I managed to pull these three gar in the other day. In order of appearance - 37", 39" and 51"....










DAVID

Deer Sniper, are these long-nose or needle-nose gar? What's next? Make bait out of them or a grilling?

Are they any good to eat mate?

looks like you had fun. too busy working to get out...SWMBO threatening not to buy licences this year as we didnt get out much last season...will have to talk her around.

Bait or lures? Interested about eating them too. I've caught gar accidentally and have always released them, not knowing if they were OK to eat.

Good looking fish.

slimjim - these are long nose gar. I deep fry it like catfish or make "gar jerky" out of it....


Vince - these gar are very good to eat! The texture of the meat is like a pork chop and it's taste is kinda like a cross between chicken/frog/catfish - very tasty....


lesterg3 - I caught these 3 gar on large brooder minnows. Gar are one of the "cleanest" fish you can catch and eat. Do NOT eat gar eggs though, they will make you very sick....


Here are a couple of pictures of how I clean a gar. The pictures should be self explanatory but, if you have any questions, just ask!


I nailed the tail to a board and then used a knife and hammer to cut up the middle of the back...




I then filleted out the two back straps, after cutting down the front and back of that armor plating with a pair of cutters. Solid meat with NO bones...




This was what I wound up with...



After getting the gar cleaned and cut into small chunks, I coated it cornmeal seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and Creole seasoning...



After cooking up the gar and some sweet potato fries...



The gar was the first to go and then the fries....... The first thing out of everyone's mouth was - is there any more GAR left?


DAVID

Hammer...armour plating...cutters...what are these buggers "made of" mate???

They are a couple of nice looking fillets Dave...and a damn fine scoff was had by all.

and I thought shark was hard to fillet!!!!

Sharks are easy, its bloody whitebait that I struggle to fillet!!!!

Only kiwis will get that joke so I'll explain.
For you unfortunates out there Whitebait is a delicacy in New Zealand, its the juvenile form of the galaxid family, about 2 inches long and transparent, it swims upriver every spring and can reach $150/lb in the off season, you dont need a licence but have to adhere to the official season if you get caught breaking the rules you end up in court and loose everything such as vehicles nets etc.

Best cooked in whipped egg with a smidgen of flour to hold it all together then fried in butter like a pancake......between two slices of fresh bread theres not much better.

radar, do you dip them in flour so you can see what you are eating?

Vince,

I have cleaned a lot of alligator before and that tough hide is nothing compared to a gar. There is a place about 50 miles from us that I found, that makes cowboy boots, belts and hat bands from gar hides. He said that from all of the exotic hides that he works with, gar is one of the toughest...

I cleaned the three gar in the first pictures and using a brand new pair of tin snips to cut through the hide so the meat could be filleted out, it was still TOUGH cutting. With the amount of boneless meat that that you get out of these fish though, it's worth the time it takes to clean them....

DAVID

Hey Deer Sniper, thanks for the info if I ever get back out for some fishing and happen into a gar I will follow your directions and look forward to some good eat'n.

Just out of curiosity from whence do you hale.

lesterg3 wrote:

Hey Deer Sniper, thanks for the info if I ever get back out for some fishing and happen into a gar I will follow your directions and look forward to some good eat'n. Just out of curiosity from whence do you hale.

I hale from the great state of Oklahoma. And you Sir, from whence do you hale?

DAVID

Hey Sooner,

There is no place I call home, only places I have lived and where I am today. Currently living in Chester SC (just barely, moving out soon), but long story cut short; born and 18 years California (out before the fruit and nuts took over), then Michigan for another 18 years, a couple other states in there for a short while and a many foreign countries too, but SC is where my family started and it is apparently where its going to end.

Thanks for the Gar pics and info, and good fishing in the future. Only one thing I like better than hunting and that's fishing. Used to be s-- but, well da-n still is. But that's a totaly different story.

Sounds like the skin makes good tough leather Dave. I've seen fish skin tanned before and it is surprising how good it looks when tanned.