I went out this morning in search of some Gar in the Oklahoma river… I was fishing with a 5wt since the reel seat on my 8wt is loose (need to get around to sending it in) and felt a little under-equipped, but had to give it a shot anyway. I spotted a few surfacing gar that were almost out of casting distance  so I wadded out into the nasty water, tied on a 20lb straight spiderwire leader and a newly tied rope fly.

I made 3-4 unsuccessful (and fairly ugly, thanks to the 5wt) casts and then heard something that  almost sounded like someone was wading in behind me… So I turned around and saw this:

Monster Cat... less than 15ft away

I slowly turned around to face it, quietly clipped off the rop fly, and tied on a rusty orange headstand with shaky hands. It was motionless for the first 4 casts/retrieves and I was getting more nervous with each cast that I would spook him and blow such a great shot at a big fish. Made the 5th cast, jigging the headstand along the bottom right in front of the cat’s face… FINALLY, with a flick of the tail I saw it make a small move forward and open its mouth. I’m pretty sure I was holding my breath, but I waited a moment and then gave quick firm hookset. FISH ON.

After the initial water explosion and short quick run, he seemed content to somewhat leisurely run in the direction of the main portion of the river. It was pulling strong like a train, zig zagging through the shallows, but was thankfully avoiding the deeper water with a lot of snags. After what seemed like 15 min (but really I have no idea) it settled in a spot near a shallow cove and seemed pretty relaxed, almost like he wasn’t too aware of being hooked. I wadded as quickly and quietly as I could so I could get between it and the deeper water. I got behind him and “herded” him (for lack of a better word). With each step I took towards him he’d swim a few more feet into the cove and into more shallow water.

I was preparing myself for the landing wrestling match and finally went in to grab him. I got in close enough to make a move for the mouth, but it was clenched shut… the water exploded again when he felt my hand and I dove on top of him, managed to get a good grip with both hands around the neck, and pulled him up on the bank. VICTORY!

By this time a Hispanic man had come over to check out the commotion and although he couldn’t speak English was able to understand that I wanted him to take a picture! Wish I would have paid more attention to the shadow… oops.

First Flathead... Pumped.

I don’t know much Spanish but I knew enough to know that he kept saying familia and come and that he wanted to keep the fish. I indicated that he could have it and I think he was more excited than I was.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m probably terrible at estimating size/weight, but this one was definitely 36+ in and had to have been around 30lb if not more.

Still haven’t knocked gar off my life species list, but I’ll  definitely take this one as my first flathead!