Weekend fishing

[Fret440]

Over the weekend, my brother and I had a chance to try out bow fishing. We went after needle-nose gar. It's an invasive species in Texas lakes, so you can take as many as you like. These gar don't have any natural predators and eat everything else in the lake. They are starting to spawn right now and will lay up next to the bank, which makes it a little easier to shoot them. I found out I'm not a great shot with the bow...didn't get any myself. My brother shot five, including this monster. 60" and 32lbs. Oh, and a view from where we were camping (Lake Belton).

Jacob

 

[barry richardson]

Sounds like fun! Any good to eat?

 

[Wildthings]

Looks like fun! I've eaten them before and they were good. The guy that cooked them used some kinda scoop and balled them out, battered, deepfried and had fish nugget style

 

[Schroedc]

Sounds like fun, We used to shoot carp up in our neck of the woods with an old 35LB Bear recurve

 

[Fret440]

You can eat the backstrap but the rest has some toxins. Tough suckers. Spent 45 minutes pulling the skin back with tin snips and a filet knife to get at the meat in this one. Worth it for this, might not be so with small ones. There are some interesting recipes online. Most people boil with Cajun crab boil (it's a delicacy down there). The meat is chewier than most fish, kinda like a poor mans' lobster. Don't eat the eggs or anything under the ribs.

Jacob

 

[Allen1]

He'll yeah bud sounds like fun and il give you a recipe for gar first off you fillet it then you need to put it in a brown paper sack and soak it with pure olive oil get the bag all oily also then put garlic salt and lemon pepper directly on the fish then bake it for around fifteen minutes on a cookie sheet on 350 degrees when you take it out throw the fish away and eat the bag . Aaahahaha jokin bud

 

[Kevin]

My dad grew me up to not eat them at all. I always wanted to bow fish too. Sounds like fun. Whenever we'd land one we'd beat it to death. Whenever I'd get one on a trot like I'd leave it on and let it drown. No love lost between and gars. Good on y'all for shooting those no-good bastards I hate 'em. I'd have to shoot a bass or two too for some good eating.

 

[Molokai]

Looking at your photos makes me want to go fishing.
Never been bow hunting just catching octopus with gaff (its more a trident - not a trident, it has 5 or 6 hooks ) i dont think there is a translation to that from Croatian. Here is a photo.
Its attached to a 14 feet wood pole. We row along the coast in the night and you have to spot octopus with light.

 

[JR Custom Calls]

@Molokai that's a lot like frog gigging around here... and I'd say they feel about the same texture as well haha. Frogs probably taste a bit better than octopus though.

 

[Kevin]

Tom we call the 'hooks' tines and as Jonathan said the act of using it ig 'gigging' here. About the funnest form of fishing I've ever done is to gig flounder. Walking along a shore or sandbar at night with under water lights is too fun. You see all kinds of life at night - that's why I prefer night diving over day.

 

[Wildthings]

Tom don't let them talk that trash to you!! Octopi is great tablefare!!

 

[DKMD]

I love octopus, and I'd be willing to try gar although I've always considered it a trash fish.

When I was a kid, my folks were in to boating on the white river. I was never really interested, so they'd leave me to fish off the boat dock. Mr. Nichols(the guy who owned the dock) used to give me 10 cents for every gar I could catch... I stack them up on the dock and settle up at the end of the day. His dogs used to chew on them, but I still got credit for the occasional 1/2 fish. It's probably one of the best jobs I've ever had... Free minnows, and I got paid to fish!

 

[robert flynt]

I have heard of people boiling the meat in spiced up water and making fish patties that they fry.

 

[robert flynt]

You can eat the backstrap but the rest has some toxins. Tough suckers. Spent 45 minutes pulling the skin back with tin snips and a filet knife to get at the meat in this one. Worth it for this, might not be so with small ones. There are some interesting recipes online. Most people boil with Cajun crab boil (it's a delicacy down there). The meat is chewier than most fish, kinda like a poor mans' lobster. Don't eat the eggs or anything under the ribs.

Jacob

Get you a small hatchet to chop along the spine.

 

[Molokai]

@Molokai that's a lot like frog gigging around here... and I'd say they feel about the same texture as well haha. Frogs probably taste a bit better than octopus though.

Never tried frogs but i will stick with octopus for now.
My favorite is cooked with salad. You have to freeze the octopus for 48 hours and it will be softer, much softer. Then boil it in water, remove the rings, some people dont like them.
Add potato, garlic, olive oil etc....

 

[robert flynt]

Tom we call the 'hooks' tines and as Jonathan said the act of using it ig 'gigging' here. About the funnest form of fishing I've ever done is to gig flounder. Walking along a shore or sandbar at night with under water lights is too fun. You see all kinds of life at night - that's why I prefer night diving over day.

You didn't pass up any soft shell crab did you?

 

[GeauxGameCalls]

We love frogs, but our gig or bow is our hands! Best tool out there. Also we make gar into garballs.

 

[Wildthings]

Also we make gar into garballs.

THAT"S what I'm talking about!!

 

[Molokai]

You didn't pass up any soft shell crab did you?

I had to google it. Never seen it around here