Spotted Gar

Clouser's Swimming Nymph in olive or orange with extra flash, damsel nymph patterns for weedy areas, weightless woolly buggers, Crazy Charlie patterns, and small terrestrial patterns like beetles and grasshoppers.

Hot summer months (July-August) are best. They spawn in April, May, and June when water temperatures reach 69-79°F - a period to avoid targeting them. Movement rates are higher during summer than fall and winter, with warmer spring and summer temperatures increasing their activity and range.

Present flies or lures slowly near structure where gar lie in ambush. When sight-fishing, cast parallel to the fish, placing the fly just ahead of their eye in the soft corner of the mouth. Be patient - gar often investigate slowly before striking.

Their diet consists primarily of small fish (golden topminnow, warmouth, bluegill, spotted sunfish) making up 18% of their diet, while shrimp comprises 57.5% of stomach contents, with other invertebrates, insect larvae, and algae filling the remainder.

Found in the Lower Mississippi River, Atchafalaya River basin, and coastal marshes from Lake Pontchartrain to the Gulf Coast. They prefer clear, slow-moving shallow waters of creeks, rivers, lakes, and occasionally brackish waters.