Dave Mercer Hooking Alligator Gar

Dave Mercer definitely knows how to get his viewers excited. It’s all about big fish, tips, and his undeniably infectious laughter. Check out this video of him hooking into a big Alligator Gar.

via Facts of Fishing

New Record Alligator Gar?

I have no idea how this incredible fish flew under the radar, but here it is in all its glory! This massive alligator gar was caught in May 2009 and is potentially the new world record caught with a bow and arrow.

This alligator gar was 8 foot, 3 inches long and weighed 230lbs! Caught by Johnny Morris of Bass Pro Shops

John Paul Morris posing with the giant beast!

Caught while fishing with the Garzilla Guide Service.

via WSJ.com

Fly Gal 2.0

Flygal.ca has had a makeover, no pun intended. The site looks sharp and features plenty of great photos of April Vokey and friends…and more!

Check it out!

Rare Golden Gar

I’ve been reading up on gar fishing for my trip to Georgia this weekend. I saw so many of these unusual fish and had no luck enticing one to bite. For my next visit to Thurmond Lake I will be armed with knowledge and some new nylon lures. If I’m lucky I’ll catch a few, if I’m really luck maybe I’ll come across one of these golden gar. How bout one of these beauties for your aquarium Mark?

via Gar Anglers Sporting Society

Fishing At Strom Thumond Lake

On we weekend we made a trip out to a huge man made lake – the second biggest man made lake east of the Mississippi with 71,000 acres of water! One of the reasons I wanted to visit the lake, other then fishing of course, was to see the massive dam that was built back in the 1950′s. The Strom Thurmond Dam towers 200 feet above the Savanah River below and was a great place to visit and photograph. Local legends say there are catfish as big as Volkswagens below the damn, but I decided to fish above the dam in search of largemouth bass.

I went back to the lake at 5:00am on Tuesday morning and once again fished with the sunrise. There was lots of action in the water, and I could hear splashes nearby in the darkness. Once the sun was up I got a good look at what was causing the disturbance – gar pike and alligator gar! There were dozens of them right near shore, ranging in size from 3-4 feet. I had a couple hits at my lure, but was unable to get my hooks into anything. I wasn’t able to catch one, but I found a small dead alligator gar near the shore so I snapped a few photos. Later I had a good size bass smash a shallow diving crankbait, but once again I missed a hookset. I packed it in after a couple of hours, and rushed back to the hotel to change for work, avoiding being late by a few seconds.

Bill Valverde’s World Record Alligator Gar

I posted about the world record alligator gar sometime ago, but was unable to locate a photo of the enormous fish. Luckily one of our readers knew just were to find one

Without further ado, here is a photo of the late, great Bill Valverde’s world record 279 pound alligator gar caught in 1951.

My uncle is Bill Valverde and we have an old pic of him and my grandfather with the gar. I’ll get it scanned and emailed to you if you would like. I’m kinda shocked no one in the family has contributed the photo anywhere on the to be seen on the net.

Dan

Thanks Dan!