Toothy Awoonga Critter

[Awoonga]

Caught this yesterday check out the teeth

[Awoonga]

Think its called a Hairtail ????

[T-roy]

Hey mate
Thats a Long Tom, i dont think their any good eating.

T-roy

[tiges]

They don't mind jumping around and playing up a bit do they, ya probably thought you had an anorexic barra ;D. When I 1st saw the post I was hoping you were gonna have a pic of a nice big jack.

[Awoonga]

No... yet to catch one....One Day......

[bdowdy]

;)i was thinking ( jack ) but yeh longtom for sure they go off dont they, my young fella calls them mini marlin. have seen afew in awoonga and my bro has caught afew. cheers bdowdy ;)

[barramad.]

Strongylura Krefftii (Alligator Gar)
Hard mouthed predator, love to cartwheel, rarely get them in the boat because of their solid, teeth riddled mouth.
Often see them on the surface hunting bait.
Impressive little suckers with plenty of attitude.
Similar strain grows over 100lb in overseas waterways.
Fitzy would know more about them.
Jas

[wheezer]

yes a longtom...didn't know they lived in freshwater until I nailed one at awoonga last summer....see you friday Trev...

[stonecold]

Alligator Gar....nasty!

[phatty]

about 3 weeks ago my friend got one.. and on the drop bear too!!!

[Fitzy]

Yep, a 'gator gar.

Not alot is known of their breeding however it is widely held that they will reproduce in some lake / landlocked situations.

Can get pretty big & damn scarry critters with all those teeth.

Mainly a nocturnal feeder, they love hitting chromey colored lures. Will jump at lights at night. One relative has caused a fatality by leaping at a lanter in a canoe & inpaling the angler in the head.

Hard to hook & hold. One method I tried was to put the rod tip in the water & do big circles with the rod to "wrap" the leader around its beak. Helped a little i guess.

Been nailed by a few in Awoonga & in rivers further north. 90% of the time you only see a flash of silver, maybe feel a whack & then nothing, possibly a good leap from them if you can get a hookup.

They will travel a long way inland. I've caught them up the top of the Isaac & Connors Rivers (northern end of Fitzroy system).

Can expect alot of green poop over you at times when you land one.

Cheers,

fitz..

[warrior]

well done trev,bring him down on the weekend and weigh him in get a few strange looks i reckon

[fish_outta_water]

wow where do these things get to 100lb ? :)
have got my bags packed am ready to go.
we get saltwater gar here really acrobatic fighters , good way of catching em is 1oz jig head , tie some household string where youd put the jelly on, so it hangs out the back like large fly. the gar get the fine teeth caught in the string , wind in and shake of the string.
have heard of people catching marlin like this god knows how they hold em up and shake em of :o
thightlines

[barramad.]

http://www.thejump.net/fishlist/alligatorgar.htm
Pretty nasty lookn character, obviously a bit different from our ones.
Jas

[Tropicaltrout]

I was thinking the same as bdowdy (Jack) when i first saw the post would love to see a few of them show up from Awoonga, but it a gator alright weird critters imagine a hundred pounder near take a arm off ;D

[Ally_Jack]

Caught one at the swains in july, about 1mtr long. It played up like a cat on a hot tin roof. I brought it along side the dory to get a look, and all we seen were teeth and those big eyes. I wasn't too keen to have it in the boat with the 3 of us, so cut it off.

[blue-mako]

Alligator Gar are the same as Long Tom though in the fresh they are usually called Alligator Gar over Long Tom. Nabs, Ando and I have got some beauties on slugs and poppers t Manly. Boy do they go but they are hard to hook since there mouth is so chunky and boney.

Troy

[flyfisho]

nice catch [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
Did you get Barra in the same area as that thing?

[Awoonga]

Barra..mmmm yes but all under 2mtrs ;D

[Kayak1]

Fitzy's right about the poop. Boy don't they stink. Best dehooked out of the boat or you're in for a good scrub. Got a couple from Awoonga and seen heaps more.

Cheers,
Steve.

[Stumpy-USA2]

Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas has a record alligator gar weighing in at 244 lbs. The fish in the picture looks more like what we call a long nose gar. They don't get as large but there are far more of them. Alabama's record for alligator gar is 151 lbs while long nose gar is only 32 lbs. A little bit of interesting information, they will eat anything. Other fish, birds, rats, cats, dogs, beavers, turtles, you name it. Plus the really big ones may be more than 100 years old. They get their name from the shape of their nose being short and round like that of an alligator.

Casey