I took a buddy on his first bowfishing jaunt.  The AR river was muddy and visability was nill.  Getting a shot was mighty sporty as the gar would come to the surface and give you about 1/2 a second to shoot.  

We only managed 1 but it was a good one.  The gar was playing possum until we got him to the boat and that is when he decided to go beserk!  He took a bite out of me and I didn't even know it.  He smacked Johnathon with his tail for good measure.



Johnathon had never tried gar and asked if he could bring his two teenage boys over to try it.  I had to cleen it so I took photos along the way if it helps anybody.

Start by impaling the fish's head onto a nail on a board to aid in skinning and removing the fillets.




They aren't called "Armored fish" for nothing.  Start by making a hole here with dia wire cutters.



Use tin snips to cut the skin along the backbone.




Now that the skin is cut use a fillet knife and peel the skin back to expose the backstraps just like on a deer.


Work both side and the straps will be ready to be removed.



Remove the straps






You end up with 2 fantastic boneless fillets.  Cut them into little steaks and fry them up with batter.  Great eating right there.

One fillet fed my wife, Johnathon and his two boys and myself.  If you haven't tried it but would like to I hope this helps when it comes to cleaning one of these rascals.

Cool pics!  Thanks for sharing!

Cool fish and thanks for the cleaning tip!

todd

Nice Gar..better take good care of that bite, thats an infection just waiting to happen.

Was at Mojam several years ago & Kansas Charlie deep fried some gar. Best fish I have ever ate in my life.

Glad to see a proper cleaning pictoral. Very nice!

I'm not a big advocate of fried gar but I do love it bbq'd. Take that backstrap and cut 1/2" steaks out of it. Throw those steaks into a zip-loc baggie with Viva Italian salad dressing and a splash of lemon juice. Let sit overnight. Lightly sprinkle with olive oil before laying on the grill. Lightly baste with the marinate about every 1-2 minutes. I guarantee it to be some of the best fish ever eaten.    

Nice longnose gar BTW. CK

SWEET!!!

Thanks for the tip.

wow!!! that is awesome would love to try some of that man ya making me hungry      

I'll bet he (the gar) wont do that again!!
Bill

Wow. never seen that done. Pretty cool. I always practiced catch-n-release when I bowfished for them. May have to try it your way one of these days.

hay butch i ate some of that gar too. it was good. loyd

Thanks for the tutorial, I plan on shooting one(or at least "at" a few) tomorrow after deer hunting.
Until now I had no idea how to clean one.Thanks.

I'd like to try one of those skins on a selfbow!

What'd ya do with it?

Cool I wanna try some gar meat. thanks for the info, I am sure it will help someday!