Gar?

[Needemp]

I have a perfect looking point. It extends out from shore about 100 feet. It is mostly 3-4' deep on top and falls off to 20' on each side. It runs at a 45degree angle from shore, so it creates a nice little valley in between the point and the shore. It has small rocks on top of the point, but not a lot of other cover.

My problem is I have caught 6 stinking gar on this point. I also caught a 20" Striped bass, 3# channel cat and a short Kentucky bass. But I can't catch a keeper bass for my life. I have fished it 4 evenings in the past week and a half, now.

My question is does anyone else ever deal with this problem? Do the gar really scare off the bass like this? HELP! I want a bass off this point lol!!!

[Gatorbassman]

Gar and bass will often occupy the same water. That spot sounds perfect. Keep fishing it. They will be there eventually.

[5bass]

It probably gets fished to death like every other point on every other lake.  ;D

[George Welcome]

Go to a Carolina rig.

[looking4structure]

x2 on the carolina rig.Ive caught many bass while seing gar in the area i was fishing

[Catt]

Points are the most popular forms of structure because they are easiest to find and can be fished with any lure/technique which makes them the most pressured.

Remember not all good looking structures harbor bass

[D4u2s0t]

the shoreline and points are near impossible on my lake this time of year, because like catt said that's where everyone goes first.  early in the season before people are out (many people in my town have summer only homes) they are great.  this time of year?  good luck.  my lake is private so it's certainly not as high pressure as some public lakes.  the most boats i've seen fishing on the lake at one time has been maybe 3 or 4 max.  but they all go to the obvious spots.  and getting to a spot, even if it's the best on the lake, after people have fished it all day is not going to produce.  i would look for the deeper structure, as 99% of weekend or occaisional anglers would think it's stupid to fish in the middle of the lake.   that's where i catch my biggest fish.

[SoFl-native]

If you have fished it 4 times in the last week and a half and not caught on it then there arent fish on it right now. As good as that point looks to you the bass are not there.

[RoLo]

Bass and gar coexist side-by-side, and the only disadvantage to gar is that they'll often cut-off the lure.

Most land points provide "two" side pockets, one on either side. Since you caught a striped bass,

which are largely pelagic, you might do better to back off from the tip of the point and work in the pockets

closer to the main lake outline. Although most anglers favor the point of the point, the "inside corners"

on each side tend to "converge" plankton, baitfish and game fish.

      Finally, when fishing a slope with rapidly changing depth, the lure is apt to lose contact with the bottom.

To assure that the lure remains tangent to the bottom, you might bottom-drag a T-rigged jig or plastic or use a Carolina-rig.

Roger

[Matt Fly]

He also mentioned he caught a nice 20 inch striper there as well.

  I found areas to hold good striper populations to be tougher bassin areas.    Bass aren't the top of the predator list on lakes with large striper populations.

I also think gar and bass share the same waters all the time, but striper is another factor that changes the way you have to approach some bodies of water.

   

   

[Larry Hauser]

Try a 4 to 5 inch flutter spoon. Cast on top of the point and and work it down the ledges. When your working down the ledges lift the spoon off the bottom about 2 or 3 feet and let it flutter back down to the bottom. I use Strike King sexy spoon.

[Needemp]

Update: Still no bass! I did hook another gar on one of my favorite Lucky Craft cbs(yikes)! Luckily he went deep and stayed there. It took about 15 minutes to get him to the boat. He was easily 4 feet long. I used the net to snag the treble hooks and pull the lure free. Crazy! I also tried a c-rig and a jig w/ no keepers >

This is an area that very, very few fisherman are ever on. In fact, there are not hardly any fisherman in the whole area. There may be a few on the weekends, but not during the week. Besides, this point is all under water. On shore, it just looks like a typical, round, small point. But there is nothing that signifies it's 'beauty'!

[Needemp]

Update #2 Well, I finally caught a keeper bass. The strangest thing is that the gar have completely stopped biting. They are still there because they are surfacing, but no biters. I am still catching 12" to 20" stripers/white bass off the point (and in the same exact spot every night). My keeper largie came on a c-rig

This whole area has a lot of structure, but I have determined that there are not a lot of bass, but I can catch a couple big ones. I caught one in this area that was 5#s and is close to 22" long (I will post pics when I have time to resize them)