Spotted Gar

I was fishing today in the Little Salmon River, a small tributary to the ST.
Lawrence River. For the first time in my 23 years of fishing these water I
saw my first spotted gar. These fish have never been in this river before.
Could not get them to bite, but man it is a pretty fish. Anyone have any
information regarding the actual habitat of these fish, and possible sources
for this fish to come from to get here?

John wrote:
These fish have never been in this river before.



You do you know this? They are in Lake Champlain, They are in Lake Ontario.
Odds are, they would be in the St Lawrence, too.

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing

I've seen these fish for many years in Cayuga lake and the Seneca canal.
Since they're in the New York state barge canal system, they are probably
fairly widespread. I agree they're pretty incredible looking, but I've
never been able to get one to give a second look at anything that I've
tossed at them. They just cruise along and act like you're not even there.
-Keith
www.tacklegallery.net


"John C. French" wrote in message
. ..
I was fishing today in the Little Salmon River, a small tributary to the
ST.
Lawrence River. For the first time in my 23 years of fishing these water I
saw my first spotted gar. These fish have never been in this river before.
Could not get them to bite, but man it is a pretty fish. Anyone have any
information regarding the actual habitat of these fish, and possible
sources
for this fish to come from to get here?

Keith wrote:
They just cruise along and act like you're not even there.

Actually, I've caught them on spinnerbaits and on white fin-s fish. The
BEST thing for them though, is a piece of white braided poly rope, fished
as a soft jerkbait. Their teeth get tangled in it like velcro, and you
actually land more than you would trying to hook them with a hook.

Here's an interesting website for you...

http://www.garfishing.com/

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing

I knew I had a photo of my son-in-law with one around here somewhere.
OT? Nah, we WERE fishing for bass when we started catching these.

http://www.richz.com/fishing/images/gar.jpg





RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing

Long nose gar info including NY distribution map from Cornell University
web site:
http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/fish/...sosteidae.html