Gar On The Fly? Well, It Must Be Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids
texas fly fishing for gar north texas #flyfishing
NOTE – Yesterday, Tuesday, March 15, was an 87-degree day … Need I say more? Yes, I do need. It started out calm enough, but by the time I landed the skiff at the ramp? We had a howling 25-mph wind and waves to go with it. No damage done though.[ppw id=”133865678″ description=”Gars on Fly” price=”.10″]
Mercí Gars On
One fish that helps define “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids” has to be the gar. And it just so happens that with all this fresh water coming into the North Texas lakes, and the gar spawn going on … well it just so happens that gar action is on right now.
I took JH out on the skiff yesterday, and after a lot of looking around, restricted significantly by the howling winds, we came upon gar doing their gar thing. Now a guy who’s an administrator at a local high school, who’s on spring break? Well, let’s just say he isn’t exactly picky. Rainbow trout these aren’t. Jonesin’ for the tug he was.
The gar bite isn’t something we would classify as picky, but once they chase, and once they snap onto your fly, the odds are still against you. Either they saw your line, or they simply open that toenail hard snout, and they’re loose again. If you can get one to hold on, you’re in for a fantastic fight.
Perhaps what got JH hyped for any gar that crossed his path, was his sighting of a “seventeen pound” carp that surfaced right in front of him. “The largest carp,” he’d ever seen “on Lake Ray Roberts” was also in one of those small creek feeders, a spot that we had to weave through with the trolling motor. It was real Apocalypse Now stuff.
The smaller male gar were very interested in the fly, while the females were not interested in much of anything … lethargic, and sexually spent. They’d be smoking a cigarette if they could.
TIP – Think fresh water inlets, and think small flies. Be prepared to lose a fly or two, either by snag or snaggle teeth. These guys destroy flies. My claim to gar fame came years ago just below Ray Roberts Dam (during similar conditions as earlier this month), where I somehow caught an 8.5 pound shortnose that went thirty-five inches!
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Category: Adventure, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Flats Boats, Guides, Hot Spot, North Texas
