Such a beautiful day in South Texas and we are on the road to Dallas, TX to sponsor the Alligator Gar Catch and Release Tournament. Brought to you by Capt. Eric Hernandez. Hosted by The Gar Billyz, Lacey Miller and Michael Burns. Though we are not fishing the tournament we decided to fish the Trinity River for fun and pass time as the tournament goes on. Also to meet up and fish with a new team member of ours Samuel Tobias. First things first. Where’s the food? I gotta eat before heading out. You never know how long you will be out there.
We get done eating our quick breakfast, Jr calls Samuel make sure he’s up to fish. We knew he had been fishing the night before. It was 7:30 am when Jr called him. Me telling Jr “He’s probably still asleep from fishing late last night.” Jr responds, “we’ll see.” So he calls him up, samuel answers, Jr asks and without hesitation samuel responded “I’m down. Let me shower and get ready.” They hang up and Jr tells me “I told you.” I started to laugh. He sends us the location and we head out.
As we pull up to the area, we meet n greet Samuel and his 2 buddies. Get our gear ready. I’m scoping the area out and I don’t see any water nearby. At that moment I knew we had a long walk ahead of us. We packed light n headed our way. Walking through the field I notice the smell of Rosemary I look around and we are surrounded by it. 6 foot tall Rosemary bushes and sunflowers. I asked the guys have yall caught many gars at this spot? They replied “It’s one of our lucky spots.” I smiled and said “I’ll tell you why it’s your lucky spot.” “It’s surrounded by me.” Laughing out loud “Just kidding.” After walking a good distance we arrive. Immediately we noticed the current roaring through the path. As desperate as we were to fish. We decided to stick it out a few hours n see what happens.
Not too long after Samuels buddy gets a run. Its a flathead catfish. He was super excited because he hadn’t caught a flathead ever before. After we took a pic he released it back in the river and we decided to try a different spot.
We passed through so many areas it was very hard to fish due to the high water and very strong current. Jr finally gets a hold of Josh Hall and Michael Burns, they point us in a different direction towards another fishing area. This time it’s only Jr, Samuel, and I that will be going. After a little lunch break we start our way out about 1 hour from our location. We get to the spot and notice we have to walk a distance again this time through wooded area. And it’s not easy, it’s super muddy due to the rain they had been getting for 2 weeks. The mud was so slippery we had to make sure we had our footing or we were going straight into the river.
Finally get to the spot and I immediately took my shoes off. Me personally if I’m in that much mud slipping. I’d rather be barefoot. More grip. Laughing out loud. We scan the water to make sure we’re in the right spot. Right away we see the gar rolling. Everywhere too. We all get our rods set up. This time I’m blessed enough to try out the new Rancho Pisto Pesca Gar rod. Paired with my 6000 Penn liveliner. We toss in our lines and patiently wait for a run. After about 10 minutes of being there my custom blackspot rod goes off. My 8000 peeling drag, after about a minute the gar jumps out the water and shakes there hook off. Nooo! I screamed toward the water all bummed out and ready for the next one at the same time. Refreshed my bait w some bloody carp. Threw my line back in the water and waited. Not too long after Samuels rod goes off. He fights it for a bit but not too long before it does the same as mine. Another one bites the dust. He refreshes his bait toss it in and waits.
After about 20 minutes of down time we finally get a run. But this time it’s on The Tackle Box rod Jr runs to it trying not to fall into the water. Let’s it run for about 3 minutes then sets the hook. You see The Tackle Box Rod bend all the way in half! FISH ON! You know it’s a good size fish when it bends your rod like that. Jr fights the fish brings it closer to us, and we see it! Its a 5 foot + alligator gar. He tires it out while we figure out how we’re going to get the gar out the water. Mind you we are in a sloped angle in slippery mud on a river with a killer undertow. So we use the noose that samuel brought and tie it to a tree and around his waist. While he uses his belt as a noose. I wench him closer and closer little by little towards the water. He sits on the edge and puts the belt around the gar. As he’s pulling it out the water he notices it’s stuck on some brush by the bank. So I then wenches him closer into the water where he was able to untangle to line and strap him in the belt we pulled them both out the water. Victory!! We did it! Without harm to either of us. Not even the gar was bothered. Just a little tired. We took our pictures and released her back in the water.
Soon as we release the gar, we’re back at refreshing all the baits and casting them back out for a fresh run. Not too long after that Samuel decides it’s time for him to go. He had to work early morning the next day and it was getting dark. We still had a long walk back to the truck. Jr and I decided to stay longer. I stayed behind watching the rods while Jr took Samuel back to his truck. Not even 10 minutes after they leave me. I get a nice run and this time it’s on the Rancho Pisto Pesca Gar rod! Zzzzzzzz goes my 6000 and I’m anxious and excited at the same time. Its been a long time that Ive been alone catching a gar. And with this terrain definitely the first on a slippery, sloped, angled, hill. I let it run while I get my footing right. Digging my bare feet deep into the mud. Finally I set the hook! And BAM! FISH ON!! Im fighting this gar trying not to slip into the water for it was a big gar. She was heavy.
Finally after 10 minutes of fighting I get her tired enough to bring her close to the bank. Mind you I cannot get close to the edge without slipping in the river. So I start to crawl on my knees toward to gar. I manage to get to the edge and I start pulling in the line. Dragging up the worn out gar. She was so tired I struggled to pull her out the water. I put my big girl panties on gave it one last haul up the hill. I finally get to lay my eyes on her to see how big she really is. Though it’s not long before she instantly felt the ground beneath her belly and started to flop and thrash around. After the 3rd flop she spit the hook out her mouth and slowly started sliding down the slippery slope. It was as if she was telling me. Maybe next time. I was so bummed. At the same time I pay myself on the back for being able to bank her all by myself.
