I'm about to move to south texas on a 65 acre ranch that has a stock pond on it , but the problem is that there are gar in the pond from the river that flooded about 5 years ago. I've tried everything to get rid of them short of bleach, any idias? I would like to enlarge the pond and put an island in it so that I coauld raise some ducks and catfish. Thanks

-- scott (slaf99@cs.com), January 31, 2002

Answers

If you're going to enlarge it, you'll probably have to drain it anyway, and that will take care of the problem. Rotenone will take care of the gars, along with all the other fish in there. If you can find any local bowfishermen, they will probably be more than happy to help you out. A seine could also work, depending on the size and depth of the pond, or maybe just a large minnow hooked under the dorsal - wait until he swallows it before you set the hook.

-- Steve - TX (steve.beckman@compaq.com), January 31, 2002.

http://www.garfishing.com/

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), January 31, 2002.

how about dynomite,, your going to enlarge it anyways

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 31, 2002.

When I was a teenager another guy and I would go up river in a small boat with a Coleman lantern hung from an oar over the bow (alum. foil used as a reflector on half of the glass). As we motored along slowly we could easily gig the gar. However, unless you get any babies (if they are breeding) they will be back. Poisoning and starting over is probably the best solution as it will help control the predator/prey ratio initially.

When I had my pond dug out I left two islands for duck usage. Problem is the Muscovies insist on nesting in my garage instead. Don't know about other breeds. I have stocked the pond three times with catfish and only three have been caught in some five years. Perhaps the large bass get the fingerlings?

General question. If rotenon is used, my understanding is it paralizes the lungs. Would the fish still be edible? If nothing else, I suspose they could be netted out and used as garden fertilizer.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 31, 2002.

Dynamite as someone else mentioned would work. If you want to try to keep the other fish, you might check with the wildlife folks and see if they have a device to shock the fish.

I'm not sure how it works but the DNR in WV has some sort of device that temporarily stuns the fish so they float to the surface and can be counted for a population check.

If you stun them you can pick them up off the surface of the pond.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 31, 2002.

Shock um !!Many a fish were caught with a crank telephone years ago!! Iv heard using a welder will shock um also!! But i wouldnt want to bee in the water doing it LOL!! Then you can keep the ones you want and harvest the gar!!

-- Grizz in Western Maryland (southerneagle@yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

Scott, in order of preference:

1. Drain the pond. Far cheaper and easier.

2. Bowhunt 'em out. Takes longer, but it pleases the archers. Gives 'em lotsa practice.

3. Rotenone will kill them and anything else in the pond within a couple of hours. An oxygen depletion poison. Some liquid poisons can be modified for a specific species. But, with gar...they're tough and tenacious, best to dispatch at once. Don't eat 'em, they're not good tasting. Destroy the eggs, they're posionous to animals.

4. Dynamite. You wanna be on the six o'clock news? Fine by me. Your sheriff isn't gonna be pleased. 40% ag is about all you'd ever need. Same stuff we used ta use for blowin' tree stumps. That was before all the regs came down from above.

5. Seine nets? Forget it, they'll tear them up faster than you can darn them or replace them.

Use gloves, like welders gloves when handling gar. Nasty teeth.

-- matt johnson (wyo_cowboy_us@yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

Old joke:

This one guy always came back to the dock with a cooler full of the nicest fish. One day the Game Warden asked if he could come along to see his techniques, bait, etc. They guy said yes so they went the next day. After he got to his spot he reached in his tackle box, brought out a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse and tossed it away from the boat. WHAMMMM! He then rowed over and started to collect the best fish on the surface. Well, the Game Warden just about blew a fuze. "Don't you know that's illegal", etc., etc., etc. The guy just reached down in his tackle box, took out another stick, lit it and handed it to the Warden saying, "Well, do you want to talk or do you want to fish?"

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 31, 2002.

Sorry, when I first saw the thread title I thought your CAR was in the pond!

Why not try to find the little ones and sell them to the pet stores. Folks pay a fortune for them in Washington/Oregon for aqauriums.

