There are a lot of gar where I live, and some of them get pretty big. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for lures/bait for catching them.  Thanks.

Well, I've never really tried to catch them, but I did catch a 36" Gar on a in-line spinner bait one time. :-?

I accidentally catch them on crappie grubs quite a lot, but when I actually see them and try to catch them if I'm bored, I have had a lot of success on a lipless crank.  Get something fast and loud in their face and they'll usually react.

The easiest way to catch a gar, is with a rope lure.  You can make one on your own.  Use about a 6 inch piece of 3/8 inch nylon rope.  Take the hook off of a spoon, and fasten the rope to the spoon.  Unstrand the rope, and fray it out.  The nylon rope actually helps attract the gar.  The gar will strike the rope, and get their teeth tangled in it.... no hook required.  However, don't set the hook like you would if you were bass fishing, just apply steady pressure to the rod.  

Here's one I caught on a rope lure, scroll down, i'm the gar master of the week for May 22-28.

http://longnosegar.com/longnoser/The%20Masters.htm

Wow!  Looks like I will defer to the masters.  Nice pics.

I've seen a few of those rope lures.. They're cool, and you don't hurt the fish...

I was down in SC visiting family a few years back and they took me to Santee-Cooper for a few hours fishing.. Those gar in there were about 2 hours past being scary .. I mean to tell ya!! There 2 I remember that had to be over 5 feet long and that wasn't counting the bill !!

My one cousin was saying they were one of the nuisance fish for when panfishing, as they'd hanng around and rip thru a school if they were around a boat, or near shore and wind up getting hooked, or snagged and wind up spooling a few folks..

Are they one's you all catch a different strain ?? The one's I saw were all dark...

The easiest way to catch a gar, is with a rope lure.  You can make one on your own.  Use about a 6 inch piece of 3/8 inch nylon rope.  Take the hook off of a spoon, and fasten the rope to the spoon.  Unstrand the rope, and fray it out.  The nylon rope actually helps attract the gar.  The gar will strike the rope, and get their teeth tangled in it.... no hook required.  However, don't set the hook like you would if you were bass fishing, just apply steady pressure to the rod.  

Here's one I caught on a rope lure, scroll down, i'm the gar master of the week for May 22-28.

http://longnosegar.com/longnoser/The%20Masters.htm

That's why I love this site, in less than 24 hours you have the answer to any fishing question you can possibly dream up. What kind of retrieve do you use for the rope lure? Steady or intermittent?

I've seen a few of those rope lures.. They're cool, and you don't hurt the fish...

I was down in SC visiting family a few years back and they took me to Santee-Cooper for a few hours fishing.. Those gar in there were about 2 hours past being scary .. I mean to tell ya!! There 2 I remember that had to be over 5 feet long and that wasn't counting the bill !!

My one cousin was saying they were one of the nuisance fish for when panfishing, as they'd hanng around and rip thru a school if they were around a boat, or near shore and wind up getting hooked, or snagged and wind up spooling a few folks..

Are they one's you all catch a different strain ?? The one's I saw were all dark...

If you were seeing them over 5 feet long, they were probably alligator gar.  Mine, along with the others on that site was a longnose gar.

That's why I love this site, in less than 24 hours you have the answer to any fishing question you can possibly dream up. What kind of retrieve do you use for the rope lure? Steady or intermittent?

It depends on how the fish are feeding, you just have to experiment.  Some people make them out of chuggers, and use them on top.  Some people make them out of spinnerbaits, and use a steady retrieve.  You can also put them on a jig head, and use them like a swim jig.  Just experiment til you figure something out.

Yea I think that was what they called them... Thanks for the info  

There are some live bait set-ups that work well, your hook up ratio just isnt as good as a rope lure. Gar are hard to hook when you are trying to hook them.<br>Best and most fun way I have heard/found is using an 8wt flyrod using a 6-8ft straighten leader of Berkley big game with a homemade rope lure/fly. You can make a lighter lure by tying an 8 inch strip of white unraveled nylon rope to a heavy duty split ring. stripping in the line gives it an action, coventional equipment can't compete with. Got to have a decent reel with a smooth drag, or you will get hurt and gear will be trashed. Also keeping a 2x4 with a V cut into one end in the boat is good idea...can bring fish up beside the boat, hold it againest the hull and pull the rope free and the fish slides back in water.

When we gar fish we usually rig up a slip sinker with a bead about 1' above the hook.  We use minnows/creek chubs and fish bottom.  When we catch one we just pull it on the bank or net it then kill it.