MONDAY MORNING SIDEWALK
TEXAS GAR BACK IN VOGUE
What is it about this gar thing? They have been around, and pretty lowly on the evolution chart for … as long as humans have been able to write – plus a few thousand. But, what is it they say, “When nothing’s new? Make something old new again!” At least that is what it appears to be the case in warm, soon to be hot, freshwater fly fishing.
This is a hefty gar, a longnose I caught in 2009 on the FLOWING Trinity River below Ray Roberts Dam. It weighed something like 11-pounds, and was longer than two joints of a 9-foot TFO fly rod.
Yeah, they are interesting fish. Yes, they are easy to convince what you have is what they want. Heck, multiple shots and teases are nothing new. But it is kind of like I tell my guru when he gets one on, “Now what you gonna’ do?” This fish, in all its varieties, is special.
It is special because of its teeth, and habits, and unique ability to breathe air, and because it likes water that few fish like. It eats. I have seen them eat through small schools of sand bass with subtlety and a quiet shark-like efficiency. But, what they make up for in eat, they give away in beauty.
Gar are also special for their size of course. Stories of old talked about gar that bit people, ate animals and were hunted down like a rabid shark to be found and strung up for the townspeople to see all was well and humans still ruled.
That unusual size and proportion makes for some real muddy and messy photographs. Ropes on tails of the largest alligator gar catches are all but mandatory.
Okay, now I understand this latest gar thing. Time to load the skiff and hit my garbanzo spot on a couple of local lakes, and pretend they are waterlogged tarpon (as opposed to airborne!). Thanks for reading. There is a lengthy post on the Arroyo Colorado coming out tomorrow, and of course the latest video drop IS ABOUT the Arroyo Colorado – Arroyo Colorado Zone 2.
Category: Backcasting, Culture on the Skids, Life Observed, Soggy Bottom Boys
