2 Day Alligator Gar Trip

It ends up I am going to be  moving BACK to South Carolina, and leaving the midwest behind.   Just enough time to squeeze in a few more hours chasing the mightiest freshwater fish in North America.

-
My brother and I packed up for a two day trip to the Red River, hoping to finally get that alligator gar exceeding 7 feet and 150 pounds.
-
To be able to haul all gear we had to rig the top of my jeep with home-made extended cross bars for my roof rack... 2 x 4's secured with bungee cords and string... boom.
-
We strapped my brothers Old Town Canoe and my NuCanoe Frontier 12 to the roof and ample water and food.   Weather reports called for temperatures in excess of 100 degrees... but temperatures in the river gorge should easily radiate at 110 degrees+ with the stagnant air, hot rocks, and relentless sunlight.



The water level has dropped dramatically in the red river, exposing a sandy riverbed... this allowed for SOME driving along the riverbed, however, unseen pockets of air below the sediment could, and HAD claimed other victims...







We loaded up all gear for a mile and a half paddle down river that often required us to get out and drag our gear over shallow sections of drying riverbed.  Because the NuCanoe is lighter weight and sits higher in the water... I was able to make it down river much faster than my brother who was in the Old Town.   Well, I also had a trolling motor for the scattered pools that were deep enough to use it! So, I glided along and got some things set up while Travis continued down river.
-
First things first, we needed bait... so I began setting up a station where we could catch buffalo or common carp.   We also had several older buffalo from days past on ice as reserves.




When Travis arrived the heat of the day was in full force... we opted to put our camping gear into the shade and set it up in the evening.
-
We got lines in the water, some tight lining, some with sliding floats.   All of my bite alarms were broken on a fishing trip several months back so we just needed to keep within close enough proximity to the rods to know if a fish was on.
-
We also passed the time toying with longnose gar, which have never been too difficult to capture here.




We both kept as hydrated as possible, I even wore a Camelback for several hours until I realized the pack water turned hot really quickly...  The first take of day 1 came later in the day, but for whatever reason the sturdy rod I was using snapped in half upon hookset.   I don't think the fish was THAT big, as it fought for a moment after the rod broke before shaking free, the rod must have simply had stress fractures in it that I wasn't aware of.. Nevertheless, another one of my baits got a run shortly after, and we managed to land that fish.  It was a considerably sized fish, probably in the 80-90lb range.






There was no more action for the rest of the day and we moved back to the campsite to set up for the night.
-
As darkness fell, the shoreline around our campsite had a lot of activity from longnose gar which cruised up and down the shoreline picking off unsuspecting minnows of all sorts.  I watched one gar in particular simply sit and wait in mere inches of water as unsuspecting baitfish moved dangerously close before the lightening fast jaws of the gar snapped shut on them.  I chose not to take advantage of what would have been a very easy opportunity to catch these gar though.
-
We didn't do any night fishing, a full night's rest was in order after the fatigue of the hottest day I have EVER fished...  We had hotdogs, chicken breast, and the classic Hot Pockets for dinner... all heated over a grill, delicious!

-
Travis and I both woke up before the sun peeked over the tree tops... Travis was cooking up a nice breakfast, bacon and shrimp!  After eating and hydrating, I went back to catching baits.   I managed a very nice common carp that would provide enough bait for the rest of the trip.   We diced the carp up, and got baits in the water.  This time we placed two on our side of the river (Texas) and two on the Oklahoma side.   After an hour or so of waiting Travis let out a whistle from where he was stationed 150 or so yards away letting me know he had a take.




Travis was hooked up by the time I had gathered all gear necessary to land the fish, but it was no MONSTER unfortunately.  Nevertheless, it gave us good momentum and a boost of morale to carry us on.

 

Shortly after releasing his fish,  we gazed across the river to check the other rods, and I noticed one of the rods had a strong take.  Travis and I hopped into the NuCanoe and headed across the river to retrieve the rod.   We followed the fish for nearly 15 minutes before heading back to solid ground for a hookset.   Upon hookset the fish was moving towards me quickly... and I had a hard time gauging where the fish was, how big it was... or if was really even ON the line.   I was very concerned the fish would pull free without a propor hookset, but she turned, and she turned with authority.
-
We battled it out with the trophy sized gar for about 15 minutes before she succumb to exhaustion and Travis was able to get the snare pole over her head.  The fish measured just over 7 feet and should have been in the range of 170lb!  This was my largest Alligator Gar to date.







Satisfied with our experience on the river, we packed up our gear and headed back up river... I am not sure when i'll be back to this stretch of river, but I look forward to my next encounter with these outstanding fish!

Gar Fishing with the Frontier 12 (7/15/12)

Recently I put together another little video chronicling a weekend’s fishing that some may enjoy.   I really wanted to put together another good alligator gar video, but two things worked against me… one, I was fishing entirely alone, and two… the alligator gar weren’t cooperating what so ever.
-
Saturday I went to a creek I used to fish more than 10 years ago and not much had changed there.  There were PLENTIFUL groups of smallmouth buffalo and common carp moseying in the shallow waters.   The fish here face pretty certain demise, as its below a dam on the Oklahoma City river where if water is not flowing, the tailwaters dry up completely… the fish were hanging out in scarcely more than a foot of water, and the water temperature at the bank were boiling!
-
In any case, the shallow water made sight fishing for the big herds of buffalo really easy.   I used 3/8 sized creep feed and managed a few buffalo for bait, and several just for fun!

-
Sunday I headed to my favorite spot on the Red River… I stayed out there for hours upon hours suspending chunks of buffalo under balloons for gator gar (with no success).   The water level had dropped significantly since last time I was there, I didnt mind, I assumed it would merely condense the fish into the deeper hole at the area I fish and make it easier to find them.   Though the alligator gar were surfacing in my area, I never had any great pick ups from an alligator gar.   I did manage a nice 25lb~ blue catfish… but the fish tossed the hooks at the shore.


-
I then started using smaller tackle and cut sunnies and had some fun with longnose gar!  No  MONSTERS were landed, but it was still an enjoyable weekend of fishing.   That was also the first time I have been to that spot WITHOUT catching an alligator gar!


-
There are still images of the weekend’s fishing just after the “credits”.

Alligator Gar with NuCanoe 6/19/12

On June 19, 2012 I headed out to the Red River alone with some rods and the NuCanoe, hoping for a giant!

-
I hit the river at about 0930 and made my way down river with the Frontier 12 packed full of gear.  Because I was heading INTO the wind, the trolling motor really came in handy.. once I reached the bend that I typically fish  I started trying to catch buffalo for bait from the shore.  As the first two hours passed without landing one I grew impatient and decided to settle on the older frozen bait (which I usually use only as backup)… old carp from a local pond.
-
The last time out at this river we had a lot of trouble getting picked up despite there being a lot of fish in the area and I figured it was because the gar were staying suspended, and not on the bottom… the water in this particular bend is close to 20 feet deep… which is irregularly deep for most parts of the Red River.  These isolated holes like this are like a virtual magnet for the huge gar that live in the river, as there aren’t many of them to choose from.
-
I had the idea to use balloons as floats and try suspending carp chunks directly in the current or in eddies from the bank.  Ends up it works… works quite well!
-
It was not long, as I was anchored down in the middle of the channel, that I observed my balloon go down (they kept popping in the heat of the sun…)
-
Because I did not want to be dragged around in a small watercraft by a potential monster, I would follow the fish for a while before putting over to the shore to engage the fish from solid ground.   I lit into what felt like a monstrous fish, and it was.   I battled it out with a gar that I am certain exceeded 150lb  until I had the monster all the way to the shore.   Armed only with a home made snare pole, I went in after her.   Well… 1 man, vs a 7 foot long fish proved to be quite the conundrum… fish like this simply require an extra set of hands and manpower..  that became painfully obvious.   As I was attempting to noose the fish, she thrashed, and my noose sinched around my trace line and pulled the hook free (she was shallow hooked).  She writhed around totally free in the mud for a moment and with reckless abandon I did a belly flop right onto her and we were in for it!… I wrestled with her for a moment but she powered out of my grip and got AWAY!!!!   I could not believe I had just lost my biggest fish ever and she was literally in and out of my arms.
-
Maybe 2 hours later I had a second take, this fish was much smaller… After a short but spirited battle I captured the 50-60lb alligator gar… had to have been one of the only SMALL ones that live there.  After a few disappointingly mediocre photos, I let the little fella go.