15-20 minutes pass. Jr finally gets back to me. I tell him I just caught a gar on the RPP rod as well as the bad news of her spitting the hook out on the bank n slipped away. He cheered me up telling me, “It’s ok, you will get a bigger one next run.” “I said I hope so.” We ended up moving to another spot that was closer to the truck. People had been fishing there earlier but had already left. We set up at the next spot and waited. It was long before Jr had to leave me again to help someone who was stuck more ahead of the trail. Once again I stayed alone watching the rods. I don’t mind. Fishing is what I do. I’ll happily stay behind. It gives me more of a chance to catch.
After about 5 minutes. Alot sooner than the first time. I get a run, again on the RPP rod! This time I let it run a lil longer in hopes that Jr will arrive in time to help me bring her in. Because this next spot we moved is at an even bigger slope and more wet than the last. Only thing that kept me from slipping into the water was the thick tree roots that were from around an edge enough for me to fight the fish. I’m fighting the fish, wearing it out more than the last to kill time. I’m going from left to right back but not front it comes around a corner similar to the slope I caught the first one. I’m thinking about a way to get to it where I don’t slip. Its already pitch black I can’t really see much. So I get one step closer to that edge. Floop! There I go slowly slipping down the slope into the water. While the gar feels a little slack as I slip closer to the water, it’s also pulling me in. My automatic reaction was to dig my fingers as far deep in the mud. Did the same with my toes to stop myself from getting closer. I waited a bit for the gar to calm down. When she finally did I one handedly climbed up the slope slowly.
Finally back to my feet another 5-10 minutes pass and Jr shows up and I’m still fighting the gar. I tell him it’s very slippery and hard to get her over and on the bank. So he tries to grab the leader, something we rarely do for fear of losing the fish. No luck gar take straight off into the middle of the river. I fight her some more I feel her trying to shake that hook off. Out of nowhere she jumps out the water and out comes the hook! Noo, no, no, no! I shouted. I fought that gar so hard and did my best to bring her in. But that mud and slope just wasn’t going to let me.
After a few more hours we decided it was time to pack up. On the way out Jr hears something. Next thing you know he telling me to back up. I had no idea what he was talking about but I did exactly what he said. We were on two opposite sides of the wooded area so when we met up he tells me. “There was a huge wild hog coming towards us.” “You didn’t see it!” I responded, “No, I didn’t hear or see anything.” He then tell me to grab the gun. In that same instance he drops the rods, a hook wedged itself into his thumb. Ouch! The only way he knew was when he reached out to get the gun from me he couldn’t fully extend him arm because the hook was pulling it back. I then took over and kept my eyes and ears peeled waiting for something to happen. After 5 minutes we then continued to walk towards the truck. We still had a distance to go. A local that was also helping with those who got stuck gave us a lift to our truck. Soon as we got there I clipped the leader off the hook and we started he started to send the hook through. Once he finally got that hook out we clipped it and slid the rest out. Job done!
We’re not quite out of the woods yet. We still needed to drive out of the ugly mudded area. Like I mentioned earlier, there were trucks that got stuck and needed pulling out. It was very muddy. Jr gets ready to run the truck through the trail. We make it half way before we get to a wet, slippery, and muddy hill. So Jr presses the gas and midway through the hill the truck just sinks. Noo! We get out the truck see, the damage, and the truck is pretty stuck. We try one more time, this time with the 4×4, and I notice the wheels are not turning. Even worse! Jr calls Michael Burns and fortunately is able to send one of his buddy Clayton to pull us out. This is at 2am! He had just pulled out a few other trucks from the same spot. After just one tug. We’re out!
What an adventure! I will definitely do this again. We came with a goal of putting a gar on both The Tackle Box rod and The Rancho Pisto Pesca rod. I’m pleased to say we did that and more. Met a lot of really awesome people. Along with a great group of gar fishing women which was my favorite part! Also got to sponsor another successful event put out by the North Vs South Alligator Gar Catch And Release Tournament. Even made our fishing family a little bigger! The connections we have made over the years are truly a blessing to us. We love and appreciate everyone who has came across our fishing paths. I hope to someday fish with you, put you on a big gar, create memories that will last forever.
I want to send a special shout out to Rancho Pisto Pesca Outdoors and Magazine for always supporting us! And to all of our sponsors! We appreciate every single one of you, Penn, Pure Fishing, Stinky Pants Fishing, MP Marketing and Promotions, MLTackle, The Tackle Box, American Ac and Heating, Hookline and sinker, and Stx Tackle. Last but not least to Michael, Lacy, Josh, Dawn and the Gar Billyz crew, Joshua Wilcoxson and The Reels Gone Wild crew as well as Alamo City Fishing Club for all the love, support, and hospitality! Feel free to check them all out on Facebook! Some of the best Catch and Release Teams in Texas.
Don’t forget to check out the latest Rancho Pisto Pesca apparel at rppoutdoorapparel.com and use the Discount Code below during checkout for a special discount!
https://rppoutdoorapparel.com/discount/GARHUNTER
Also stay tuned in to our Facebook for the newest selection of The Gar Hunter clothing for your next hunt! Again thanks to all who have supported us and showed us nothing but love. We appreciate you very much! Stay blessed.
