Earl and I went fishing yesterday. All day. From early morning until around 6 PM. We started on Lake Kerr, where we got skunked, and then trailered Earl's Ghenoo over to the Ocklawaha River, our favorite stomping grounds.
We anchored in the swift moving river and let our bait (worms) float downstream. We could see fish jumping, but couldn't get a nibble. Must be the wrong bait. We went up a little offshoot of the river where I caught two sunfish, which I released, but that was it. We went back out into the river and floated our worms. After a couple of hours, just when we were about to give up, Earl's $9 flea market spinning rod bent in half. It was a good sized fish and it put up one heck of a fight. It dove, it headed to the boat and then away, and then it jumped. Finally, Earl got the fish along side the boat, but when he tried to land it without a net the line snapped. I got a good look at it though. It was a Longnose Gar, about a foot and a half to two feet long.
If you don't know what a Longnose Gar is, here's a pic for you.
Much bigger than the one that Earl caught. They can grow to almost 7 feet long and 35 pounds normally, but the record fish in Florida is 41 pounds. The world record is 50 pounds and was caught in Texas.
If I reeled in a big Gar like that, I'd throw my pole overboard and scream like a little girl.
We anchored in the swift moving river and let our bait (worms) float downstream. We could see fish jumping, but couldn't get a nibble. Must be the wrong bait. We went up a little offshoot of the river where I caught two sunfish, which I released, but that was it. We went back out into the river and floated our worms. After a couple of hours, just when we were about to give up, Earl's $9 flea market spinning rod bent in half. It was a good sized fish and it put up one heck of a fight. It dove, it headed to the boat and then away, and then it jumped. Finally, Earl got the fish along side the boat, but when he tried to land it without a net the line snapped. I got a good look at it though. It was a Longnose Gar, about a foot and a half to two feet long.
If you don't know what a Longnose Gar is, here's a pic for you.
If I reeled in a big Gar like that, I'd throw my pole overboard and scream like a little girl.
That's something you get here in Oklahoma Dave!!!
ReplyDeleteBetter have a pair of "protective" underwear on and a few barf bags ready.
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