-
Another 2 hours or so passed before I got another run, but this one was… THE ONE!  This was the gar pushing 200lb that I have been searching for.  How do I know?  after some time following the fish I saw her surface in front of the canoe and was shocked by how massive this fish was.   Most alligator gar have a olive green, almost bluish look when they are under water, but this one came up so big, old and ancient she had this weathered grey scarred up look that sent chills down my spine.   Well over 7 feet long, I know this fish was closer to 200lb than any other ive seen.   Disaster struck of course…. the fish found its way over to a steep bank and finagled its way under some sort of underwater snag where she dropped the bait and of course caused me to lose a good rig.
-
I called my brother Travis, who was in the Dallas area for business reasons, and expressed my frustrations… he decided to head my way.
-
After Travis arrived we got to work, and near the end of the day I got one more nice run.   Once again, I saw this fish surface, another monster over 100lb.   This time everything came together… the hook-set, the fight, all was textbook and with Travis’s help we got her noosed properly and landed!   The fish measured 6’5,  just like the last one!  hell I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same fish, though this one did look THICKER.   I would estimate the fish around the 130lb mark.
 

 

Standing, Fishing, & Paddling by Ken Ziomek

                                                                STANDING, FISHING AND PADDLING

I’ve had my Frontier for approximately four months and I continue to be amazed at the flexibility that it offers.  For the first time in my eight years as a member of the “plastic navy”, I’m able to not only stand and fish, but I can also fully control my Frontier while I’m standing and fishing.  When my Frontier arrived, I immediately started spending more time standing while I was fishing.  The problem that I encountered was that I had to immediately sit down when winds moved my Frontier out of the area that I was fishing.  I would have to sit down, grab my paddle, move back to my fishing area, and then stand up to fish again hoping the wind would not continue to interfere with my fishing.  

My solution to the problem involved adding two simple paddle holders to my kayak cane which I’ve detailed elsewhere on the NuCanoe website.  When used in conjunction with a tubular rod holder mounted on the Freedom Track, my paddle and my rod are always within easy reach when I’m standing and fishing.  If the wind moves my Frontier away from my fishing area, it only takes a few seconds to set my rod in the holder, grab my paddle, reposition the Frontier, and get back to fishing. 

 As you can see from the photos that I’ve included both my rod and my paddle are always within easy reach making it very easy to stand, fish, and paddle.  Another photo shows all of the Ram Mount and PVC components that I used in constructing and then modifying the kayak cane.  If you decide to build your own kayak cane/paddle holder, I offer the following tips.

1-      Use some type of lining on the inside of the paddle holder.  This will aid in keeping the paddle from sliding on the PVC.  I used strips of the fuzzy side of Velcro that came with adhesive.  I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby.

2-      I fasten my kayak cane to one and one-half inch Ram ball mounts kept in place on the Freedom Track with double NuCanoe mounting screws.  With this type of strong mounting arrangement, the Ram ball is also suitable for use with trolling rod holders.

3-      While the paddle holders are held in place with PVC cement, none of the threaded couplings or pipes should be fully tightened.  This allows you to adjust the paddle holders to be in the best position to support the paddle if you prefer your kayak cane to be mounted at an angle.

4-      Build your kayak cane with a height that allows you to easily access or place your paddle in the holders.

5-      I’ve found that placement of my seat and the kayak cane in a location that allows me to stand in the widest part of the hull provides the greatest stability.

6-      Finally, make certain that your rod holder is mounted far enough forward of the kayak cane so the holder or your rod does not interfere with your paddling.

                                               

I’m very pleased with the results of my modified kayak cane.  I don’t believe that there is any other kayak or hybrid that offers the flexibility for a setup like mine.  If you like to stand while you are fishing, be careful before you buy another brand of kayak or hybrid.  Ask yourself whether it will provide the flexibility that you need for your fishing?