Why people in the South are interested in catching this big, creepy 'trash fish'

One of the creepiest fish swimming in American waters is enjoying a renaissance.

Alligator gar. It's what's for dinner?

Maybe not for most of America, but fishing enthusiasts and fish and wildlife officials are spurring a renewed interest in the prehistoric beast.

"Yeah, you could say prehistoric. They've been around since dino-times," said Nate Smith, a research biologist at Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center in Mountain Home, Texas. "They're one of the least evolved species of fish in the U.S."

Fossilized remains of the alligator gar's ancestors — which look almost exactly like the fish does today — have been found in West Texas, dating back 215 million years, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department .

These suckers are big and ugly. They topped Bass Pro's list of the world's ugliest game fish and have previously and unceremoniously been lumped in as an undesirable "trash fish."

So why bother with them?

For Smith and fisheries officials of his ilk, it's because about 10 years ago alligator gar populations were deemed "potentially threatened," and scientists don't discriminate based on a fish's looks.

Since then, officials at Texas Parks and Wildlife, as well as their cohorts in surrounding states where alligator gar roam the rivers and coastal waters, have been keeping a closer eye on the species, while certain breeds of anglers have also put the alligator gar back in their crosshairs.

Last week, the department unveiled a new website aimed at demystifying the ancient fish, explaining that while they "look like they should be swimming around with dinosaurs, not bass and crappie," they're actual pretty docile, and even tasty.

An Alligator gar distribution map in the U.S. from 2009 shows where the prehistoric fish roam.

Fisheries and Wildlife Service

They swim in rivers, reservoirs and estuaries in mostly Gulf Coast states. Alligator gar have gotten their scary reputation by popping up above the surface as often as they do.

Smith said they do that, especially in summer months, because of another of their coolest traits. They can actually breathe air.

In fact, sometimes they need to, when they're swimming in hotter water, which contains less oxygen below the surface. They'll simply pop up for a moment to catch their breath.

"No, they don't want to eat you," Smith said, no matter how big and menacing they may look. And that's why some of the more adventurous anglers in the country like to head down to the South. It's for the chance to battle one and get it into the boat.

They can live to be 60 years old, and older specimens can weigh in at over 100 pounds, making it the largest freshwater fish in Texas. You may have heard of the correlation between "size" and "everything" in Texas.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, Isaac Avery of Longview, Texas, caught the state record 197-pound alligator gar in September 2017 while bow fishing in the Brazos River.

This 60-year-old Alligator gar is the Texas state record catch, at 197 pounds. An angler from Longview, Texas caught it in the Brazos River in September 2017.

Texas Parks and Wildlife

The kind of fishing enthusiast who goes after a big ol' gar is probably the same kind who threw out their poles and starting sticking their fists into catfish holes during that whole catfish "noodling" phase. You simply can't do battle with anything as big as an alligator gar this side of, well, the ocean.

Many Alligator gar anglers opt for catch-and-release. They do it for the sport of it.

But according to Aubry Buzek, who works in Texas Parks and Wildlife press office, Texas permits the harvest of one alligator gar per day with no minimum length limit. Bow fishing, rod and reel and jug lines are all legal methods for harvesting the limit of one fish per day.

Happy fishing.

Let's block ads! (Why?)