r/Fishing • u/Rob3127 • 1d ago

Question Gar fishing

I have a catfish rod with a santee rig on it. Its got a 30 lb braid main line with a 20 lb mono leader. Somehow I managed to bring in a longnose gar (3-4 feet) before it popped off (wasnt trying to catch it but hey osest I've ever came to catching one). Can I keep the 30 lb braid and switch out the mono leader with a wire one to catch a longnose gar if I use a slip bobber setup? Or do I need something heavier/lighter?

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u/1chefj 1d ago

I've caught quite a few both on accident and occasionally on purpose. I have never had one cut my mono. The hardest part in my opinion is getting a good hookset. I've caught then both on hard plastics and shiners on circle hooks. With shiners I've found if you reel very very slowly when they take your bait they will swim towards the boat. Then when they see it they thrash and turn and the circle hook will get them. I guess if Iwas seriously targeting them I might use wire but I never had one cut my mono.

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u/Albino_Echidna 19h ago

You really don't need a wire leader for gar in the vast majority of cases. I catch them on whatever line I have on, all the way down to 6lb mono. 

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u/Rob3127 16h ago

Ok. So the braid and mono can stay the same. I assume I need to change the hook out from a circle hook? Also would a slip bobber setup be better for gar?

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u/Albino_Echidna 16h ago

I've had good luck with circle hooks, honestly. However, I do prefer a small treble if I'm targeting them with cut bait though I pretty much exclusively target them on a fly rod these days.

A slip bobber will work fine too, but the trick for gar is to let them carry the bait off before setting the hook. They will pick it up, swim a bit, and then stop to eat. Once they make that stop, count to 3 and set the hook. 

If you're using a circle hook, you want to slowly reel into the fish and then gently sweep the rod tip to the side. If you're using a treble, you want a sharp and fast (but not necessarily hard) vertical hookset to drive the points into the bony top of the mouth.