It would have been a comical video to watch us clean a gar for the first time.
We eventually determined that aircraft sheet metal shears were the preferred tool for going through those ganoid scales.
I only had the straight ones in my toolbox. However, the big box stores carry shears with offsets. I think that would definitely be the best tool for cleaning gar!
We only fillet out the backstraps on the gar. (I don't know the proper name for that portion of the fish.) We don't go any where near the eggs.
The gar fillets are excellent eating. My family likes them grilled. To me, they taste like mild fish with a hint of "frog legs flavor". The fillets ARE NOT flaky, but they are not tough. Gar are certainly different than all of the other freshwater fish that I have eaten.
