# How's this for a fish, think I will be ready for gator!



## markland

Just got back from a great TV show trip to TX and I believe we definitely got some great stuff for the Muzzy TV show, shot this one at 7ft 6in and 230# and another 74in gar as well as my partner got a 63in gar and we shot tilapia, buffs and carp as well, had a great trip with Jack Thatcher from extremebowfishing.com


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## tony32

awesome fish mark ...good job


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## Nugefan

dang what a beast ....


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## Mud Minnow

wow that's awsome!! looks like something off of ''river monsters''! gator season is fast approaching, I can't wait! Great job on a beautiful fish!!


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## S Adams

Good Job Mark!


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## 12gamag

thats a nice gator gar!


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## fredw

My goodness Mark.  

That is some gar!


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## Apex Predator

Great job buddy!


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## LanceColeman

Niiiice Mark! way ta go bro!


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## mdhall

Awesome shooting Mark.


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## FERAL ONE

sweet !!! i bet that was a blast AND a lot of work !!!!


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## Michael

Congrates!

How in the world were you able to get that gar to smile for the camera?


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## markland

Talented I guess!!!!


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## Hard Core

Tell me it is being mounted.......


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## ponyboy

nice


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## fishndinty

Mark, 
Is there a limit on alligator gar?  Must take one 40 years to get that big.  I just worry about them getting overshot if bowfishing takes off bigger.


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## markland

They have been bowfished for many years with no problems, bowfishing is already huge in TX and has the largest state bowfishing organization in the country.   The problem is their commercial value and commercial fishermen taking large numbers of them out.  So our wise and brilliant Texas state government decided to limit alligator gar harvest to 1 per day for bowfishing, but did nothing to limit or eliminate commercial harvest of those fish, so yes they have some protection, but not the right kind!


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## SELFBOW

Congrats again my friend, I was excited for ya when that pic popped up on my phone...


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## Son

Wow, a fish that size makes a fellow look mighty small.


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## siberian1

That is awesome!!!


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## hogtrap44

Killer good Gar there. Them back straps will be tasty fried up.


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## markland

Yes we ate good down there with Gar and Tilapia grilled at night, sweet!


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## Barber Shop

hey brother if you have some pics of that dinosaws teeth i sure would love to see how many hes got.   my uncle jeff told me bout it in the barber shop .  see if ya can get us a pic of it to hang up. lots of us huntem in the oconee river but nothen like that we could have some fun claimen it came out of our famous gar hole.....thanks for sharen looken forward to seeing the hunt on video.


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## markland

I only had my cell phone pics and am supposed to be getting some more from the other cameras there but have not recieved any yet.  Only pic I have of gator gar teeth are from the other 74in fish I shot the next night.


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## Jasper

Holy cow what a fish! 

That's awesome Mark. Congrats on a fish of a lifetime. I bet that monster was a little easier to hit than a common Georgia carp, huh?


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## markland

Thanks buddy, it was a hoot, but believe it or not I actually missed another 1 probably as big or larger the next day, it is hard to imagine how somebody can miss a telephone pole laying in the water, but I did, guess I shot over it, just not sure, the water clarity was very poor only about a foot visibility and you could just see the glow of the fish and not really able to see the whole fish clearly, but definitely enough to know it is a monster!


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## Barber Shop

thanks man, any critters mouth showen its teefes is a cool picture exspecially a dinasaurs....... good luck on your next killen trip. mr. mark you get to do things with your bow that a lot of rednecks try to.   your footage  a few years back set off a many many new bowfisherman to the sport. we helped by playen the video every time some one wanted to watch . thanks again for sharing


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## markland

Thank you as well and really enjoyed doing that video, wish I could do another, maybe some day, but for now I try and do as many TV shows as I can.  Thanks again and good hunting to ya!


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## frydaddy40

*Dang man. That's huge.*



markland said:


> Just got back from a great TV show trip to TX and I believe we definitely got some great stuff for the Muzzy TV show, shot this one at 7ft 6in and 230# and another 74in gar as well as my partner got a 63in gar and we shot tilapia, buffs and carp as well, had a great trip with Jack Thatcher from extremebowfishing.com



   Nice gator gar, that size would be a nice gator.  How did 
 the gar taste that yall cooked?    frydaddy40


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## markland

It's very good, just depends on how you cook it as to how it tastes, grilling sometimes it is similar to catfish, just depends on the seasoning.  The 74in gator gar I shot, we cut the back straps out of it and filled up 5 gallon size ziploc bags with pure white boneless meat, it was good!


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## frydaddy40

*long nose gar*



markland said:


> It's very good, just depends on how you cook it as to how it tastes, grilling sometimes it is similar to catfish, just depends on the seasoning.  The 74in gator gar I shot, we cut the back straps out of it and filled up 5 gallon size ziploc bags with pure white boneless meat, it was good!



   Do long nose gar taste about the same?


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## markland

Yep pretty much not much of a difference I can taste, but it is all good whether you grill it or cube and fry it, all tastes good.  I clean my big longnose gar as well, definitely do not waste them.


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## frydaddy40

*Thanks*



markland said:


> Yep pretty much not much of a difference I can taste, but it is all good whether you grill it or cube and fry it, all tastes good.  I clean my big longnose gar as well, definitely do not waste them.



    I going to shot me some this weekend. Cook them for 
 my clients to try some.    

    What you season yours with?


