.

Happily, their bony mandibles make gar difficult to hook, but those of us living in gar range

are likely getting more strikes from gar than we might imagine.

I don't enjoy handling gar, because in addition to a peculiar musky odor

they have a dirty slime coat that tends to stain the boat carpeting.

Roger

[Kowen117]

you can catch them on a piece of rope if you want

[Shane Procell]

Florida Gar will eat anything especially a good looking crankbait

[Matt Jungblut]

i have caught a few heres the biggest

47 inches dont rember the weight

[VABasser]

Wow thats a big gar, howd it fight?  One of my buddies has caught gar on topwater but I've never hooked one.

[FD.]

There is a lake I fish a lot where the J-11 rapala is the choice of bait for bass and gar.  They will tear up a paint job in a hurry.  I also caught a 8 lb catfish last spring on a 8a bomber firetiger.  He had both trebles in both lips.  It took forever to get that bait back without killing the fish.

[D4u2s0t]

that's a helluva nice gar!

[golf n fish]

Don't a lot of people kill the Gar on purpose anyway?  It's not exactly a treasured or endangered fish and it competes with good game fish doesn't it?  I didn't kill the ones I caught, but I've seen plenty of people do it.

David

[JWallin]

My uncle caught a catfish and a gar on a jig this year.