Cooking Garfish

[jpeff31787]

Originally Posted by Reel Bender

I hear GarBalls are good.

Since I've never had any I would have to speculate that just having 1 gar your going to walk away Hungry.

LMAO!!! I don't think anyone got

[Reel Bender]

Originally Posted by jpeff31787

LMAO!!! I don't think anyone got

Yeah kinda like fool with Ray's tricycle joke!!!

I was thinking maybe I would have to follow up with the "if your talking mountain oysters than that would be different."

[swglenn]

To clean larger gars drive a spike angled down into a post and cut the head of the spike off. The spike should be high enough to keep the gar off the ground. Hang the gar head down impaled on the spike. Remember Vlad the Impaler? Then use a hatchet to cut the back fin off starting at the tail end and going down towards the head. This should leave a strip about 3/4"-1" wide without scales. Starting in this skinned strip use a skinning knife and begin skinning going around the sides and down towards the head. When the skin is pulled back you can cut out the fillets like a deer backstrap and never dull your knife trying to cut through the scales.

[huntin fool]

Originally Posted by Reel Bender

Yeah kinda like fool with Ray's tricycle joke!!!

I was thinking maybe I would have to follow up with the "if your talking mountain oysters than that would be different."

I got your gar joke..

[Reel Bender]

Originally Posted by huntin fool

I got your gar joke..

Sure ya did!!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by swglenn

To clean larger gars drive a spike angled down into a post and cut the head of the spike off. The spike should be high enough to keep the gar off the ground. Hang the gar head down impaled on the spike. Remember Vlad the Impaler? Then use a hatchet to cut the back fin off starting at the tail end and going down towards the head. This should leave a strip about 3/4"-1" wide without scales. Starting in this skinned strip use a skinning knife and begin skinning going around the sides and down towards the head. When the skin is pulled back you can cut out the fillets like a deer backstrap and never dull your knife trying to cut through the scales.

Ditto, or you can use a 2 X 12 with a big nail in it with the head cut off. Set the gar on the board with the hole on the nail to prevent it from sliding.
I grab the top fin fartherest to the tail with pliers and use a machette or hatchet and chop your way to the head, leaving a 1 or 2 inch gap without scales. I have seen people use tin snips to cut the scales also.
Then cut the meat off the cartlage bone in the center. Cut red meat off rinse good and set in a cooler of ice water.

[Shawn Braquet]

Originally Posted by swglenn

To clean larger gars drive a spike angled down into a post and cut the head of the spike off. The spike should be high enough to keep the gar off the ground. Hang the gar head down impaled on the spike. Remember Vlad the Impaler? Then use a hatchet to cut the back fin off starting at the tail end and going down towards the head. This should leave a strip about 3/4"-1" wide without scales. Starting in this skinned strip use a skinning knife and begin skinning going around the sides and down towards the head. When the skin is pulled back you can cut out the fillets like a deer backstrap and never dull your knife trying to cut through the scales.

thats how i do it

[FF_T_Warren]

I believe I can eat a better fish for a whole lot less work. whenever I need to involve boards, axes, and machetes to clean my catch, thats where I gotta draw the line and ask myself--"self, do you really need this meat that bad" and the answer is always gonna be NO

[QUACKHEAD]

Originally Posted by FF_T_Warren

I believe I can eat a better fish for a whole lot less work. whenever I need to involve boards, axes, and machetes to clean my catch, thats where I gotta draw the line and ask myself--"self, do you really need this meat that bad" and the answer is always gonna be NO

Yet you will build or buy a deer stand and put it together, go into the woods during the summer heat of 98 degrees plus at 100 % humidity, swing a machete and or axe to clear shooting lanes for several hours or days, plant a food plot or more by disk or plow in the same temp. Move other deer stands that did not produce the year before. Clear the camp area, spray for wasp, check for snakes in the stands and camp. Oh yea I see what your getting at...

[FF_T_Warren]

not really, I dont plant food plots, all our stands are in good areas so we dont move em. our biggest clean up is just bush hogging and spending 2-3 hours around the camp cleaning up. we spend one weekend in august or september with 2-3 people and thats about as much work as we put in and all in all we kill 10-15 deer a year off the property
I like your angle but in my case its WAY off. I don't put in that much work and what little work we do, yields approximately 100-200lbs of meat per year per person not 5-10 from an ol tough fish.

[SULPHITE]

I can say I have just "half shelled" a gar and threw it on the pit and it was actually pretty good...

[QUACKHEAD]

Dang, it sounds like you found some good hunting grounds. The gar are not that bad to clean, and they are worth the little trouble of cleaning. Gar patties pan fried are delicious if done right. I guess it is all in what you enjoy. Your hunting is a lot like mine. I have 20 acres with hundreds of acres wooded around mine. I have a small power line running thru my property where I have my one and only stand. I disc it every other year and plant clover to keep the saw briers down. I usually get 2 or 3 from it. Plenty enough for my wife and I.

[FF_T_Warren]

yea thats how we are. we are surrounded by thousands of acres of land that is hunted very little, so God has really blessed us with a great place to hunt at no charge other than just keeping up around the place here and there

[scatv]

It sounds like a lot of work to clean a gar but like with anything once you do it a few times it goes quite fast. I can clean 3-4 nice size gar in a mater of 15-20 mins.

[Reel Bender]

Sounds like Ray is an expert!!!!

Is there a Gar category in the tournament?



I don't think he listed that in his resume when I was looking for fishing partners!!!!

[Ray]

In mid Dec., the Gar were rolling all over that opening to the West of Lamberts weirs.
I used to catch a lot in nets and jugs, but never while fishing Trout and Reds.

[Garfish]

Caught a couple nice sized alligator gar in the Pits alongside LA 1 between Fourchon and Grand Isle fishing for trout and reds. My buddy Eman caught a huge one one day by the Cell Phone Tower. I used to catch a ton of 'em in the marsh in Johnson's Bayou on live cocahoes throwing a line while we were crabbing. Had to keep the gators from chasing and eating my popping cork while I was fishing there.

[Montauk17]

We just ate a big ole pot full of gar in a gravy,first time I ate it like dat. Talk about some good stuff,if you think gar isn't good your missing out.