Caught a Saltwater gar with my bare hands

[fixed80]

[Miamipescador]

WTH saltwater gar, nice catch !!!

[gruntking]

i got one of those close to 5 ft long at anglins pier probly like 9 maybe 10 years ago

[tears143]

The scale or the teeth could tear your skin apart like a raze....

[fixed80]

i know but can anyone tell me what is this thang doing so far away from the creeks or fresh water rivers. i mean this fish was roaming in the trough over 10 miles 8 miles away from the nearest inlet.

[diggin4grouper]

fixed you know noodling is frowned apon in the sate of florida

[swordfish]

He was doing the same thing that the couple swordfish that have been found in the flats have been doing lol... Disoriented and lost, my money is on he had a disease or something to the likes...

-swordfish

[crashmister]

Could be he's just stupid

[Miami_Chris]

awesome! although rare, it seems they do make their way into the salt, just like mullet and tarpon make their way into the fresh water systems. rick murphy caught a gar on his show in the salt while fishing for reds and trout. either way, pretty cool

[fixed80]

Damn it man, now you are catching fish with your hands
You should've use him for shark bait

Shhhhhhhhh!t lol. naw i had stingray which is way better. i did hook a hammer though that same day but a night time.

[diggin4grouper]

ive been doing some checking and its not as uncommon as you think for gars to travel to saltwater , around Tampa's sky way bridge there have been report of them being caught all over the place , it seem the can tolerate the brackish water for long points of time and full on saltwater for as much as a week before it has to go back to brackish , seems that they will venture any where .

[crashmister]

Could be he's just stupid

Don't be talking about Fixed like that!

[Bi0tic]

i know but can anyone tell me what is this thang doing so far away from the creeks or fresh water rivers. i mean this fish was roaming in the trough over 10 miles 8 miles away from the nearest inlet.

Not expecting to be manhandled by you

All joking aside, that is a pretty cool capture with picture documentation. Longnose gar are relatively well documented (I've seen them on the flats on the west coast) to inhabit saltwater, but that is a Florida gar, and apparently, they do too. Often, when a freshwater species not known for inhabiting saltwater is found there, it is the result of a freshwater flush (largemouth bass washing up on beaches, for instance). But it is entirely possible that one just roamed out of the inlet following food. Some individuals have an inclination to roam, and that just happens to be one. I can contact my colleagues at fwc and relay any info if you are interested.

[cudaman]

That pic is kewl man Nice you experienced the Steve Erwin move (R.I.P). Just be careful as you obviously were with this Gar.

[Weagle]

I was fishing below the dam of Deerpoint Lake, the saltwater side on Panama City Bay FL and hooked one of these things today. It pulled a lot of drag. I got it to come up and saw the bill on the thing and I was like what the heck, are there gar in saltwater? I had to do an internet search to make sure I wasn't crazy because the hook pulled out before I could land it.