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u/FishTshirt 12h ago
These are local to me. Jeremy wade came very close to us to catch one. Not uncommon for a gar to snap the line
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u/NotBradPitt9 9h ago
Where are these things found?
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u/Attention_Bear_Fuckr 9h ago
In the water
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u/cierbhal 9h ago
If you want a place to look at on Google Earth or something; look up “Sardis Lake” in Mississippi. Everyone who has fished along the spillway there has dealt with gar. The whole lower lake is “full” of alligator gar.
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u/now_in3D 9h ago
Southeastern US, Mississippi basin
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u/Snuhmeh 7h ago
They are everywhere. In Houston, they can be spotted from above looking down in the bayous.
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u/FlamingoRare8449 4h ago
I haven’t seen any of those but I have seen alligator in a drainage ditch out by Ellington
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u/AtlasThePittie 12h ago
You aren't Jeremy. Put her back.
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u/LokiTheStampede 10h ago
Put that thing back where it came from, or so help me...!
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u/KneeSignificant9374 9h ago
So help me!
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u/Evelyn-Bankhead 11h ago
One of the secret weapons to battling Asian Carp.
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u/Rile_Michael 8h ago
We used to have tons of Asian carp in the canals in illinois. Now they are filled to the brim with gar.
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u/timburgessthis 6h ago
I am sorry, you can’t just drop this without more lore?!
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u/Actius 1h ago
Not OP, but here's some history. Gar used to be native to rivers that fed the Mississippi River until various things like habit destruction and loss of primary food source made them nearly extinct in the wild. Some time later, Asian Carp were introduced to the Mississippi River system and basically exploded in population. It led to what we see now.
Over a decade ago, a conservation project reintroduced captive native gar into a small protected river (upstream of the Mississippi) in order to start a breeding program. The gar spread and eventually grew in healthy numbers. However, downstream another conservation project overseeing Asian Carp control recorded a steady population decline in the invasive carp population. This was the first instance of seeing a noticeable decline in the population not caused by extreme human control strategies, that is.
Turns out the native gar had found the juvenile and young adult Asian Carp as a very viable food source. Both fish use the same type of areas in the rivers as breeding grounds, so the juvenile gar have an excellent food source basically from birth to adulthood. This effectively stems the Asian Carp population as they will get picked off before reaching breeding age.
But this is a numbers game. This phenomenon has been occurring for over a decade now and the Asian Carp is still a massive problem downstream from the gar areas. Plus the Asian Carp can thrive in waters polluted enough to kill native gar, so it's not a foolproof strategy of control. But it's still pretty cool!
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u/Euphoric_Fisherman70 6h ago
I haven't traveled the hennepin canal too much but I notice everywhere I go...nothing but gar fucking around at the top. Still have yet to catch one
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u/CartmanAndCartman 11h ago
I thought the biggest freshwater fish was lake sturgeon ?
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u/EC_CO Interested 11h ago
The white sturgeon is the largest in North america, they can get up to 20 ft long. They can live for centuries and don't even start breeding until about 25 years old. The alligator gar is the second largest and maxes out at 10 ft
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u/imonmyhighhorse 11h ago
That’s what I thought as well.
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u/EC_CO Interested 11h ago
You'd think a fisherman posting a video would be more knowledgeable. I don't even fish and knew the sturgeon was the biggest
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u/TurbulentMiddle2970 9h ago
You would think. Gar get up to maybe 300 pounds. Sturgeon can get up to 1500 pounds.
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u/Better-Culture-7770 9h ago
Most fisherman I've met are a remarkably ignorant bunch when it comes to fish biology, or anything scientific really. You'll run across someone who is a scientist in some other field who fishes and just knows nothing but word of mouth psuedoscience about fish.
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u/Ispeakblabla 7h ago
I feel like the dude can be given a pass on this one since usually sturgeon fish aren't strictly freshwater compared to the gar.
Didn't know white sturgeons could get that big though, 20ft is insane.
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u/EC_CO Interested 7h ago
This is where some of the old lake monster myths come from, there are still sightings of the big ones frequently when they ride the surface and their prehistoric ridgebacks show
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u/Hamafropzipulops 9h ago
I am from South Louisiana and am familiar with these and of course alligators. When I was fishing in Wisconsin a sturgeon passed in front of us so big, I thought it was a huge alligator or a small submarine. Tried to fish for them with a guide, no luck.
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u/EC_CO Interested 8h ago
When I was young back in the '80s my grandfather used to take me fishing on the Columbia River for sturgeon, it was common to have to use a truck to pull the damn things up to shore, but if I remember correctly the meat was pretty tasty and you could stock a freezer for a good year and a half
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u/Hamafropzipulops 5h ago
Ha! same with some alligators, big, heavy and tasty. Also bitey, stay away from the front end until you have your .22 ready.