-- Novina in ND (homespun@stellarnet.com), January 31, 2002.

Ken: Old Jerry Clower joke. Still it works.

-- matt johnson (wyo_cowboy_us@yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

Novina, Gar are illegal as Aquarium fish. Scott, I would also say to drain your pond. We did that with ours, refilled it, put in proper outtakes and intakes, planted the island and all around the pond and it is lovely. A neighbor stocked it with some unattractive, dark brown catfish(four of them)about 7 inches long,in '99 and last summer when the grandkids came they went out with barbless hooks and caught and released catfish all day long! Beautiful fish all golden colored with iridescent green on them! They varied between 6" and 12" long. Very pretty! I was amazed. I rarely saw them and never saw them eat the trout chow I'd throw in there once in a while. What fun! I Also have ducks on the pond during the day. You will love it once you get the gar out of there. Good luck, sounds tough. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), January 31, 2002.

Scott,

I wish you lived closer. I would love to come out and shoot some gar with my bow.

Contact your local archery shop and have them put the word out.

As far as using chemicals, I would urge you not to use them. You have no idea what kind of residual effects these might have down the road.

-- clovis (clovis97@Yahoo.com), January 31, 2002.

A small gill net would work. Perhaps 100 ft. It would take a little time to get them all. You would need the right size netting. For garfish I would guess 5 inch stretch webbing. You might catch your other fish but you could release or harvest them. Are they needle nose or alligator gars? Alligator gar = good eating.

-- ed (edfrhes@aol.com), February 01, 2002.

I know your question was how to get rid of them, but gee, I wish I had a pond with gar. I'm no longer in gar country but when I was it seemed gar and catfish were both abundant in the waters I fished. not sure about the ducks but I think gar focus on small fish and might not present a danger to them. just a thought.

on another note - as kids we were told to beware of "field gar". most usually found in knee-high grass wet with dew. I enjoy passing this wisdom along to the right wide-eyed kid - best of luck

-- B. Lackie - Zone Gar Not (cwrench@hotmail.com), February 01, 2002.

Elevated platform -like a life guard--nice sunny day--waiting for them to sun [warm up] at the surface.----223--aim carefully!

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), February 01, 2002.

The gar remind me of noodling. Around here, people actually walk or swim down the river and reach back into deep holes in the bank to catch large catfish. Of course, several have grabbed gar instead. I've never felt the need to catch a fish this way! Best of luck!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), February 01, 2002.

Don't know how practical this would be for you, but it is out of my e- book. Perhaps you can work out something with a church youth group. If you didn't charge them, you basically cannot be help liable for accidents, but check with your insurance agency anyway. Some offer event insurance.

A Saluda, SC farmer needed to clean out a large pond to restore the proper fish balance. Rather than poisoning it, he drained it down and then charged about 200 people $40 each for all the fish they could catch with dip nets. 150 spectators paid $7.50 to $10 each just to watch. A $5,000 prize for the largest bass drew people from all over the region. I estimate he netted about $4,000 for this one- day event. This could be done on a periodic basis, and a spin-off could be a fish rodeo with different prizes for tagged fish caught on hook and line if it is allowed in your state. (See Progressive Farmer [800-292-2340], May 1988.)

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 03, 2002.

Fish like light. Go at night with a light in one spot and net them. that kind of fishing is illegal here. A couple of evenings fish hunting should be rewarding if nothing else. The shock treatment would work. You might make friends with someone doing fish research. I have friends around here that do those shock tests, and then they check out all the various things that used to live there, but are either dead, or shocked/stunned. I don't necessarily agree with it as a management program in indangered habitat, but it seemed to have the desired effect, and the studies go on all the time. Another idea you could use is deplete the oxygen in the pond in some other way, temporatily. The critters are tenacious, but they aren't anaerobic. oh by the way; what's to stop the river from flooding another bunch of gar into the pond after you stock it with cat?

-- roberto pokachin in B.C. (pokachinni@yahoo.com), February 07, 2002.

where is your pond at?

-- Cody King (ShallowSport98@yahoo.com), April 15, 2002.