Been noticing that most of my gar (freelined and bottom fished) seem to get hit in the middle without as many hook-ups as squid or pillies. I use 4 ganged 6/0s (they're pretty big gar), tail down. Talking to others who seem to be as passionate about their own methods, I find that some break the nose off and some don't, and some fish 'em head down and some head up. Pro's and cons anyone? Ta
cheers
kev
Kev, what type of fish are you fishing for?
Regards David
Anything that's unfortunate enough to come along David :-)Originally Posted by dnej
I know that they're a good bait trolled, especially as a "flapper", but I've only trolled once and drawn a blank. At spot x Rouse, I'm thinking along the lines of mackerel, macs and small shark with the float, and big shovellies when I'm bottom fishing. I've had some good hits when targetting snapper near Mud (float fished at 3/4 depth) but those were all hit in the middle without any hook-ups. On those days I was also fishing pillies and didn't get a hit at all....coulda been shark I suppose but shows that gar was the preferred feed.......at least on those days?
cheers
kev
Kev,
When my dad was around,gar was his favourite bait. He used to outfish me bigtime, by cutting his bait in half, the putting the bait on, with the cut at the very bottom.
Also , he used "bay gar" not "sea gar" for tailor, when he fished at Ormiston Corner.
Unbelievable to see a big greenback , in a foot of water, take the half bay gar, and not touch my pilly, or sea gar.
I use the half gar method in the surf, with great results.
Try cutting them in half, see what happens.
Regards David
Placed on a ching guard with 2 big 8/0 gang hooks and trolled account for many spaniards. I squish along the dorsal along the length of the body to squish the backbone, it allows it to swim better.
Never bottom bashed with them, to bloody expensive.
Kev,I use a rig called a spaghetti rig for bottom bashing(for both pillies & gar)the only prob is you get bite offs 'cause you only have one hook actually fixed to your line,the bottom hook, the rest are loose/sliding on the line,thats why the rig is so good for diff.lenghts of whole fish baits,the rig I make up is 4x 4/0s,slide the first hook on the line then a 2cm piece of clear plastic tubing as a spacer,next hook followed by another piece of tubing till you have 3 free running hooks/tubing then attach the last hook to the line,no matter what lenght of bait you are using just slide the hooks along to suit,NOTE><>the attached hook goes in at the tail end first & the rest are put into the bait at an angle UP into the backbone(not along the side like a normal tailor rigged bait)the last hook goes into/under the jaw bone & out between the eyes,you can always use another piece of tubing with gar to slide down over the beak if you wish as I have said tho' 'cause the hooks are free sliding you will get bite offs at times 'cause the toothie ones will be able to chew on the line,I have found some of the newer leaders will help tho',Also one thing is for sure if your fish wants to throw its head around when hooked it will only get more hooks into it,Be also bloody careful when unhooking as there can be a few loose hooks flying around when you have your fish on the deck.Cheers Touchy.><> ><> ><>.
Cheers David. I got into this mind set of big baits = big fish. Last time out at Palm we weren't getting a touch on full pillies when those around us were boating every minute. We switched to half pilly and bagged out in an hour. Changed my whole thinking.......except on gar.......till now :-)
cheers
kev
I normally catch my own but my local Action was knocking 'em out at $3.99 a kilo on Tuesday and they looked like they'd just come out of the water. reckon that's cheap considering the damage I do to my back with my bloody cast net.
cheers
kev
Yeah, I can imagine. Thanks for that Touchy. I use a similar rig with full mullet, but with wire. I'll make a few spaghetti rigs up and give em a go.
cheers
kev
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