The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Larry when are you going to get serious and come and catch the LARGEST freshwater fish in North America the alligator gar , everybody but you have been here , In-Fisherman , National Geographic, History Channel and the Discovery Channel , come on down and catch a big one , talk to ya soon Capt Kirk

Hi CK
You know, I thought about it years ago, back when I was traveling with al and jimmy lindner doing the one hour infisherman specials and saw a photo in a Broddus TX tackle store. They were loaded in the back of a pick-up and the guy said he cleaned them with a chainsaw. Also said he took them to someplace on the coast and sold them to McDonalds...
As a matter of fact, I've seen a couple of the pieces on TV done by Natl Geo and another I don't remember.
Don't take this wrong, but, my question is, do you know where there are any really, really big ones?
Like 350-400#?
Let me know.
Thanks for the invitation!
best,
L

Larry I took a 8 ft. 3 in 238 lb fish with Doug last year , since the world record is only 303 lbs it is very unlikely we will be able to catch one of that size , although in 1996, I caught a 9-6 in 365 lb fish out of the Trinity , I took 4 over 200 last year , that is probably a more realistic goal to shoot for although they are hard to catch , thanks Kirk

Larry:

Having fished with Capt Kirk on a few occasions, I can assure you that you will thoroughly enjoy your time on the water with Kirk and catch some big fish at the same time.

Kirk has an uncanny knack for catching fish of 100-200#s for his clients.

Sure a 300# pound fish would be wicked on film, but even at 100#+ it's an incredibly big freshwater fish to catch here in the States. Plus, the boat side-jumps can be pretty incredible.

It's a fish any multi-species angler should experience at least once in their life.

Steve Ryan

Steve thanks for the praise , even though you have had some good days and some tough ones hope all is going well with you and Dale , you 2 have got to get back down and fish with me again , all the best Capt.Kirk

Hey Guys,

While we're talking about Gar, here's an idea Larry:

Why don't you take some of those new, super large bucktails that are available, some large side-rolling jerkbaits and some quick-strike rigs for the deadbait and see what you can come up with down there with Capt. Kirk.

Usually, they allow the fish to swallow a deadbait and I'm quite sure gut-hooking fish that are 200 lbs. + can not be good. Don't know if any of you saw the blurb in In-Fisherman Magazine recently that talked about the slow death of muskies which were gut-hooked. When examined later, some had stomach wounds 3 inches long or so and took up to a year to finally die.

Would probably be great for the sport, Larry, if you could help introduce techniques which were equally effective but easier on the fish.

Best,

Todd

Todd , what you dont know is they where talking about J hooks NOT TREBLE hooks , thats why I use smaller trebles , they have been shown by my and others research to be lots more effective and safer on the fish as they dont TEAR the gut lining of a fish normally 2 barbs catch the fish and hold instead of tearing , thats what hurts a big fish the hook pulling thru and tearing her internal organs , Kirk

Hey Capt. Kirk,

Interesting. Thanks for the info and correction.

By the way, have you ever tried fishing for these fish with other techniques like those mentioned? Just curious. I would think it would be fun to try.

I should also mention that I saw the In-Fisherman segment about you as well as some articles and, I concur, in my honest opinion, while I love my pike & muskies up North here, the Alligator Gar is the greatest North American freshwater fish.

Best,

Todd

Todd if you can think of it I have fished for them in that way , I have taken up too 100 lb alligator gar on fly tackle , I have used all manner of baits , hooks ,artificial and natural , I am starting to use some 20/0 circle hooks on them again as this is the biggest circle available , it works sometimes , I will completely figure them out with circles sooner or later , they have a nasty habit of just picking the bait up in the end of thier mouth and swimming with it , so it is a guess as when to wind down on them .....

I think those bow fishermen should let up on those big old Gar before we start worrying about gut hooked fish. I'm not sure about hook mortality on them Gar but our Muskies & Pike up here are way more fragile than those Gar.

Hey Capt Kirk, It's me, Mike C.
Hey, my dad and I had a great time fishing with you last summer. It was good to see that I got the biggest Gar for your 2007 season. Thanks for a great experience. I loved it.

Cast and Blast

Mike glad you enjoyed it I actually caught a 180 with the Discovery Channel Guys but no good piks so you got the big fish for the year come see me again and we will get a BIG ONE