First of all I will tell you a little bit about the beauties I spend my life hunting. The Alligator Gar or Atractosteus spatula is a prehistoric species which at maturity can weigh 300+ pounds and reach lengths over 12 ft long. Unlike other fish, the gator gar’s bladder acts as a lung which enables it to breath pure air and can live out of water for up to two hours. They come to the top of the water and “roll’ which is surfacing just long enough to take a gulp of air. Although they do not need to breathe pure air to survive, we have found they rely on it more in the hot summer months when water has less oxygen. When a 200+ gator gar hits the top of the water, it sounds like a plane crash, and nothing gets my blood pumping faster!

Dedication, patience and good balance. If you want to become serious about day time bowfishing for big Alligator Gar these are the 3 main things you must have. First and foremost, like with any outdoor sport ,you must have dedication. The entire summer long, there is not a single weekend we will not hear an alarm clock at 3:30 AM telling us it’s time to hit the river at dawn. Friends and family simply can not understand why we spend countless hours standing on the deck of the boat under the scorching South Texas sun with aching backs from holding your bow waiting on a couple of shots at a ghost fish. Why do I say ghost fish? Well, unlike nighttime bowfishing when you have bright lights to show you the secret world under the surface of the water, daytime only offers a split second glimpse of a fish who is almost imaginary other than the proof he leaves behind. A splash, a swirl of muddy water, and your heart beating like a drum is the only trace left of the monster. You have to lift your bow, come to full draw, and aim without the aid of sights -all before your next heartbeat if you want to make connection. Most of the time you are making an educated guess on where to place your arrow judging the speed and direction of the gar. It can be frustrating and only dedication makes you keep on trying. There are many times when you are very uncomfortable while bowfishing. Because of the fact everything happens so quickly you must be ready every second. This means standing on the deck, holding your bow upright and scanning the water for your next shot. There are no gar calls but wiping sweat from your eyes, tightening your pony tail or going after an itch that just won't go away are sure ways to get a gar to roll in shooting range. There are times when my back is throbbing, sweat is dripping in my eyes and my feet hurt but I can’t let any of that distract me because there is a chance that any second the gar of a lifetime will roll and I have to be ready. Without dedication and a pure love of the sport, subjecting yourself to these conditions would just be torture.

Patience is a virtue, and a necessary ingredient to being successful with this particular sport. In the beginning, the hardest thing for me was looking way ahead or behind the boat when I would hear a splash. I would get anxious because it was not close enough and I felt like it was a missed opportunity. The gar have taught me that they are always where you are going or just where you have been and all you can do is stay focused on the water within shooting range. Now after countless hours of experience, I don’t even bother to look when I hear a huge splash up ahead. I have come to realize that if I do look, it could result in a missed opportunity. I will also pass up a smaller fish in range in order to be ready for a bigger gar if he provides a shot. That is where patience keeps me sane!

The last thing is good balance. When standing on the deck of a moving boat there is always a chance of the trolling motor hitting a stump, rock, etc. which thrusts you forward. There is nothing to hold on to so you have to always be ready to catch yourself with balance alone. My husband says everyone will go in the water eventually. It’s kind of like riding horses, if you have never been bucked off, you have not ridden long enough! It makes for a lot of laughs for everyone else in the boat when someone goes flying off the deck. The first time my husband went in it was on videotape; he came up looking like a drowned rat and all you can hear his buddy laughing at him. I have not personally gone overboard but I know eventually I will. Hmm, maybe being shorter and lower to the ground gives me an advantage over them tall boys! Falling in is not the only way to end up in the water, being pulled in by a big fish is also possible. I sunk an arrow in a 40 pound gar and my brother was holding onto my belt loop because I was getting pulled on so hard… just imagine adding 200 pounds to him! Yes, balance is a must!

Dedication, patience and good balance are very important to bowfishing;but don’t worry as long as you are dedicated the other two will happen. Amazing, addicting, satisfying, exhausting, difficult, rewarding, challenging are all words that can be used to describe bowfishing. Lightning reflexes, hand eye coordination, strength, agility, stamina, and staying cool under pressure are all things you must master to become an excellent bowfisherman. For me it is a way of life;my passion and obsession. People refer to summertime bowfishing as “something to do in the off season” but for us, bowfishing is THE season.