How to Attract a Florida Garfish

Florida garfish, or more commonly referred as gar, are one of the top apex predatory fish in North American waters. Having changed little over their millions of years of adaptation, gar are a prized fish to catch and observe due to their sleek and unique shape. Attracting gar for fishing or viewing purposes is a task that anyone can accomplish with a bit of willpower and hard work.

Things You'll Need

  • Fish guts
  • Bucket
  • Canoe
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Instructions

  1. How to attract gar.

    • 1

      Place your fish guts in your bucket and paddle with your canoe out into deeper water in the body of water you are looking for gar.

    • 2

      Paddle to the middle of the body of water and sit silently on the surface for 5 minutes. Gar are exclusive surface feeders and are always just beneath the surface of the water in deep-water zones. Due their close proximity to the surface, gar are easily scared off and deterred by loud motor boats -- severely hampering any chances to observe gar.

    • 3

      Dump your fish guts into the water after sitting still for 5 minutes, and silently observe the area around your canoe. Within the first 5 minutes, if your lake has a substantial gar population, you will begin to see gar circle your floating fish guts and eat them. If you stay longer, more and more gar will be attracted and you will be able to observe and/or catch gar. The gar are attracted due to their acute sense of smell, and the success of attracting them lies with the fish guts.