here in east texas i find that if you locate some realy shallow grass beds and the sun is out you can find some shootables in the grass sunning themselves and lookin for bream and baitfish. other than that i wait for the 70 + degree days and when the water reaches around 55 to 60 degrees its on then. the big gar tend to not show up till the water realy warms and the spawn is on. then they cruise the bream and bass beds lookin for dinner.