Hello guy's!!
Buzz I hate to disagree with you, however you can hunt gar with a bow as a method of catching them even with several arrows in them they are still very feisty, the best way to dispatch them is with a bullet to the head once along side of the boat. I have had excellent results with .22 cal on the biggest of gars I have arrowed.
Quarter, if you are fishing for them with rod and reel you need about 150 pound test line with wire leaders (they have very sharp teeth) and stay away from their mouth they snap and can give you a serious wound,if big enough you will need stitches. After you have worn them out a sharp gaff will work however a gig is better (like a spear only the head is attached to a thick nylon line after you get the gig head in the handle falls off and only the head remains in the fish of which you haul it in). If it is big one use the shot to the head i am a bow hunter and i have arrowed and caught many a gar and there is nothing better to dispatch them with than a good shot to the head .22, .38, .22 mag.
Gar are actually a rough fish and not dirty or a bottom feeder they eat other live fish only, that is why they were hunted out many years ago becasue they were actually killed on purpose to save the game fish from them. You will notice that gars come up to the top and catch a breath and then dive again, the way they use to kill them was to put some type of chemical on the surface of lakes, rivers, ponds that would restrict them from breathing. Back to the preparation of gar. They are quite tastey if prepared properly. The meat on a gar starts to breakdown very quickly after they are caught so you want to ice them down as soon as possible or at least keep them cool. you can cut some steaks out of the tail area similar to alligator and deepfry in cornmeal like catfish or panfish. However one of the best ways i've eaten gar was in patties, becasue the flesh is very soft you can scrape it with a spoon or grind it very fine season with garlic,black pepper, red pepper, salt dredge in flower and deep fry until golden golden brown..UMMMMMMM very very good you can make it with your regular sides hush puppies, corn, potatoes. There are no bones in gar it is just a cartlidge for a backbone. Now to clean them; you use this method for any sized gar they all taste good if prepared like above. first you need a very sharp knife or hatchet, i use my Busse basic 9 or 7 it works great. The whole trick is your first cut you lay your blade flat across the back by tail and you cut off a 4-6 inch strip all the way down the back from tail to head second you run your knife down the inside of the hide on each side just like skinning a deer and work the hide away from the flesh, at this point you can use your spoon to scrape the flesh and put it in a bowl for seasoning remember it is a soft and delicate fleshed fish and very mild flavored. after you finish this the tail meat is usually a lot firmer and you can cut steaks from it. I hope this has helped you I have done a lot of gar fishing mainly with bow but this will work. Hope this helped you let me know if i can be of anymore help.
