Gar in the Mississippi!!

[Scottyk1217]

My buddy caught some type of gar in the Mississippi river recently and was wondering if anyone knew what kind of gar are in there. It was caught near Winona, Minnesota sorry no pics . Also does anyone have any idea if its legal to keep gar caught from the Mississippi? Thanks for any help.

 

[gar_lover]

tonssss of gars live in the mississippi..it could be a florida,spotted,alligator etc. if you could get pictures that would help tonss

 

[KLee79]

i dunno but we've got gar here in columbus too

 

[Zoodiver]

Up in that area you'll have one of two: Alligator or long nose.

 

[ringo99]

Longnose, shortnose, or gator, doubt it was a gator

 

[E_americanus]

would be shortnose gar or longnose gar...look at photos to tell the difference. would not be an alligator gar--
--solomon

 

[sbuse]

would be shortnose gar or longnose gar...look at photos to tell the difference. would not be an alligator gar--
--solomon

i would agree on the gator, more then likely a longnose i have caught some in stillwater,mn...you can keep as many as you can catch as they are considered a rough fish in mn...i have thought about going bowfishing in the mid-lower mississippi in mn for gars by the power plants they like to gather there in massive schools...

 

[ringo99]

Gators have been found on occasion this far north (I'm in WI), but overall you are only going to see short or long nose.
I too have caught longnose, near the Lacrosse area, but that doesn't mean yours is a longnose. A description would help.

 

[E_americanus]

Gators have been found on occasion this far north (I'm in WI), but overall you are only going to see short or long nose.
I too have caught longnose, near the Lacrosse area, but that doesn't mean yours is a longnose. A description would help.

do you have a reference for that info or is it merely anecdotal? according to solid records (check fishbase and natureserve) alligator gars have not been found that far north (MN or WI). these were likely mis-ID's. farthest up north they are are into southern IL and the Ohio River.

sources:

http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=ATRACTOSTEUS SPATULA

http://fishbase.org/Summary/species...Atractosteus&speciesname=spatula&lang=English

 

[ringo99]

As far as the gator, yes purely anecdotal, not a regular, but definitely not beyond the realm of possibility.