The air was thick and sticky when I first laid eyes on\nthe monster\u2019s lair\u2014one of the countless lakes created by flood runoff as the\nTrinity River winds its way across eastern Texas. As I stood on the bank, a\nlarge fish quietly surfaced, its identity shrouded by the coffee-colored water.\nI had a hunch I\u2019d just seen my first alligator gar!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments later, legendary gar wrangler Bubba Bedre\napproached on his boat. He welcomed me, my wife Anna and my Uncle Rob (a\nlongtime Texan and first-time fisherman) aboard for our first-ever gar hunt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I first became fascinated with alligator gar\u2014the second-largest\nfreshwater fish on our continent, behind the white sturgeon\u2014while watching River Monsters with Jeremy Wade<\/a>.\nBubba took Jeremy fishing for that episode, and his Garzilla Guide Service<\/a> has since\nbecome the foremost authority on alligator gar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe day that episode aired, my phone blew up,\u201d said\nBubba, who now employs nine gar guides across the region. \u201cAnd it still hasn\u2019t\nstopped ringing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A few miles into our boat ride, we stopped and surveyed\nthe Bayou-like landscape. We saw a large gar on Bubba\u2019s sonar, and several big\nfish rolled (gar can breathe air, and they often surface to take a gulp). Bubba\nhacked two carp into one-pound chunks and we casted five baits into the\ndepths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the baits (marked by large, orange slip bobbers)\nmarinated, Bubba entertained us with stories of his adventures in Texas and his\nmost memorable clients\u2014all told with hilarious country flair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After 45 minutes of laughs, things got serious. One of\nthe floats was moving out of formation! I grabbed the rod and fed line off the\nopen reel, remembering Bubba\u2019s advice to let the fish have the bait way\nlonger<\/em> than you think you need to. Gar snouts are incredibly bony, making\nit virtually impossible to set the hook until the fish has the bait past those double\nrows of teeth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s acting like a small one,\u201d said Bubba. \u201cBut I think\nhe\u2019s got it. Go ahead and hit em!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I reeled down and set the hook hard as a heavy fish\nstarted peeling line. I\u2019d never wrestled a gar before, but this sure didn\u2019t\nfeel like a small one! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several minutes into the fight, the fish erased any doubt\nwith a violent, drag-burning run. Bubba joined me on the deck, trying to catch\na glimpse of our quarry in the murk. It\u2019s strange fighting a fish for more than\n10 minutes without ever seeing it. When it finally surfaced, I could barely\nbelieve my eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a monster, man!\u201d said Bubba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGiddy-up, boys and girls!\u201d I shouted. \u201cI think he might\nbe taller than you, Uncle Rob!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The fish was too big to bring aboard, so Bubba secured it\nwith a lasso (when in Texas, right?) and we motored ashore for pictures,\nmeasurements, and a little science. At 6-foot-7 and 130 pounds, this fish was\nthe largest of my angling career. I got in the water for an up-close look\u2014its\nscales were dragon-like armor, its back and fins sported a unique speckled\npattern and its dental weaponry was breathtaking. This was the coolest fish\nI\u2019ve ever seen! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before releasing the gar, Bubba inserted an electronic\ntag near its tail. For decades, gar were unceremoniously hunted because of\ntheir fearsome looks and reputation for eating game fish. But in reality, they\npose no threat to humans and play an important ecological role as apex\npredators. Alligator gar can live 50 years or longer, so it takes a long time\nto rebuild populations. They are now part of a conservation\nprogram<\/a>, and Bubba tags fish to help Texas Parks and Wildlife track their\npopulations. This fish was a rare find\u2014a trophy-sized adult that had never been\ntagged! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tired, soaked and covered in gar slime, I climbed back\naboard and we went out to finish our afternoon. We caught another alligator gar\nnearly four feet long, as well as a huge blue catfish (I had to go swimming for\nthat one, too, to untangle my line from a tree stump). The whole experience was\nawesome, but that big gar will long rank as one of my most memorable catches.\nIt also provided an important reminder\u2014when you travel, it pays to bring (or\nrent) a fishing rod. Because you never know what unforgettable fish might be\nswimming in unfamiliar waters. Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The air was thick and sticky when I first laid eyes on the monster\u2019s lair\u2014one of the countless lakes created by flood runoff as the Trinity River winds its way across eastern Texas. As I stood on the bank, a large fish quietly surfaced, its identity shrouded by the coffee-colored water. I had a hunch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2005,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000\/revisions\/2005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}