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## markland

Make sure to get some good tin snips to cut thru the skin along the backbone, then you can use a knife to cut down the scale line behind the gills and at the tail, they you should be able to skin back the scales from the meat and trim the back straps out.  Be sure to dry the meat off before packaging and do not rinse it off after you have frozen it, getting it wet can make the meat get mushy!
I have been using some Cracker Boy seasoning lately and it is turning out nicely, but use to use some cajun season as well as lemon pepper and just about anything I would use on any other fish as well.  I usually butter then down and season and cook when grilling or just mix up the seasoning in the flour and fry and it is good!


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## HOGDOG76

markland said:


> They have been bowfished for many years with no problems, bowfishing is already huge in TX and has the largest state bowfishing organization in the country.   The problem is their commercial value and commercial fishermen taking large numbers of them out.  So our wise and brilliant Texas state government decided to limit alligator gar harvest to 1 per day for bowfishing, but did nothing to limit or eliminate commercial harvest of those fish, so yes they have some protection, but not the right kind!


NICE FISH! WATCHED A FISHING SHOW THE OTHER DAY THAT SAID THAT LIMIT WAS NEEDED BC OF THE BOWFISHERMAN BUT SAID NOTHING OF COMMERCIAL


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## markland

I believe a limit is needed in most areas just to control the harvest, but I do feel it should start with the most influential aspect of the harvest and not with the sporting harvest of fish and animals.  Bowfishermen take such a small pecentage of the fish compared to the commercial harvest of them and unfortunately, as with many cases, the control is not initiated at the proper source.  If harvest and numbers are a concern then start with the highest source and maybe consider limiting harvest during spawning periods like is done with many other species, but not label sporting harvest as the biggest problem, cuz that ain't where it's at!


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## castandblast

Well said Mark!


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## HOGDOG76

markland said:


> i believe a limit is needed in most areas just to control the harvest, but i do feel it should start with the most influential aspect of the harvest and not with the sporting harvest of fish and animals.  Bowfishermen take such a small pecentage of the fish compared to the commercial harvest of them and unfortunately, as with many cases, the control is not initiated at the proper source.  If harvest and numbers are a concern then start with the highest source and maybe consider limiting harvest during spawning periods like is done with many other species, but not label sporting harvest as the biggest problem, cuz that ain't where it's at!


the ole boy doing the talking was a catch and release fishing guide for them and im sure had his own agenda


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## markland

Yep same kind of situation we have run into with carp as well.  There are 2 organizations in the US that are really gunning after bowfishing.  1 is CAG or Carp Anglers Group, the other is GASS or Gar Anglers Sporting Society. Both of these groups are in the catch and release category and believe that none of these fish should ever be harvested or kept and only catch and release is appropriate for catching any of these fish.  So you can imagine what they think of bowfishermen??  We have always tried to work with them but you can see where that would not go over well, so they use inflated and false statistics to promote their adenda and have been pushing for more legislation against the harvest of these fish, even though all state's consider them nuisance or rough fish and in the case of the carp, invasive, non-native, destructive fish as well.  It tends to get very political sometimes!


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## Rusty Shakleford

Choke Canyon??


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## markland

Maybe???


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## olchevy

Will these things go after people, If you were swimming in the water?


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## j_seph

Nice deal would love to catch and release one that big. How old was that sucker out of curiosity, any idea?


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## markland

No there have not been any real documented cases of them ever atacking anyone, most can be attributed to alligators and not gar.
Not really sure on the age, it can be subject to how much food they have as well as conditions, the only way to know a true age on these is to send in a scale to have examined.


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## mattech

I am watching this show on sportsman channel now. really enjoying it.


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## TBass

Nice job!  One of these days I am gonna get down that way!  Maybe after I am done with this Army stuff, but one of these days!  I'm a little envious to say the least!!! I wish there was fish like that here in Georgia!!!


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## markland

Hope you enjoy the show, have not seen it yet but hoping they put together a great show out of it.  Thanks
Just got back from doing a stingray/alligator show with Bowhunter Magazine and Curt Wells down in FL and had some great success.  Not telling exactly what at this time but it should make for an awesome show.  As well did a stingray shoot with the Backwoods Life crew 2 weeks ago and it turned out very well also, look for these shows next season!


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## redneck_billcollector

I know this is an old thread, but back in the 70s we used to catch those down in the Florida panhandle and sale them in Louisiana.  I know they got top dollar back then, they sold for more than most any other fish.  I will say that there does need to be a limit on commercial sales of those, I was told that they were virtually fished out in large parts of LA.  I know I stumbled across the market when I used to sale turtles out in Lafayette, the guy who I sold turtles to told me what he would pay for large gar (both longnose and alligator) so I went to work catching them down in the panhandle where I spent a good bit of my youth.  We had always caught them on trot lines so off to work I went.


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## WELLS8230

Now that's scary i don't care who you are. Thanks for the pics.


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## markland

So true redneck and funny how they attacked bowfishermen but did not levee any restrictions on the commercial harvest.  TX did enact a daily limit of sporting harvest of alligator gar but no limitations in LA and they are heavily commercially harvested down there.  You can still find some good numbers but larger fish are getting harder to find.  Most commercial fishermen I talked to down there will buy all they can and prefer the smaller fish in the 3-5ft range, they don't like missing with the really big ones.


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## ACguy

That's a monster . Congrats on the awesome catch.


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## Old Winchesters

cool....congrats


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## Energy

Wow that is an  awesome fish!


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