Here's how I clean gar...

First.... start with a good attitude.


You need to get a hole started in that armor-like hide. Use a machete. (or use the arrow hole as your starting point). Then, tin-snips make short, crunchy work of the skin and scales. BTW.... It's actually easier to snip from the tail forward.


Cut and peel the hard shell-like skin back to expose the meat.


Once exposed, it's a simple matter to remove the two 'loins' or filets. The strips of meat are boneless.



How does it taste? Well, it tastes a lot like gar.

To me the taste and texture is like the tail meat of a crayfish (somewhat like lobster).

Gar balls are a great way to get around the texture.. (grind the meat up) Boiling it in crab boil and dipping it in butter is a great way to take advantage of the texture.

thanks....... Now all I got to do is hit one of them. Shouldn't be a problem, been practicing on some real small "pan fish". lol ......... shhhhhhhhhhhh

Just be sure not to borrow someone's knife they inherited to try to cut through the scales.

I caught one of those nasty-azz things on a hook-and-line last week...

talk about "...ok, Beavis... now what?.."

Fish... this is waay true. (but it wasn't me....) []

I still think I should buy you a new knife or some other doohickey to pay you back.

So Razor.. what did you do?

Ill stick to Walleye

Hey don't worry. There was no real emotional attachment. Besides, it now works better than ever - I reshaped it and sharpened it. I use it to 'unzip' the carp so I don't dull my good knife cutting through the scales. You know I love you and just giving you a hard time.

I know what you mean Razorhead.
I got my first gar this Spring, with a bow.
When you get a look at the teeth up close, there is a strong desire to throw it back, quickly.
I was ina canoe at the time, so onceI got it off the arrow, I jammed it nose-first into the bow of the canoe, and kept my foot on it for the next 40 minutes until we got back to the launch.

Not sure we even have Gar out here...

Cooking and cleaning a gar: 1st, run over 4 or 5 times with a crawler tractor, 2nd, take axe (not a good one) and chop head off, 3rd, start a big fire, throw gar in fire, 4th, when completely burned up, throw gar ashes away and eat left over coals.
dog1