This monster gar was caught while bowfishing the backwaters of Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Lufkin, Texas by Keith Riehn and Robin Parks of Missouri on August 4, 2005. All totaled, the monster Texas alligator gar was slightly more than 8 feet, 2 inches in length, weighed 244.5 pounds, and measured 44.75 inches in girth – NOT the 327 pounds as noted in the second photo.
The current unrestricted division alligator gar record for Oklahoma is shown in the third picture. This 184 pound monster was hauled out of the Red River in Love County by Sean Chatham of Ardmore, Oklahoma on Feb. 25, 2006.
To view a larger version of the three pictures, simply click anywhere on the picture set.
Editor’s Note: Oklahoma State records courtesy of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife conservation. The full story can be found at:
You know, there is something about the word "hoax" that is unsavory. It suggests someone took a trick picture of a smaller gar and made it look like a monster.Hoax or no hoax, this is the scariest looking gar I have EVER seen. My grandpa and my uncle both used to fish the St. Francis River in Arkansas for a living, so I have seen and heard about gars most of my life. I have a photo of a gar caught in 1958 in Lakeview, MS by a family friend who made nets. On the back it says "10 1/2 foot gar, 465 pounds." Only the length is verifiable, and then only by comparing it to the 6' tall fisherman who caught it. It does not look as scary as the "hoax" gar, because its upper bill was shot or chopped off. That's what they used to do when they brought one of these monsters up to the boat. At any rate, since the tendency nowadays is to find fault, even with a catch as spectacular and obvious as the "Broken Bow Gar", I'll just keep my picture to myself and share it from time to time with friends and family.
The word hoax was used because there is a website claiming the gar as coming from a particular lake in Oklahoma and being bigger than it actually was - all to generate business for the site owner. The photo is real, but it is a Texas record. And yes, it's one, big ugly fish!
During the 1950's my dad and a friend of his use to fish for alligator gar in the White River around DeWitt, AR. In fact, they use to guide taking people fishing for gar. I have many pictures from that time showing gar as big as 15 feet long. They also had a story published in Sports Afield during the 50's.
Wow. That Alligator Gar is so big. So big that it is bigger than that man in the picture. It’s really a fulfilling moment to catch that kind of fish. Fishing gives excitement especially when you were with your love ones. It is nice to do fishing when riding in a charter boat. It is better to check out for a Fishing charter these weekends.
I grew up fishing Lake Belton in Central Texas where there are some monster aligator gars as well as a healthy population of stripers. These monsters must have a really good food source in order to get that large. That being said, has there been any monsters caught out of Texoma because there is a huge population of stripers down there, or is there no connection.
I've gotten reports from Alberta Creek Resort and Marina of 80+ pound gars hanging around the fishing cleaning dock.
That's a amazine and fabulas work i naver seen this type of fish and i am sure that there are more then three people need for catch this type of fish..