The lakes and rivers of north and east Texas seem sedate and unremarkable enough, but they are home to some very impressive alligator gar. Until recent years, alligator gar was a species of fish that was mostly off the radar for sport fishing, but that has certainly changed. There has been an explosion of interest in this bizarre-looking species, and we interviewed two men who have played a major role in fueling that interest. Bubba Bedre and Mark Malfa are both die-hard Texan outdoorsmen with a major reputation for catching the giant alligator gar that are almost exclusively found in the Texas/Louisiana area. In fact, the Animal Planet TV series “River Monsters” featured both men and their catches. People from around the globe come to fish for these 5-8 foot giants, so it is exciting to hear more about the gar fishing experience from two of the experts.
When asked what pulling in an alligator gar is like, Bubba Bedre of Palestine, Texas didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, it’s like reeling in a big ole log. There’s two kinds of alligator gar, you got a lazy one and you got an active one. If you catch a lazy one you’re pretty much reeling in a log. And when you catch an active one, they’ll put on a show about like a Marlin. That’s what I like about Gar fishing, you just don’t know what you’re gonna reel in ‘till you’ve got it in the boat.”
Alligator gar are prehistoric-looking fish unlike anything you’ve seen before. Even their scales are unique. They are bony plates that overlap and secrete a slimy coating. Some people even dry and bleach the scales for use in jewelry. Bedre warns that they can be a handful: “Everything on the fish will cut you or poke you…if you drag one of them seven foot fish in the boat it’ll slime up the whole boat like on Ghostbusters or something. It’ll get all over everything and you can’t get it off.” And if you are lucky enough to hook what Bedre calls an “active” gar, you will really be in for a battle. “They’ll tear the whole boat up. Anything in the bottom of the boat is gonna get thrown out when they get to whipping and thrashing in there.” Bubba himself has been thrown out of the boat by a particularly feisty giant alligator gar.
So what does Bedre consider a good day on the water? “I’m not satisfied ‘til I leave with a fish over five foot.” He practices catch-and-release when it is possible. Over the years, he has learned that the best hook for good catches and live releases is a 3/0 treble hook. He started out using large 9/0 treble hooks, but realized some of the fish he released would later die from the internal injuries. Since switching to the smaller hooks, he has had a lot of success releasing the fish when he and his clients so choose. And his bait of choice? He freezes bigmouth buffalo and saws that into large chunks to attract the gar.
Bedre grew up fishing the alligator gar in the Trinity River and in local private lakes in his area, mostly because the large predatory fish were a nuisance. They tend to eat all the bass and crappie that are traditionally popular game fish. He never dreamed he would be able to make a living taking people out to fish for them, but ever since he was featured on Animal Planet’s River Monsters show, he has had more business that he can handle. He has taken out anglers from all over the world. One client, Vladimir, came all the way from Serbia, and he said “You can travel anywhere in the world and catch shark and ocean fish, but there’s only one place in the whole world you can come to catch these big alligator gar, and that’s right here.”
Like Bedre, Mark Malfa has been fishing for alligator since he was a boy. “I caught my first alligator gar in a bayou in Houston when I was about 11 or twelve,” he recounts. “I caught it on 2 foot long leader with a J hook, some cut mullet, 125 lb nylon line that I took off an old reel, and an old broom handle for a rod. And I haven’t looked back since.” Mark fishes all legal fish species, but he is widely known as one of the best guides for fishing or bow-hunting alligator gar. He enjoys the sport of wrangling the giant fish, which he says have been called the poor man’s tarpon. “They’ll tail walk, they jump, and they are extremely hard to hook, just like a tarpon is. You have to give alligator gar a lot of line before you set the hook, but the problem is that the environments they live in tend to have a lot of submerged trees and other obstacles. You lose a lot of tackle and have a lot of break offs.” It’s just part of the game when you’re after the big ones.
Like Bubba, Mark enjoys the diversity of people who come to fish with him in search of monster alligator gar. He has chartered fishing trips for people from all over the United States, as well as from several foreign countries. “People are amazed at how big these fish can get. They’re actually the second largest freshwater fish in the United States.”
Mark also specializes in bowfishing, which has contributed to the rising popularity of alligator gar fishing. “When it comes to bow fishing versus rod and reel fishing, they don’t even compare,” he says. “The only similarity is that there is a fish involved. The bow fishing is way more action.” And according to Mark, even a first-timer with no hunting experience at all can get into bowfishing on their first time. In fact, he has noticed that people with bow-hunting experience can actually have a harder time the first time bow fishing, because they have to put aside some of their habits in order to adjust to the faster pace of targeting fish.
Whether joining him, Bubba Bedre, or another experienced gar fishing guide, you are sure to have an unforgettable time going after these truly monstrous alligator gar!
Jana Badger, Bronx NY
Resources: JustGoFishin Tales & Reports Podcast Show Episode #32
JustGoFishin.net
http://justgofishin.net/ice-fishing
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