Gaulke fishes rope flies on a 7-foot medium-heavy spinning rod. He uses 14-pound-test mono or heavier braid and a 30-pound-test Tyger Wire leader, tied to the lure with a loop knot and a perfection loop to the mainline. Another leader option is heavier mono testing about 30 to 40 pounds. Barnett recommends attaching the mainline (he uses 12- to 14-pound braid) to the loop in his mono leaders with a snap swivel. Being able to quickly unsnap a thrashing gar from the mainline makes it easier to work with in the boat.
Fly-fishing with rope lures is highly effective. Barnett recommends a 9- to 10-weight flyrod matched with a weight-forward floating line. He ties on a 20-pound mono leader about 4 to 5 feet long. You might also tie on a light wire leader about a foot long. Working from platforms on his pontoon boat, he lays the fly past the gar’s head, stripping it past the fish about 8 inches at a time with pauses in between.
Barnett also trolls Lake Lanier’s shorelines, pulling his unweighted trolling lures on flyrods. He slowly moves along banks with his electric trolling motor, with lures set back about 100 feet on two outside rods and 75 feet back on an inside rod. The fly sinks, so he often attaches a small float about 8 to 10 feet up the line from the lure to keep it off bottom in shallower water.
These gar guides recommend fish-handling gloves for landing a big gar. Several companies, like Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle, sell gloves designed for safely handling toothy fish. Just use the glove to grab around the gar’s snout and your other hand to guide it into the boat. In a pinch, a towel works, too. Some gar anglers use a muskie cradle or a net, but often the gar ends up sliding through the net. A jaw spreader and a hook-removal tool like a Baker Hookout make the job easier.
Barnett developed the GarJack to help with lure removal. The fish is pulled up alongside the boat into the GarJack with its snout through the appropriate-sized notch. A wooden blade is placed across the base of the mouth to hold it in place while the fibers are untangled.
Smith says he’s caught gar that had rope-lure fibers growing into their bills because some angler didn’t take the time to completely untangle it before release. “Gar released with their mouth clamped shut with fibers likely die. Remove all the thread from the fish’s mouth before releasing it,” he says. “A big gar might be over 20 years old, so we want these fish to live to be caught again.”
Gaulke: “Gar hit with primal aggressiveness.” Smith: “They come out like torpedoes and make hard fast runs.” Barnett: “They jump like tarpon.” Sound convincing enough?
*John Gaulke, Trumansburg, New York, is a multispecies guide and fishing educator, 607/387-3098; fingerlakesanglingzone.com. Terry Smith: 256/492-2343. Jack Barnett: 770/536-8612; geocities.com/GarManJack.
