My Garfish catch!

[PropThePolecat]

I thought id show all my american-based Bladeforum friends, what i caugt on the European side of the North-Atlantic this time. I packed up my fishing gear and headed to the ocean hoping to catch something, anything. Standing on a wavebreaker i was able to land 2 Garfish in 2 hours. I caught 2 more which i literally lost midair during landing and i had many knocking my lure trying to bite.

They're great fish to catch. They swim near the surface and bite at everything even during broad daylight. When caught they break the surface and leap high in the air. Kind of like big-game fishing, only not

I'd forgotten my Leatherman at home, so i had to use my SAK to cut the hook out. Id also forgotten to bring along a priest, so i had to knock them dead with my Nalgene bottle. Worked like a charm :thumbup:

Theyre only going to be here a couple of weeks max, then theyll head back out to the North Sea. Theyll be back to spawn next april.

 

[dipbait]

Man , their skinnier than fresh water gars. Looks like you cleaned them. Is their much meat on them?

 

[euroross]

Do they taste good?

 

[PropThePolecat]

Man , their skinnier than fresh water gars. Looks like you cleaned them. Is their much meat on them?

Do they taste good?

Yes, i cleaned them when i got home. I didnt have my camera on me, when i caught them, so no pics there. Theres not alot of meat on them, and after theyve been fried on a pan, theres even less! But they taste fantastic...good things come in small packages.

Of course, the 2 i lost were bigger than the 2 i caught. Typical.

Heres a Endura for size...now they look even smaller

 

[Shaw Blades]

Neat looking but useless imo

 

[PropThePolecat]

Neat looking but useless imo

Why is that? Useless, as in not much meat? Bear in mind i wasnt fishing for dinner or to survive. I was fishing for the fun of it. And they made a tasty appetizer.

 

[dipbait]

Catching fish is fun. Id love to have hooked into them.

The gars I catch bite in the middle of the day, their just so darn hard to hook.

 

[richard j]

neat looking fish compared to the gar we have over here. the ones you caught look more like a swordfish. is the meat real mild? what kind of other fish are in your area?

 

[PropThePolecat]

Catching fish is fun. Id love to have hooked into them.

The gars I catch bite in the middle of the day, their just so darn hard to hook.

A trick the local fishermen use is to replace the hook on the lure with a silk thread. The Garfish strikes at its prey first by knocking it sideways with its "needle". The fine silk then gets entangled in the Garfish's teeth allowing you to land it. I havent tried it myself yet, but its a very popular Garfish fishing method.

Another method is to attach the hook a inch or 2 behind the lure. When the Garfish strikes the lure with the tip of its jaw, the hook will be positioned near the fish's mouth, where it will hook.

You can buy lures with silk-thread or make your own. Pic courtesey of Google.

 

[dipbait]

Ive heard of that ,been meaning to try it.

 

[PropThePolecat]

neat looking fish compared to the gar we have over here. the ones you caught look more like a swordfish. is the meat real mild? what kind of other fish are in your area?

Yes, it tastes mild, rounded and not very "fishy". Very tasty :thumbup:

The most common fish in my area are Atlantic Mackerel, Sea Trout, Cod, and a couple of different flatfish primarily European Plaice and Flounder. Those are the ones i stand a chance of catching from moles and wavebreakers.

 

[Picksmith]

It's always fun catching a new species. Interesting advice about the silk threads, but... what did you land them on?

 

[PropThePolecat]

It's always fun catching a new species. Interesting advice about the silk threads, but... what did you land them on?

I used a float with some Gulp bait and a silver Toby lure with a tripoint hook. Both were a succes with the Toby lure having a slight edge in the form of more strikes.

 

[Steel130]

neat looking fish compared to the gar we have over here. the ones you caught look more like a swordfish. is the meat real mild? what kind of other fish are in your area?

Yah over here there are Gar like this! That is an Alligator Gar however.

 

[Medic1210]

Wow, the photo with the Endura definitely shows how small they are. At first, I thought they were just real skinny, but dang.... They're nothing like the American Gar that I've caught. Most of the ones in the river I fish are 2-3 feet long and well over 10 pounds. And they don't taste worth a crap. We even have a species that looks like a Gar mated with an Alligator, and coincidentally is called an Alligator Gar. They've been measured as long as 9 feet and over 200 pounds. Talk about scary looking.

 

[PropThePolecat]

It seems the only thing these fish have in common are the name. Those alligator gars are gigantic!

The big Garfish arrive here early spring and are notorioulsy hard to catch cause theyre focused on spawning. They leave again after a short while and all thats left are the smaller ones like i caught. Bear in mind its the very end of the season, thats why my fish are so scrawny.

This here is a more typical sized fish. A couple of these make a pretty decent meal: