As I climbed into the kayak and began to follow Spring across the river, he immediately became excited.
“There are quite a few gars just outside the weed line,” Spring said. I strained to see the fish and wondered if my sunglasses were polarized. I switched glasses. In the time it took me to do that, Spring had a fish on. I paddled into position to take a photo. When the task was completed, he skillfully opened the mouth of the fish and pulled out the rope fly. Of course, he was wearing gloves.
After a few short hits and misses on my part, we moved to a different area. There were even more of these living harpoons hanging around the weeds, just below the surface of the water. Occasionally, they would come to the surface and slide back down into their comfort zone.
As I cast between a set of open docks, I felt a tug on my line. I had my first gar on, and he was putting up a good fight. This one was not getting away. I fought the fish for several minutes before I pulled him alongside the kayak. I slipped on my gloves, grabbed his toothy snout and pulled him onto my lap. One glove had the teeth, the other had the body of the fish.
Spring came over to help remove the rope fly, a bit tricky when you only have two hands to work with. Having the fish out of the water to remove the “bait” was not as much of a concern with these unusual fish. A unique swim bladder in the fish allows them to breathe air when they are outside the water.
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