Alligator Gar

[waltky]

Granny says she used to wrassle alligator gar as a kid...

Living Fossil Returns to Illinois Waters
July 29, 2017 — The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reintroducing a living fossil into its waterways. The alligator gar is a fish so old, it’s thought to have evolved during the Early Cretaceous period, more than a 100 million years ago.

Alligator gar are the second largest freshwater fish in North America. Illinois fisheries biologist Randy Sauer says they disappeared from the state's waterways in the 1990s, although they continued to thrive in southern U.S. rivers. "We want to restore the ecosystem because it is important to have top predators to balance the species below them in order to keep check on some more abundant species," he said.

Illinois' Powerton Lake was stocked with alligator gar in 2011, to re-establish a population and offer a challenge to sport fishermen.

Beyond that, alligator gar make for great big game fishing. The diamond-scaled animals, which breathe both air and water, can grow up to 2.7 meters and weigh more than 136 kilograms. In fact, Sauer says, their large size is what did them in originally in the state. "It was pretty much extirpated out of its range because of misconceptions about it eating sport fish," he said. "People would target it and put bounties on it."

Everything is on the menu

The alligator gar is an opportunistic feeder, meaning it will eat whatever it encounters — from an occasional turtle or small duck to invasive species such as Asian and silver carp. Sauer hopes the re-introduction program will help the state's efforts to control the carp. Because gar can live up to 60 years, this program is going to take decades to fully expand. "The (female) alligator gar does not sexually mature until 11 years, and the male not till 6 or 7 years," Sauer said, "so at the outset of this project we’re probably going to stock more heavily than 10 or 20 years down the road when hopefully these fish will find each other and start doing the job on their own."

The transponders scientists use to track the released gars are just a little bigger than a grain of rice.

To date, 7,000 alligator gar fingerlings have been fitted with tiny transponder tags so that they can be tracked and then released into Illinois waterways. As it rains and floods, biologists expect some of the fish to follow the rivers all the way down to join other populations in Louisiana and Texas.

https://www.voanews.com/a/alligator-...s/3961860.html

[stjames1_53]

but, can ya eat 'em?

[resister]

but, can ya eat 'em?

Sure you can, poor mans lobster, I always heard you could not. $#@!, that is disinformation that is commonly parroted. They are not flaky, fishy or oily at all. Taste and texture some where between pork and shrimp.

They are protected in Fl. better not get caught with one.

Roe is toxic to consume in all gar fish species.

[donttread]

but, can ya eat 'em?

I don't know but I'm betting they will eat a large number of game fish fry. Seems like a relatively dumb move to me!

[Peter1469]

We got those back home. Most people don't eat them.

[Crepitus]

Sure you can, poor mans lobster, I always heard you could not. $#@!, that is disinformation that is commonly parroted. They are not flaky, fishy or oily at all. Taste and texture some where between pork and shrimp.

They are protected in Fl. better not get caught with one.

Roe is toxic to consume in all gar fish species.

Depends on what they have been eating.

[HawkTheSlayer]

but, can ya eat 'em?

Yes ! It is high dollar fish meat and one of the best tasting you will ever eat. It's a very large fishery here and demand exceeds supply. Those in the pic will yield a large amount of usable product.
They can grow well over seven feet long and weigh over 200 lbs in the brackish water deltas.

They are a pain to skin, even for the experienced.
The reward is well worth it.

They can be cooked in several ways.
One is to cut the meat off the bone into what will look like pork tenderloins. Then slice across the grain into thin slices , season with Tony's and smoke for about an hour at 250 until fully cooked. An awesome meal. Any leftovers can be frozen for seafood gumbo ,soups, or stews.

They can also be cut across the grain (bone-in)into 8inch to one foot chunks and stuffed like a roast with garlic, bell pepper, onion, celery, etc. , dry rubbed on the outside with seasoning and baked in the oven or on the pit wrapped in foil. At the end of the cooking time, open the top of the foil so you will get some browning.


By far, the most popular way to eat garfish is the proverbial "garfish ball".
The meat is cut off the bone and ground with seasoning and onion, bell pepper,celery,garlic,and green onion. Then it is fashioned into a ball (or pattie if cooked through) and browned in oil. After this process, it can be frozen. Keep in mind it's not fully cooked on the inside.
A good Roux is made with all the usual veggies and cooked down and the garfish balls are added at the end because they are partially cooked and fish cooks quickly
Once the balls are browned, the fish will not fall apart like most fish and will remain firm, so overlooking is not a concern.

It's a top of the line meal and ground and seasoned garfish is a staple of living here. Many supermarkets sell it and some have the balls already browned for $14.99 dozen (large size/will vary)
@stjames1_53 can tell ya. I know my garfish.
Tonad et e`Clair! Mais ca cost bon, oui!

[resister]

Depends on what they have been eating.

Full disclosure, I only ever ate one and it was a different species but about a 20 pound fish. I cut down the spine with tin snips and hollowed it out like a lobster tail, it has two backstraps with very few bones. I cut them into fingers and breaded and deep fried.

Delicious, could not even tell it was fish. YMMV.

[resister]

Yes ! It is high dollar fish meat and one of the best tasting you will ever eat. It's a very large fishery here and demand exceeds supply. Those in the pic will yield a large amount of usable product.
They can grow well over seven feet long and weigh over 200 lbs in the brackish waters.

They are a pain to skin, even for the experienced.
The reward is well worth it.

They can be cooked in several ways.
One is to cut the meat off the bone into what will look like pork tenderloins. Then slice across the grain into thin slices , season with Tony's and smoke for about an hour at 250 until fully cooked. An awesome meal. Any leftovers can be frozen for seafood gumbo ,soups, or stews.

They can also be cut across the grain (bone-in) and stuffed like a roast with garlic, bell pepper, onion, celery, etc. , dry rubbed on the outside with seasoning and baked in the oven or on the pit wrapped in foil. At the end of the cooking time, open the top of the foil so you will get some browning.


By far, the most popular way to eat garfish is the proverbial "garfish ball".
The meat is cut off the bone and ground with seasoning and onion, bell pepper,celery,garlic,and green onion. Then it is fashioned into a ball (or pattie if cooked through) and browned in oil. After this process, it can be frozen. Keep in mind it's not fully cooked on the inside.
A good Roux is made with all the usual veggies and cooked down and the garfish balls are added at the end because they are partially cooked and fish cooks quickly
Once the falls are browned, the fish will not fall apart like most fish and will remain firm, so overlooking is not a concern.

It's a top of the line meal and ground and seasoned garfish is a staple of living here. Many supermarkets sell it and some have the balls already browned for $14.99 dozen (large size/will vary)
@stjames1_53 can tell ya. I know my garfish.
Tonad et e`Clair! Mais ca cost bon, oui!

Some of the latinos here, split them and cook on a fire in it's own shell. I would not skin it, tin snips make short work of that armor.

[HawkTheSlayer]

Sure you can, poor mans lobster, I always heard you could not. $#@!, that is disinformation that is commonly parroted. They are not flaky, fishy or oily at all. Taste and texture some where between pork and shrimp.


They are protected in Fl. better not get caught with one.

Roe is toxic to consume in all gar fish species.

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/st...l#.WX0Mo7Ao5J8

Garfish roe is big business in the atchafalaya basin and in florida in the winter months. Most roe fishermen take only the meat and waste the meat and there should be a law against it.