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u/Square_Issue1577 8h ago
What about the vw bug size catfish I've heard of lurking at the bottom of waterfalls lol.
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u/theregoesjustin 11h ago
Yeah my first thought too. Unsurprisingly, it looks like this dude lied for clicks
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u/Plaid_Piper 11h ago
Caught one when I was a kid by pure chance using some old popcorn shrimp and a weight. These things fight like crazy! It leaped out of the damn water at some point. One of my fondest memories growing up.
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u/Sorry-Emu-5980 10h ago
White Sturgeon is the biggest fresh water fish in North America by a long shot....
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u/77entropy 11h ago
They have the ability to survive on land for up to two hours because they can breathe air with their swim bladder.
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u/CranjizzMcBasketball 9h ago
Wrong. They absolutely can NOT survive on land for two hours. Only way that could be possible is if you constantly splash them with, you guessed it, WATER
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u/77entropy 8h ago
Right. They can live up to two hours on land breathing air if conditions are right. I guess we'll have to agree to agree on this one.
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u/TheMostNude 11h ago
“Biggest fresh water fish in North America” um my friend Mr Sturgeon would like a word.
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u/LangstonHublot 12h ago
I've heard these are very tasty when smoked
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u/johnvarley1 12h ago
Same for humans.
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u/-XanderCrews- 12h ago
No they’re not. Very rubbery.
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u/buddhistredneck 11h ago
They just gotta be smoked right.
A human out of a trailer fire can taste pretty bad and isn’t cooked enough as the damn thing burns down too fast.
A human out of a brick house has the opposite problem, it doesn’t get hot enough.
What you want is a human out of a cabin fire, especially if the cabin is built with fine maple or pine; it’s a wonderful hint of taste, along with being cooked low, and slow.
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u/Solid_Growth_9069 11h ago
i don’t like the clowns, they taste funny
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u/zorggalacticus 10h ago
Two clowns were eating a cannibal. One looked at the other and said "I think we got this joke wrong."
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u/Domestic-Grind 11h ago
I got a 3rd degree burn last week, 500*F metal against thin skin... It sizzled. I hate that the smoke smelled good. Like a steak dropped on a hot grill
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u/Rufnusd 8h ago
I caught this fish in RDR2. The Legendary Gar returns.
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u/Kcorp 5h ago
As a non-American, 98% of my knowledge of indigenous American flora and fauna is from playing RDR2.
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u/GalaxyPowderedCat 12h ago
I didn't know that fossile existed, now I know what to fear when I go to deep waters.
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u/Inner-Arugula-4445 11h ago
Aren’t some sturgeons in Canada larger than these gar?
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u/Asleep_Emotion7078 12h ago
Also, I don’t know how good one this big would taste. I thinks it’s probably a lot like catfish ( the bigger the muddier the taste).
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u/Revolutionary_Eye887 12h ago
They have a LOT of bones.
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u/Asleep_Emotion7078 11h ago
You do it kinda like you take the back strap off a deer if you know what I mean. It’s great
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u/Detrimental_Figment 10h ago
I can’t believe I used to just swim in the water with these fuckers and actual alligators and didn’t even think about it. Any time something swam past my leg I just assumed it was trout or bass.
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u/LoveBirdNibbles 7h ago
I have always feared freshwater, especially flesh eating bacteria and amoebas that go to your brain. I stick to salt water.
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u/maxjuli3n 7h ago
Yep And we’re just gonna sit down in the water like there isn’t another one of these fuckers swimming around
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u/LiveNvanByRiver 8h ago
That water is why swimming trunks have nets. I would never sit my orifices in that sludge.
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u/LoverOfPricklyPear 8h ago
It can be hard to catch these guys cuz they're so darn boney! Not a lot skin or anything to catch. I'm pretty sure they basically need to swallow the hook.
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u/Joyful_Pursuit 5h ago
I've caught 2 gar about that size. One on 8lb test.
They don't fight worth a damn ime, 40" redfish > 60" gator gar and it's not even close.
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u/mrcoffee4me 4h ago
Catch and release. That’s what this dude does. Most sport fishermen always catch and release. No need for trophies when technology provides us with picture proof. Relax y’all! Don’t let your ignorance guide you.
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u/RaDiOaCtIvEpUnK 4h ago
So god spliced a shark an alligator together. Neat. I was just thinking I could use some more reasons to not get in the water.
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u/Ordinary-Meringue102 3h ago
Mr., did your mom ever tell you not to touch things?
this is giving me the chills!
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u/ambassador321 3h ago
Alligator Gar is not even close to the biggest freshwater fish in North America.
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u/Equus-007 11h ago
Used to go swimming with those guys in the Trinity. They pretty much give zero fucks about you.