I hooked a small bass one day and was letting him jump and fight when a pelecan swooped down and grabbed it. We had quite a tussle and I thought for a while that I wasn't going to win or at least gey my lure back. Finally, when I had it close and it was circling over my boat he spits it out. All of this was right out in front of a swimming beach. I got a standing ovation...or the pelecan did.

We use that and salt-free fajita seasoning in almost everything that we cook. If you live in East Texas those and hot sauce are part of everything we eat. We use it like salt and pepper. The Tony Chachere's is great on fried taters too.

OK, First off alligator gar don't fear anything because once they get over a couple of feet long there is virtually nothing that preys on them. Secondly, the teeth of a gator gar are just sharp-pointed pegs with no cutting edges. They feed by shaking their heads with their mouths partially open. When they hid a prey fish it stuns them at which point they grab it and hold it until it is dead from smothering. They then spit it out turn it head first and swallow it whole. That is why when fishing for them you don't set the hook when they first grab the bait. If you do the best that you will get is a short tug of war and then it will turn it loose.

Gar can't eat anything that they can't swallow whole. If you get bit by one you either were trying to land it while hooked or jumped in the water and landed on it causing a reflexive bite. They don't attack people and when you are swimming or diving with them you can actually approach and stroke them. When you are an armor-plated giant you don't have much to fear and so are not very aggressive just because you are there.

I was raised and still live in gator country and suspect that reports of gar biting people might be bites from smaller alligators. If all you see is the head for an instant you could easily confuse a small gator for a gar. In fish for them pretty often and they are the biggest fighting game fish in freshwater. I catch and release. In Texas they are protected and there is a one fish per day limit on them. More and more people are coming from all over the world to do battle with our giant gator gar in the Trinity river and they are now recognized as a valuable resource. There is nothing in the freshwater that can run and jump like a gator gar in a fight!!! A 6' long 100+ pond gar will give you a fight that you will never forget if you have the proper gear to do battle with them.

PS: I also clean a gar with a machette or a meat cleaver and a heavy boning knife for after I have the skin laid aside.

Today was a great day!! Went out and brought home ten that produces 17 pounds of fillets. They were all gorged FULL of shad. Huge bellies. Honestly, I catch catfish on almost every day of the year in East Texas. It was a little chilly but the sun was shining and when we weren't running it was fine. The water temperature was 53 and the air was in the low 60s this afternoon. We also brought home about 8 pounds of shad so we will have bait on the days when they are hard to find.

Honestly where I live in east Texas all you have to do is find water and there will be carp there. I used to fish a tiny little creek that had a couple of deeper holes that always were full of carp up to about 10 pounds. They were a hoot to catch on a 6 pound ultralight spinning set up. Because carp are seldom targeted in Texas they are pretty easy to find and usually willing to bite. I usually try to find a place with a sandy bottom but they are often nearly anywhere. That lake in downtown Austin has some monsters up above 40 pounds in it.

That set up would be great for catfish, salmon and in the saltwater for redfish and such but would be a massive overkill for normal-sized trout. Get a light to medium spinning setup for the trout and then you will be set up for almost anything.

Eating sharks is like a lot of things in that it is more where you live than whether they are eatable. It is a little like eating gar. I was raised in Cajun country and gar was definitely on the menu. Most places that isn't true and gar are considered trash fish as far as their culinary value. I suspect that the problem with shark may be that it doesn't ship well and so is sort of limited to coastal areas where you can eat it fresh.

Rod and reel fishermen are no real threat to most species of shark. It is the Japanese with their long line factory ships that are harvesting the sharks for their fins that are decimating populations. If you are fishing for sport and mostly doing catch and release fishing the shark is probably about the most fun that you can find when you take into account numbers and their strength. The other fish that have the ability to offer a similar or better fight are a lot more few and far in between. Shark are generally pretty agreeable about biting.

Running fast in the dark is not smart whether you are in a boat or driving a car. Imagine driving your car 40 or 50 miles per hour in the dark without having your lights on. Even when you know where you are running it isn't a good thing to do. I had a guy in my fishing club that was famous for running full throttle in the dark running on a GPS track. With that, he could run and stay in the boat paths. All was well until one night he hit a floating log doing about 60 miles an hour. It tore the transom off his boat and sent a 200 hp Black max outboard to the bottom. It tore the throttle assembly out of the boat and took that to the bottom with the motor and broke his right forearm. Fortunately, the boat stayed afloat and he was able to call for help with his cell phone.

It used to give me the creeps to listen to him blasting through the fog in the dark in the predawn start at our tournaments. He didn't learn a thing though. as soon as he collected on his insurance got a new boat and his arm out of a cast he was right back to doing the same thing. I always made sure he was out ahead of me in the mornings.

The reel in the picture is a 303 saltwater reel. They were about twice the size of a standard 300. the left-hand crank was a 302 and the right-hand crank model was the 303. I have one of each and they were/still are great reels. There was a 310 which was the Ultralite reel size. They were all way ahead of their time in quality and function.

The 303 in the picture is a wonderful medium tp medium-lightweight surf reel, (I have mine on a 9' medium rod and have caught a lot of nice redfish with it.) or a great catfish reel for long cast situations in freshwater.

I guess that worm would be used with a huge hook and a weather balloon for a bobber to fish for Moby Dick.

I use some Eagle Claw hooks that are made of extra light wire when I am fishing for Crappie and bluegills in brush piles or when I'm fishing with minnows. They are strong enough to catch the fish but will pull loose and straighten out when you snag a log. The metal is soft enough that you can just bend it back and keep fishing. I've never lost a fish because they straightened out on just a fish. This is in part because when I am fishing for crappie and bluegills I am using a light action rod and light line and not trying to horse a fish in that is very big. I wouldn't intentionally use a hook that wouldn't hold a nice fish of the type that I am fishng for. I have actually caught some real nice suprise fish on those light hooks. Ocassionally a catfish or big bass will show up when you are fishing for crappie.

I want a flathead or blue catfish over 50 lbs on a rod and reel...

In the spring from sun-up to sun-down it is hard to beat a buzz Bait worked fast over the shallows.

Zara puppy in the morning, a plastic worm in the middle of the day, rattle trap in the evening and a spinner bait slow rolled at night...