Tangling with Longnose

What this living fossil lacks in game appeal, it makes up for with tenacity and an astonishing natural history. Gar Tangling With Longnose By Michael A. Kallok 2 Photography by TomMinnesota Conservation Volunteer Thulen July–August 2011 3 The diamond-shaped, razor- catch. He also holds the current Backwater Maze sharp, and enamel-hard scales of state record for a type of sucker We arrive at Verchota Landing gar were once used to tip arrows. known as golden redhorse. near Minnesota City just after 9 No hook required: Flies made A good map like the Geving’s curiosity about a.m. with a 16-foot fishing boat of frayed nylon rope tangle in the one found in the Minnesota’s native fish was in tow. Waiting for us is Heath teeth of longnose gar. DNR’s Mississippi first inspired by family trips Sershen, technology manager Removing a tangled rope fly River guide is to St. Croix State Park. There, for the National Eagle Center in requires a good pair of pliers. essential for navi- with hook, line, sinker, and Wabasha and self-described for- gating the river’s humble nightcrawler, he mer trout snob. He still enjoys maze of backwaters. and his brother Corey (the fishing for trout, but it’s clear Geving displays a 40-inch other half of roughfish.com) that Sershen now avidly pursues longnose gar caught from Pool 5a discovered a diverse world other species as he relates a story of the Mississippi. swimming beneath the river’s about arecent battle with abow- surface. Like birders keeping fin. Like gar, the bowfin is a ray- Between61 Red Wing doesn’t andstray far from the thick blue line of the Mississippi. Precipitous lime- La Crescent,stone outcrops U.S. Highshoulder- the river’s broad floodplain. Ordi- narily I’d be looking for a ten- way dril of blacktop west into the deeply furrowed landscape of the driftless area, where trout swim in coldwater streams. Verchota Landing near Minnesota But today will be anything City provides access to Pool 5a. but ordinary. a lifelist of their sightings, the finned relic of the Cretaceous. Pool 5a, like the rest of I’m on my way to Pool 5a of Gevings and their cadre of so- Sershen is on his way to Mississippi River below A heavy 8 to 10 weight flyrod is the Mississippi River in hopes of called “roughfish” enthusiasts Pool 8 in search of shovel- St. Anthony Falls, is home useful for casting bulky rope flies. catching aliving fossil of the Cre- believe part of angling’s ap- nose sturgeon today, but he’s to a remarkably diverse taceous Period—longnose gar. peal is landing species they’ve stopped by to refresh Geving’s assembly of fish. A typical While a simple chunk of frayed With me is Andrew Geving—an never caught before. memory on how to safely nav- sampling by DNR fisheries rope might suffice, these rope flies are ardent proponent of the simple After lucking into a school igate to the gar spot, which he’s can turn up as many as 60 embellished with fish-attracting flash. pleasure of angling regardless of shortnose gar the previous labeled “the snag” on the map different species, includ- The gar’s bony beak is 15 to 20 of species and co-founder of summer, I’m looking to add he leaves with us. ing baitfish. times as long as it is wide. roughfish.com, a website devot- longnose gar to my own lifelist. Sershen bids us luck, and ed to fish most anglers try not to Geving has agreed to help me. we part ways. With our gear Gar impale prey with their sharp teeth before turning it sideways in 4 their slender beak to swallow it. Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 2011 5 secured and boat launched, we motor out of the sluggish water near the access to a small Catching gar with rope flies is a neat challenge for fly- channel and head upstream. fishing enthusiasts, but a lively sucker minnow, small This isn’t the main channel of hook, and slip bobber is also an effective way to catch the river where pleasure boats shortnose and longnose gar. cruise and tugs push cargo- laden barges. We’re picking our way through the braided backwaters of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge. There are no naviga- tional aids here, so we rely on a depth finder as we motor cau- tiously through a maze of chan- nels that weave between and around islands. Along the way, we pass a handful of anglers. They are likely fishing for bass, walleye, or panfish—all evo- lutionary newbies compared with gar, which have existed for 100 million years. Asteroid Survivor During the Late Cretaceous, gar swam with guitarfish, sharks, paratarpon, and a host of other fish that either no longer ex- ist or no longer inhabit fresh- water. Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops roamed the land, and pterodactyls flew overhead. But, in the plodding context of geological time, nearly half of earth’s species were on the cusp of mass extinction. Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid 10 kilometers in diame- ter slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, July–August 2011 7 Eocene Gar on Display Pellentesque eu nulla lectus, a facilisis sapien. Pellentesque rutrum lacus vitae tellus lacinia quis auctor purus mattis. Vivamus id dui arcu. Cras vel ornare enim ectus, a facilisis sapien. Pellentesque rutrum lacus vitae tellus lacinia quis auctor purus mattis. Vivamus id dui arcu. Cras vel ornare enimectus, a facilisis sapien. Pellentesque rutrum lacus vitae tellus lacinia quis auctor purus mattis. Vivamus id dui arcu. Cras vel ornare enim Vivamus id dui arcu. After untangling according to University of North of Upper Cretaceous and Low- from a distance. They aren’t ris- the rope fly, this gar Dakota paleontologist Joseph er Paleogene rock, says fossil- ing to the surface to feed; rather was released. An Hartman. The impact of the as- ized gar scales are among the they are coming up for gulps of armor coat, makes teroid sent amassive cloud of hot most common finds through- atmospheric oxygen. The ability Geving (above) gar difficult to clean, debris into space, and chunks re- out the formation. In other to breathe air allows gar to sur- says figuring out but many anglers, entering the atmosphere ignited words, the fossil record shows vive in very warm, oxygen-de- how to catch a especially in south- a planetary firestorm. gar didn’t merely survive: They pleted water. This trait was likely species he’s never ern states, hold gar “Life would have been a continued to thrive. an advantage for gar as they en- caught before meat in high esteem. blazing hell for a few weeks,” dured the apocalyptic conditions provides him with a While gar flesh is says Hartman. First Encounter that wiped out the dinosaurs at different perspective edible, gar eggs are Animals that couldn’t burrow Cumulous puffs drift lazily be- the end of the Cretaceous. on fish and the reportedly poisonous or find refuge in the water were neath wispy cirrus clouds on The reason they are still water they inhabit. to humans and other likely wiped out. A period of what’s going to be a hot July day. here can be attributed to the But Geving is also mammals. Little is cold due to the sunlight-block- Geving recognizes adistinct tan- relatively unique north–south amazed by the fish- known about the ing cloud of dust and smoke is gle of roots that once nourished direction of the Mississippi catching insight toxin or what evolu- thought to have followed this a massive cottonwood tree pro- River, according to Dan Diet- and ingenuity of tionary advantage it global inferno, says Hartman. jecting from the river’s surface, erman, DNR fisheries biolo- the hundreds of may have provided Clues to life on Earth before and we nudge the boat into shal- gist in Lake City. Globally, not other anglers who considering that fish and after the catastrophic end low water on the opposite shore. many rivers have a longitudinal regularly share preying on gar eggs of the Cretaceous can be found “They’re h e re ,” he says, point- orientation, says Dieterman. their knowledge are unaffected by in Montana and North Dakota ing back across the channel to a The significance, he explains, is and experiences on the toxin. in a group of rock exposures slick of water behind the snag. that gar and other survivors of roughfish.com. known as the Hell Creek For- With the outboard silenced, the Cretaceous, such as bowfin, mation. Hartman, who has ex- we can hear the splashy porpois- sturgeon, and paddlefish, could tensively studied this division es of the gar as we watch them migrate up and down the Pa- 8 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 2011 9 through—just their fascinat- first. The conventional fish- our flies along that edge and let ing natural history—I think ing method calls for a bobber, them sink before beginning our Though this gar more people would start see- sinker, small hook, minnow, retrieves. I make a cast and let measured 40 inches ing these fish as worthy of and the patience to wait until the fly descend as the current long, it weighed less pursuit and reflection.” the gar has swallowed the bait pulls my line into a gentle arc. than 8 pounds. But far enough to hook the soft When the slack disappears, what gar lack in girth, Toothy Tricks skin at the back of its mouth.

Load more