09/30/09-i met up with todd to go alligator gar fishing with capt kirk kirkland on the trinity river. hopes were high with the thought of finally getting the elusive 100+lb gar. the river was down since the last time i was there so maybe my luck would change. met kirk at 0600 at a gas station in midway, texas to begin another long day on the river.
we quickly got to our first spot of the day and deployed baits outs. fresh carp and shad were on the menu. it didnt take long before the remote line detectors started going off. the fish were very active today, not so much on top of the water rolling but actually feeding on our baits! this should be a very good sign of things to come. we caught 4 fish in the first hour that were all 36 inchers. runts! i actually caught one on a medium bass setup while passing time with a piece of cutbait(not so bad on light tackle). no pics of these miniture gar. the rest of the day we had some good runs which i wouldve bet money they were the big ones but no monsters today. ended up with 11 gar total. 4 at 36inches and 7 at 42 inches. even caught a tagged gar from may of 2008. enjoy the pics
i have one more trip on july 21. if i dont get my monster then i am defintely done with these creatures. very frustrating fish to say the least!
Cool. Did you keep one to make balls? I got a spot on the Sabine I been meaning to go back and try. Havent fished it in years but if you are there on a hot summer afternoon you will see a load of 100+lb fish doing their thing on the surface.
A tagged gar. Now thats not something you hear of every day. Is the Trinity getting that commercialized with alligator gar guides/ fishing for sport?
I think the tags are more of a scientific study on the amount of AG that are living in the rivers.
I read an article in one of our nature magazines about tagging them in the trinity and another river...
If I can find it online ill post it up.
a few looked like they were hooked in the gills pretty bad and were gonna die but i didnt feel like foolin around with them to make gar balls.
capt kirk tags most of the fish caught and records info for texas and louisiana wildlife fisheries. it was one of his tags. he is the only gar guide that actually fishes for them. there are a few that will take you bowfishing for them. every since he has been on multiple fishing and documentary shows about these creatures ther has been an increase of bowfishermen on the river.
i live very close to the sabine river and have seen many gar. doesnt come close the the trinity though. i will eventually try fishing for them in the sabine with his techniques.
There was a Tv show a couple of weeks ago on NG Hunt for the big fish , with Capt Kirkland targeting huge Gar on the Trinity river , they were tag for scientific study as Kurtis mentioned on his post.
I grew up in Orange,TX on the Sabine and was a River Rat 25-30yrs ago- even commuted by boat every day to work in the Marathon oil fields South of I-10 south of Vinton,LA. I cannot tell you how many 100+lbs we would see in the summer rolling and gulping air on the surface.Some of these prehistoric monsters were 8ft long and big around as a telephone pole. I never fished for them but looks like fun.
Thanks for the report &pics!
Do you have a boat small enough for the river when its down? Let me know if u want to go give them a try. The launch to get to my spot is on the Louisiana side near Merryville. Im over that way pretty often.
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