Rob G Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Trash fish that is. Well got out this afternoon and caught about 12 gar, spotted and longnose but only a couple were of decent size. Still a lot of fun on a 5 wt. Eventually I lost interest when I continued to see the smallies nailing the baitfish in the shallows and had to give chase. Fried gar balls anyone? Almost 4 1/2 ft long nose, took a while to get him in. Don't often get a chance to play a fish off the reel A pretty spotted gar on the rope fly Those teeth are like needles but you can see how the nylon rope fibers work to hold the fish without the use of a hook. The Boys were ready to play This one little sob got his revenge when I was removing my fly in order to release him. Lose concentration for just a moment and those teeth are vicious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene f collins Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Wow! Nice TEETH! Great photos! Thanks for Sharing. I wanna try. Can i ask what the recipe is for the rope fly? How do you get the fly out of "Toothville"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 That is really cool! What a beautiful, prehistoric-looking fish! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Awesome! Thanks for reporting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted August 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Eugene, since a couple other fellows asked, I'll try and put together a little "how to" in the Bassbugger pattern forum here. You're right, getting the fly removed from those teeth can take some patience, possibly a small brush, definitely needle nose pliars and maybe even a hemostat. Oh and did I mention a jaw spreader. Other times it will come off pretty easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Thanks Rob, you make me smile. Great shots and the prettiest rope flies I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted August 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Yee haw, today I was out ropin' some more of them thar gar. (It makes my day if I can get a smile out of ole' Johnny G) Well what do ya know, not just a trash fishin' kind of guy after all, how did that 19.5" smallie sneak his way in there today as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 .............. Nice photos Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Rob, could you post a recipe for your rope flies. Something good for fish in the 2-3 ft range. What would your favorite rope be. Have you ever used craft cord??? It seems to hold on to all sorts of things such as bass teeth, rough skin when using it to tie, etc. A friend of mine wants to tie some so I thought I'd get a recipe from the master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted February 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 John, let me check in my photo files. I might have a pictorial where I demo'ed them for the group. I like to use 1/4" braided nylon in white . You must fully un-braid the fibers and I found that 8 of the smallest strands folded over works quite well. Also IMO the fly needs eyes to be effective on gar. Don't even bother without them. Btw, thanks for the reminder, as I need to tie up a few for next season. Edit: Here you go, found it in the old threads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 Thanks for popping that back up Rob. I forgot about the looping of the fibers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev-mo Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 18 hours ago, Rob G said: And how do you 'unhook' em?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Buric Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 15 minutes ago, Kev-mo said: And how do you 'unhook' em?? very carefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 3 hours ago, Kev-mo said: And how do you 'unhook' em?? Ed's right, very carefully. One of the photos which was deleted above was of my arm that got torn up by those teeth when I lost focus for a moment and he paid me back dearly. I normally employ jaw spreaders like we do for northern pike, once the mouth is held open, you can then use a small wire brush to get those fibers unhooked from their teeth. Also you can use needle nose pliers and pull on the fibers but often the brush works best. I generally release the fish unless I want to keep some for frying up a few "gar balls". The wonderful thing about gar is they can live outside the water for a few minutes so you don't have to rush. It's important to remove the fly and not just cut the line or the fish will not be able to open his jaws and will surely die (though admittingly some choose to remove them from the fishery as they compete with other more desirable predatory fish) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.