Georgia Guide Nets Giant, Record-Setting Gar While Bass Fishing

Earlier this month, 28-year-old Silas Turner of Perry, Georgia landed the most important longnose gar ever recorded within the Peach State. An expert crappie information and lifelong angler, Turner caught the large gar on a half-ounce jig whereas focusing on a gaggle of largemouth bass that have been education beneath bait balls on Lake Blackshear.

Turner had simply completed guiding shoppers along with his C&S Information Service on the afternoon of March 5 when he determined to return to a spot the place he’d caught a number of huge bass the day earlier than, the fisherman tells F&S. “My jig was about seven ft under the floor when one thing slammed into it,” Turner says. “I knew instantly it was loads greater than any bass I’d seen that day.”

Turner fought the fish for a couple of minute earlier than it surfaced, and he realized what he had on, he says. Fortunately, his baitcasting reel was spooled with 50-pound braided line. “Gar don’t roll like catfish, and so they don’t bounce like bass,” he says. “This one wagged its tail like a canine the entire time I used to be combating it.”

After an intense, 20-minute battle, Turner lastly introduced the gar to the aspect of his boat, however he shortly realized it was too huge for his web. “I grabbed her proper under the gill plate and beneath the stomach and flipped her up onto the deck,” he says.

The fish felt heavier than any gar he’d ever caught whereas bowfishing, he remembers. “I weighed it on a set of Bubba scales, and it got here in at 33.44 kilos,” he says. “I known as my buddy who’s been bowfishing for gar for 40 years, and he stated I used to be taking a look at a state report.”

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As a result of the fish was too huge for his livewell, Turner believes it misplaced a number of kilos of water weight within the three hours it took him to get to a licensed scale at a close-by fish hatchery. In keeping with the Georgia Division of Pure Assets, its remaining weight nonetheless got here in at a whopping 31 kilos, 14 ounces, and it taped out at practically five-feet lengthy. The gar dethroned a 31-pound, 2-ounce longnose caught by Rachel Harrison on the Coosa River in March 2022.

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