Gars represent a primitive armored fish from Florida’s pre-historic past. There are four species of gar fish that inhabit Florida’s waters; the Alligator Gar, the Florida Gar, the Spotted Gar and the Longnose Gar. The Longnose Gar is a common species in Lake Okeechobee and nearby lakes and streams.
Longnose Gar are olive-brown or deep green along the upper back and upper sides with silver-white bellies. The young can have spotted sides and fins. The Longnose gar is generally distinguished from other gars by its longer slender body and its extended snout which can be twice the length of the head.
Longnose gar inhabit sluggish and sometime poorly oxygenated waters, backwaters and oxbows of medium to large rivers and lakes. The Longnose gar like other gars are able to tolerate poor water quality by breathing air through its air bladder.
Longnose gar can grow to lengths in excess of 5-feet. As an eligible species in FWC’s
Big Catch program the minimum entry is 40-inches or 15-lbs. The Florida State record for Longnose gar is 41.00-lbs. There are few regulations for the harvesting of gar in the State of Florida with the exception of the Alligator gar which is a protected species and can be taken by permit only.
Spawning occurs from December through March with the female scattering her eggs over vegetation in shallow water areas. While young gars feed on zooplankton, adult Longnose gar feed on small fish, crustacean, frogs, and just about anything artificial in your tackle box. Since they’ll attack just about anything, they are generally considered a nuisance fish and despised by most fishermen especially those fishing with live wild shiners.
When you talk to someone about gar the most common question is ‘can you eat it’, and the answer is YES. A gar’s meat is a firm white meat and when fried is often compared to alligator in texture and flavor. The only issue is that with its armor plate type scales, it’s a pretty labor intensive fish to clean. Any fish that requires a hacksaw, wire cutters, tin snips, a sharp knife and protective gloves better taste pretty good for all the effort. A word of caution, the eggs of the gar are considered poisonous so don’t attempt eating the eggs or feeding them to your dog, cat, or any other mammal or bird.
There are many techniques to clean a gar but one of the easier methods is to have a long cutting board or plank where you can drive a nail through the gar’s head and secure it to the filleting board. Then take your hacksaw and cut the hide just behind the head. From there take your wire cutters and open up the hide down the sides to just above the belly or pectoral fins. The next step is to take your tin snips and cut the hide down its back and then repeat the process down both sides of the fish. Once you ‘ve completed these long longitudinal cuts, you can begin to pull the hide off the fish using your knife to trim back the flesh as you pull the hide off. A point of caution here, the edges of the cut scales can be extremely sharp so wear protective gloves such as filleting or kitchen knife gloves. Once you’ve exposed all the flesh, trim the flesh off as if you were fileting a back strap. If done properly the digestive cavity should be untouched and intact.
Once filleted, you can prepare the meat like any other fish. Pre-soaking in milk, salt water, or Everglades Seasoning will remove any gaminess in the meat. Typically most people deep fry gar but you can also place it on the grill. Since a gar’s meat is firm, the meat also performs well in stir-fry, sea food gumbo and stew.
So the next time you’re out on the lake or river and you catch a gar, don’t just cuss and swear, toss it in the cooler and take it home for a unique culinary experience.
