Quest For The Spotted Gar

This week, I cleared brush and branches under a bridge in order to fish for some gar who frequent a small channel between a pond and Clear Creek along Bay Area Blvd. 

Those fish are hard to catch.  I have had several hits, but haven't been able to set the hook.  I did a bit of reading and found out that their snout mouths are pretty much bone and teeth.  I think my problem has been a combination of the hook and my timing on setting the hook.

As you might suspect, or hope, I have been somewhat concerned on what to do if I actually catch one of these crazy things.  I think I'm going to buy some forceps.

I found out why the gar can just sit there like a log - kinda bob up and sink and bob.  It's really interesting.  Here's what I read:

“A unique characteristic of gar is their ability to breathe atmospheric air. The gar swim bladder is connected to the esophagus and operates as a primitive lung, and the inner lining of the swim bladder is cellular and somewhat roughened, thereby facilitating gas-absorption.  Gar Pike have been observed to rise to the water surface where they release a bubble of air before swallowing another air bubble, then sink slowly below the surface. This ability to breathe air at the surface allows gar to live in low-oxygen conditions frequently found in shallow, freshwater habitats associated with coastal wetlands.”