Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Too Many Gar

I took this pic of my 9yo at the time - wow has she grown up. And so have the gar....
[img]https://www.icloud.com/photos/#03ORcwxlaKqHyytuFxGuKh81A[/img]
That pic was when we were building the pond. The water was crystal clear and only a foot or so deep. We were going around with a dip net and a boat paddle, hitting them in the head and dipping them out
I knew we had a lot. When the rains came and the lake filled, I put 500' of gill nets out and caught.... a bunch of grinnel (bowfin). I think the net size was wrong for the gar, but thank goodness I got rid of 50+ 5lb grinnel.
Anyway....
They have always been here, but the population seems to have taken off. It's not uncommon to fish for a few hours and see a couple of dozen.
I know a few ways to try to catch/kill them: Using a 6-9" length of unbraided nylon, bowfishing, trot line?
What does the pond boss brain trust say?
Thanks for any advice.

edit: looks like I don't know how to post pics, but I think the link works if you care to see a little girl holding a big gar.

WOW! That's a wild photo! Trying grasp how the gar and bowfin got in there.

Gar is very good to eat. They're a bit of a nuisance to butcher, but with the right tools and technique you can quickly remove the boneless back straps.
I just shake my head when I see dudes toss em on the bank. They don't know what they're missing.

Is your 17 acre lake always connected to the creek or river, or is it just the flood stages that reach your lake?

If you are always connected, I don't see how you can keep out the species you consider undesirable. If you are only connected during floods, then building a 1-2' levee (or whatever is allowable), would probably be an important first step.

I do agree with Augie that gar are good to eat. They are a pain to clean (I use my tin snips), but they are tasty. (Also, the eggs are poisonous.)


The Spotted Gar in my creek are very binary in size. In most gar species, the females are the larger fish. You should be able to pick out the females just by sight. (I couldn't tell your species from the photo.)

If you do decide to target the gar population, you will have much better success by eliminating all of the females you can get.