An Encounter with an Albino gar
I’ve spent the better part of every Summer over the last 8 or 9 years on the shallow, warm falts of the Bay of Quinte, each day on the water spent scouring them in search of the next record gar. In all that time, it wasn’t until today that I came across the first albino gar that I’ve ever seen.
After spotting the fish and being rejected by the first few tries, good buddy Rob O’Reilly and I chased the highly visible gar for almost 2 hours, nearly exausing my trolling motor batteries which were under relentress drain from full speed the whole time. In all that time, and in the hundreds of casts and presentations we made to that fish, and over the roughly 4km we covered in pursuit, it actually turned and chased our fly only 3 or 4 times. It seemed that every hundred casts or so the fish had enough and was so aggrivated by the fly it was going to attack; but just when we thought we were in luck, the fish would already be too close to the boat and whould notice us and swim away.
Despite spending a lot of time chasiong the albino, we couldn’t keep the “regular” longnose and spotted gar off of our lines. There were literally thousands upon thousands of gar, blanketing entire coves instead of just shallow flats. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fish over such a large area of water all at once. It’s also worth mentioning that the water temps were 92.2′ F today in the shallows. That’s the warmest water I have ever seen!
At the end of the day, friend Nick Donovan was also able to join me. He quickly landed his new personal best gar – a beauty 46 incher! I think NIck’s hooked!
pujic
april
Naoto Aoki
paulcastellano
Josh Nugent
Yoshi Aoki
Tim Myers
i’m looking for a guide in the belleville area for garpike, just wondering if you guide? or know someone who guides for garpike. any help it appreciated. Thanks
Hi Evan, Glen Hales is the guy to contact. I just spoke to him and he mentioned he emailed you this morning. I hope that helps!