Lake Texoma Fish Species: Spotted Gar
The spotted gar is one of three gar species native to Texas. They are primitive fish and date back to the Cretaceous period, some 65 to 100 million years ago. The ancestors of spotted gar swam with the dinosaurs! A large gar can eat a lot of fish, including catfish, causing them to compete with some anglers. Because of the competition and because many people think gar are difficult to clean, gar are sometimes called a “trash” fish. This term may not be warranted when you consider that spotted gar, like all native species, have an important role to play in their ecosystem.
Lepisosteus is Greek, meaning “bony scale,” and oculatus is Latin, meaning “provided with eyes.” This last is probably a reference to the many dark spots on the head and body. Spotted gar may be distinguished from other Texas gar species by the dark roundish spots on the top of the head, the pectoral fins and on the pelvic fins.
Angling Importance
As with other gar species, spotted gar may be captured by entangling the teeth in nylon threads or by bowfishing. In Texas, bowfishers have landed spotted gar up to 15 pounds.
Biology
Little is known about the biology of this huge fish. Alligator gar are usually found in slow sluggish waters, although running water seems to be necessary for spawning. They appear to spawn in the spring beginning sometime in May. Eggs are deposited in shallow water. Young fish may consume insects. Adults feed primarily on fish, but will also take waterfowl. This species is able to tolerate greater salinities that other gar species and feeds heavily onmarine catfish when they are available.
Distribution
Spotted gar are found from central Texas east into western Florida. The species range extends north through the Missisippi River drainage into Illinois and the lower Ohio River. Populations also occur in the Lake Erie drainage.
Capt. Dan Barnett & Jacob Orr Lake Texoma Fishing Guides
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You can be sure that we will do everything possible to put fish in the boat and make sure your group has a fun, safe and memorable trip. We offer exciting trips that will leave you with a better understanding and knowledge of how fish bite at different times of the year and how to catch them year.
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Booked a trip with Dan’s service and Jacob returned the call quickly. We scheduled a day in mid November not knowing what kind of weather to expect. We wanted to lure fish and Jacob worked hard to put us on fish, and even though the weather was quite “unusual” for the season we had great success. Most of the other guides we saw were baitfishing because the fishing was tough, but Jacob went the extra mile and put us on some great fishing using his custom lures, a most excellent adventure. – B. Sample Google Review
