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I honestly dunno how they taste. They don't LOOK appetizing. But my buddy filet them up last night so maybe he tried some broiled gar. I guess their eggs are poisonous too. They aren't really that aggressive with a ten pound spear attached to their backs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ok, so here it goes. I rode the old wheel horse out to the shanty today to grab a few things outta it. On my way out, I noticed the ice was crystal clear black. You could see all of the structure on the bottom, weeds, holes, etc. So I decided I was going to move the shanty to a new location. I get the shanty to where I want it, then head across the lake to my buddies house to grab my super spud (custom BIG spud for chopping shanty holes) On the way back nearing the shanty, I am looking down through the ice and I notice weeds.......then I take a second look..... ........... They were gar pike! I idled a bit farther, shut down the wheel horse and ran back to where I saw the gars. I could not believe my eyes as I laid on the ice, looking down through it into the water. I counted 26 gar pike just from the view looking down. They were all heading in one direction, slowly. I followed them along as I catapillaird across the ice, keeping my eyes to them below. I seen gar pike as long as 45", no joke. They averaged around 3 1/2' though. As I followed them, they just slowly turned and made a big circle around the hole I was in. These things were travelling six to seven fish wide, and there was an endless line of them. I am willing to bet there was every bit as many as 40 fish in this weird gar circle. So we set up the shanty and my buddy took a wack at four of them with his spear (he must be a bad shot) but they were about 10 feet down. Has anybodsy ever seen this before??? I wonder if they do this to round up the baitfish in the center of this circle, then they gorge the heck outta them?? Or is it a spawning habit?? It was almost like watching an episode on the Discovery Channel or something.Or maybe like looking into an aqaurium. Definitely one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed on the ice.