Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Gar resort and educational center

I thought I had this all figured out until I met with my local game and fish commission. Looks like I will be a "true" gator gar resort and educational center. I was told that I would be better off to stick with one predator and because this predator will get big, the rest of my fish will be feeder fish.
I now have found out that you can't buy fingerling gator gars , so I will be snagging brooder pairs out of the rivers to start my own growing for the lake.
It's going to be a lot of work but it will be well worth it.
Anybody here know where I can get some gator gar?

You are going to have to take them out of a river or lake around your area. This year gar hatchlings should be around a half of pound by now. They are good starter fish. If you catch any bigger ones, don't put any in that is over 10 pounds because they may eat some of your smaller gar. Another think is to make sure your pond has plently of forage. ALso when you take these fish to your pond, don't leave the fish in your live well for more than a few hours because they will beat themselves up.

Zach, we don't have any gators in the Ozarks they have all migrated to the Mississippi River. We will have to go there and snag them, than transport them back to Arkansas. Gators used to thrive here, but man has forced them out. All we got here in abundance is the longnose.
I wish it was that easy.

Yea its a sad thing. 50 years ago rivers had 1000's of 100 plus gator gar. Now its hard to find any over 50 pounds. It's going to be hard to get them but you could get a few.

This may seem stupid, but what exactly is a gator gar? We certainly don't have them in Wisconsin.

Thanks for the pictures. We have nothing like that around here. Looks almost prehistoric. The only thing we have here that gets over 50 lbs is a sturgeon. It also has that look to it like it's been on the earth forever.

Here's a good website for gar.

www.garfishing.com

Good web site. I had no idea these fish existed. I don't think I would stock them but really appreciate the knowledge. Very cool stuff.

Brian, I'm sure you can equate the gators with the musky up here as being the dominanat predator fish. They must not be able to handle cold weather well, and the numbers of locks and dams on the Mississippi have limited their northward migrations past MO and So. IL. Btw, if you ever want a second opinion on your pond call 800-442-6648 and someone would stop out sometime.
Robert B aquatic biologist

I live in southwest Louisiana and sometimes feel surrounded by alligator gar and bowfin (choupique) as we have locally named them. I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the website for gar fishing. Especially the quote by the DNR official " There is something very very wrong with us!" Absolutely hilarious, but true!! Wish there were some way to send you some of our prehistoric species, but sadly they are too big and ornery to ship. Thanks for the entertainment!!!

Gatorgar, small world. i live not too far from you. interestingly, the great guy who built my pond i think is going to build yours if i've heard correctly. great choice. will email you soon and discuss with you. mark