South Louisiana Smoked Alligator Gar

Badgerjacob · Oct 13, 2016

I posted these pics over on facebook and everyone seemed to be very interested, so I thought I would share here. I live on the water in the swamps of south Louisiana. I caught this guy about 25 feet from my backdoor. There was no recipe, I "winged it", like I always do. Used a dry rub and then brushed on some sauce. Smoked at 225 for about 2 1/2 hours over apple wood. Came out fantastic.

greenmountainsmoke · Oct 13, 2016

Holy hell that thing looks like a dinosaur :shock:

daninnewjersey · Oct 13, 2016

What's it taste like?

MisterChrister · Oct 13, 2016

That fish (and you!) looks like a bada$& mothertrucker! The results look killer, I'd hurt my belly on a big old pile of that gar! Thanks for posting it here; I quit Facebook a long time ago in favor of this place. "Welocme" to the asylum!

OferL · Oct 13, 2016

How did you catch it?:shock:

NickTheGreat · Oct 13, 2016

Fascinating. I've seen small gar in ponds but didn't think people could eat them. I mean, you can eat anything, but I didn't know people actually ate them.

Thanks for sharing!

Badgerjacob · Oct 13, 2016

daninnewjersey said:
What's it taste like?

It's great. You have to use a mild wood because it takes in the smoke very easily. It has more of a lobster texture than a fish and the caramelized sauce gives it a bit of a crunch. Its one of my favorite fish to cook.

garyk1398 · Oct 13, 2016

Great gar- pron and nice catch!

Badgerjacob · Oct 13, 2016

OferL said:
How did you catch it?:shock:

I caught this one on rod and reel. When we go fishing exclusive for gar we normally use jug lines and a sidearm or bowfish them at night.

cholloway · Oct 13, 2016

Never had gar smoked. It's very good when deep fried or boiled like crawfish (poor man's lobster).
Nice job on it.

JimmyR1Rider · Oct 13, 2016

Nice cook. Made an ugly fish look pretty lol.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

Phubar · Oct 13, 2016

Oh my!:shock:

smoke-n-mirrors · Oct 13, 2016

How big do those fish get there?

I looked at some google images...Holy smokes, they show some really big fellas!

Badgerjacob · Oct 13, 2016

smoke-n-mirrors said:
How big do those fish get there?

I looked at some google images...Holy smokes, they show some really big fellas!

We have caught some in the 120 lbs range. The biggest that I have ever seen come out of our local water was about 190 bs and 7-0 long. The local water bar "Blind River Bar" has a Garfish rodeo every August. They bring in some beast. This bar is about 9 miles downriver from my Boathouse.

Link below to youtube video of event.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYN7IuU0hQ"]Blind River Garfish Rodeo 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

lwdbo1 · Oct 13, 2016

Thats what im talking about.. Very nice !!

bfreeland38 · Oct 13, 2016

That looks amazing. Growing up in MO we would snag several as a kid while fishing, never thought about eating them, nor did we catch anything of that size. Thanks for sharing, will have to give this a try.

Badgerjacob · Oct 13, 2016

bfreeland38 said:
That looks amazing. Growing up in MO we would snag several as a kid while fishing, never thought about eating them, nor did we catch anything of that size. Thanks for sharing, will have to give this a try.

They are great fried as well as long as you eat them fresh out of the fryer. They tend to get greasy if you let them get back to room temperature around after frying.

smoke-n-mirrors · Oct 13, 2016

Badgerjacob said:
We have caught some in the 120 lbs range. The biggest that I have ever seen come out of our local water was about 190 bs and 7-0 long. The local water bar "Blind River Bar" has a Garfish rodeo every August. They bring in some beast. This bar is about 9 miles downriver from my Boathouse.

Link below to youtube video of event.

Blind River Garfish Rodeo 2015 - YouTube

Wow that looks like a lot of fun! It appears there is no shortage of beer!
Not exactly your average fish to filet, is it? :shocked: I've never seen it done like that. In Minnesota we have sunfish, trout and walleye...just your everyday kitchen filet knife needed. :-o
Thanks for the video! :thumb:

Thingfish · Oct 13, 2016

I hear some people use tin snips to get through the scales. They look like they'd dull a fillet knife right quick!

bigdog10 · Oct 13, 2016

Wow that looks amazing and tasty..

South Louisiana Smoked Alligator Gar

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