gar fish

[matken]

my wife has requested a feed of gar fish. any advise on baits, rigs and locations (bris north side) would be greatly appreciated.

[trueblue]

why???????????????

Nice tasting, but full of bones...

[stark]

Caught some of the western end of Green Is at night using a very small hook & wee part of a prawn floating on the surface.

Think a cast net would work better if you see them in the lights.

[robersl]

try redcliffe jetty take some bread throw a few pieces out onto the water to see if any around also put a heap in an oinion bag or stocking tied to a line let it drift away from the jetty when fish come around just cast yyuor float next to it using dough for bait ,flower and water mixed has to be a nice day not much breeze

[Kiktz]

I have heard in close on the eastern side of mud, top of the tide.
Berkley them up with bread, keep the trail short as not to actually feed them.
Floating with peeled prawns or doe.

Also try creeks as they can school up to get a bit of a feed

Aj

[Luc]

Plenty of garfish in North Pine Dam.

Luc

[Freeeedom]

Yeah - agree with Luc. Gar in the salt water are best fished in the winter off places like the Shorncliff jetty, but they are available in the dam all year round. You'll only get snub-nosed gar in the dam, but they are bigger than the river gar which is the common salt water gar. Berley with bread. soaked and crumbled and fish with tiny pieces of prawn flesh on a number 12 to 16 hook under a small float
Cheers Freeeedom

[Noelm]

without a doubt, the best gar to eat are the big ones you get in the ocean, the smaller greeny looking ones from the dams are OK, but no where near the seagars, in the summer around here (south coats NSW) you will get them up to 300 grams or more, and I can tell you they are delicious and not too bony if you know how to clean them.

[matken]

nice one, thanks for that.

[B_E_N]

mate we catch heaps of big fat snub nose gar in cabbage tree creek, about the size of whithing and they taste even better. you'll very rarely get gar in a net because they get spooked to easily and the long nose gar are to thin and go through the mesh. best time for them is after easter when it starts to get a lil colder, and fishing a run out tide for about 2-3 hours after the turn. a good place to put yourself is upstream from where to creeks meet, the water rushing out brings alot of muck with it which is what their feeding on. best gear is a ligth spin outfit with a light long float, about 30-40cm of line between it and the hook, with small split shot sinkers but just enought to weight the bait down, try n get the smallest hooks possible, long shjanks dont work as well because gar suck their food in. it helps to keep your float adjustable aswell just so u can pin point what depth the big ones are feeding at. a bag of bread over the side for berly and small bits of peeled prawn or good dough is the best bait. one more tip when hooking them dont yank a controlled smooth strike is best, it wont pull the hook outta their mouth. good luck hope thats enough to get ya a feed.

[matken]

thanks, do you know when the prawns come on in the same area?

[B_E_N]

yeh mate they should be around now but i know the larger ones come into the bay at around the same time, we always wait until after the brisbane to gladstone yatch race, they seem to be in good numbers then, if u can get a spot to yourself, once u cast a net anywhere in the bay at that time youll have about 50 other blokes testing your water out with ya

[onerabbit]

why???????????????

Nice tasting, but full of bones...

You have been missing out trueblu,

gut your decent size garfish, lay him on his back & gently roll him up the gut cavity with a milk bottle (still around when I was a kid) or similar untill the flesh starts pulling back from the spine, get it right & you can pull the spine & ribs from the flesh leaving a beautiful, pretty much boneless fillet.


Muzz