Catching gar for your tank

[jimmie d wad]

In nd we are not allowed to transport anything in water. we can get a permit( free of charge) from the game and fish. but. we have to have the receipts and list of where we bought the fish. which for me defeats the purpose of keeping natives

 

[LadAShark]

gar are adaptable to a multitude of situations, and you need to check your local ordinances for natives. I'm one of the native keepers you spoke of in the OP, but I checked,re-checked then called my local Game Commission to check a third time on keeping species.

In PA the law is you can keep any game fish of any size providing you are using it as bait. That means ALL game fish can be kept at any size regardless. I asked the guy whether this meant I could take them home and raise them in a tank and he said that's a grey area since its legal to own PA natives in PA but you didn't technically take them for bait.

Double check your laws, if they are legal fish to keep then go get one. Gar are the one native I haven't been able to catch and keep here yet either. The ones that take bait here are way to big for my tanks lol

I live in Oregon, where it's illegal to keep one with the exception provided you possess "facility that meet the standards" in the legal code. Basically the standards are you send a request for a permit and fill out a questionnaire regarding the critter that's ordinarily illegal, and depending on the creature they may or may not have to check out your facilities (aka tank), and after all of this they can provide you with a legally binding letter that gives you permission to keep them.

 

[predatorkeeper87]

I live in Oregon, where it's illegal to keep one with the exception provided you possess "facility that meet the standards" in the legal code. Basically the standards are you send a request for a permit and fill out a questionnaire regarding the critter that's ordinarily illegal, and depending on the creature they may or may not have to check out your facilities (aka tank), and after all of this they can provide you with a legally binding letter that gives you permission to keep them.

damn...I'd hate that.

 

[LadAShark]

damn...I'd hate that.

Yeah. It's honestly quite tedious for an animal that doesn't have much potential as an invasive species in oregon imo. Then again, there are perhaps some areas where it would thrive and that's why they're aftaid of letting them be legal outright. I'm still thinking the "look at those scary teeth" has a large factor in them being illegal to keep without explicit permission.

 

[weston]

I got to go fishing today and I caught quite a few sunfish and wide mouth bass at decent sizes but I didn't even see any gar this time! I saw a bunch of Texas cichlids again but no bites from these guys, I'm starting to think they're hard to catch with a pole they wouldn't even peck at my bait. now I'm considering trying to net out some smaller specimens to bring home but on a cool side note I caught a pretty nice sunfish with a lot of color and a couple cool bass. I didn't keep anything this time but I was tempted to when it came to that sunfish.

 

[LadAShark]

I got to go fishing today and I caught quite a few sunfish and wide mouth bass at decent sizes but I didn't even see any gar this time! I saw a bunch of Texas cichlids again but no bites from these guys, I'm starting to think they're hard to catch with a pole they wouldn't even peck at my bait. now I'm considering trying to net out some smaller specimens to bring home but on a cool side note I caught a pretty nice sunfish with a lot of color and a couple cool bass. I didn't keep anything this time but I was tempted to when it came to that sunfish.

Huh.

Wonder if anybody on the forum could catch me a florida/spotted gar at some point in time. I'm in the process of getting my permit to keep them in Oregon, so I would need to get one, and I am thinking it might be a lot easier to hit up some of you guys who can actually go and catch them instead of dealing with some fishy (no pun intended) salesman.

 

[weston]

Huh.

Wonder if anybody on the forum could catch me a florida/spotted gar at some point in time. I'm in the process of getting my permit to keep them in Oregon, so I would need to get one, and I am thinking it might be a lot easier to hit up some of you guys who can actually go and catch them instead of dealing with some fishy (no pun intended) salesman.

If I could even catch myself one I'd be willing ship another one to you later on but at this rate it isn't very likely. Lol

 

[LadAShark]

If I could even catch myself one I'd be willing ship another one to you later on but at this rate it isn't very likely. Lol

Haha. Maybe one day then. Maybe one day...

 

[africanman]

I've found a spot where I've seen a bunch but I haven't actually taken a fishing pole or a net to try yet I'm sure I'll catch some as there are a lot of Texas in this area of the river but who knows. Also I'm not sure on the species of gar I saw its almost camouflaged from above with large spots some almost connecting and a very short stout body and nose I thought maybe alligator or true spotted? It's an incredibly beautiful fish whatever it is I would like to catch one maybe closer to a foot in length as the ones I saw were 2ft or more in length and I doubt they would come around in an aquarium. It might be a week or two before I get around to it but I'll post pics of what I catch and probably a couple more of the fish keep in their tanks.
Thanks and if you have any idea of the idea of the gar I mentioned that would help me out a lot.

spotted

 

[HungDang]

There used to be a member on here hungdang who was from Texas and had a number of spotted gars he had caught himself. I don't recall if he is active anymore. I don't imagine there would be an issue with keeping these but I'm not 100% sure about the laws in Texas.

I know where I'm from you are not allowed to keep native caught fish in an aquarium, so I always caution making sure you follow local laws.

hey I'm alive now lol. I stopped log in because the site was getting really hard to load before the upgrade.
Anyway, back when I caught my gars(about 4 years ago) I did check and couldn't find any law reGARding anything about keeping a native fish species after you caught it. And there is even less information on spotted gar. So, As long as you don't bag them up and ship out of country, then you should be fine.