Hartford, Illinois

Shortnose Gar on a Floating Carolina Rig w/ Nightcrawler

Alligator Gar on a Floating Carolina Rig w/ Nightcrawler

1st Shortnose gar

Small drum. Follow my YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@ancientfishing

New species! Accidentally snagged my first gizzard shad during a bit of spot hoppin' today; water's coming up at the diversion channel, so we tried a handful of rigs to no avail beyond the shad & accidentally snagging a MASSIVE Asian carp that got away. (I probably missed 30 gar on a double jig rig with curly tail grubs 💔). Slow start to the day, but a fun "catch" (*snag? It feels kind of wrong to call it a catch 😅) kept us going!

Did we run into some early wipers and white bass in the channel on a cold front with 40mph winds? No. 💜 But we did accidentally hook into a local problem, 2 or 3 beautiful but invasive grass carp! Heck of a fight. 🎣 Dispatched and disposed of away from the channel per standard procedure (for invasives ONLY 🙏) and local regs. RIP, little buddies; you were just born in the wrong river, and we'll choke out the locals if we let you stay. 💔