Norway Lake

[eye-man]

Looking for a lake to put a sleeper house on this weekend...Would norway be a good bet to get some good crappie action???

[icenads]

Lookin to head out there myself monday with my son for some panfish or whatever is bitin. Eye-man or anyone else havin any luck out there in the middle of the day?

[primetime49]

anyone ever caught a gar on Norway or Games in the winter??????????

[icenads]

Well norway sounds pretty quiet. On my way to diamond. Heard theirs a descent crappie bite that hits at dark.

[tritonman]

There was a person next to our fishhouse on games that caught a gar. What is the deal with that?

[primetime49]

[GAR]when they used to net for rough fish in winter we would see some well over 4 feet

On open water casting in 3 to4 feet my dad pulled in a 3 and 4 footer same day when we were looking for northerns

[GAR] One guy told us they got one nearly 5 feet long did not know what kind of fish it was until they showed picture to DNR

I have probaly averaged 2 per season when trying to get northerns

[GAR]Do any of you get them fishing deep,we know they are deep in winter as they have been netted

Someone said they can reach 6 or 7 feet long

[GAR]Wouldnt it be cool to get a monster

Are you allowed to keep them as if I caught a 7 footer would love to mount it[doubt they make replicas]

Best place to catch them in summer,rushes shallow in Norway west end for half mile before you enter west norway

[LEECH21]

Alligator Gar in the south not Minnesota can reach lengths up to 7 feet long. They can actually really lengths up to 12 feet and weigh close to 300 pounds! However that is in Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, and other southern states.

The gar around here are either the shortnose gar which averages around 2 feet in length and is mainly found in the Minnesota River valley. And the longnose gar, which you are probably refering to. They can sometimes reach 5-6 feet in length, but 1/3 of that is the mouth, so they don't reach the impressive weights like their southern cousins. Cool fish anyhow!

Check with Artistic Anglers out of Duluth. I'm sure they have done replica gars before and do awesome work. All the mounts you see in a Cabela's are from them.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've heard the gar stories and I did see one small one on Games last summer, but I've logged a lot of time out there and have never caught one. I will definitely give it some more effort, though.

[tjoutdoors]

My family has had a place at Dilly's resort on West Norway for the past 25 years and we've never caught one of these fish. I've seen small ones in the rushes when hunting for carp or panfish in the spring but never seen one even approaching 3 feet in length. For those who have caught them, do they fight much? Any teeth in them critters?

[LEECH21]

Most gar fight like a wet noodle! And yes, lots of teeth!

[PikeTipper]

Check the creek that goes through the golf course on Willmar Lake in the spring when the carp run if you want to find gar. Never have seen any too big though.

[LEECH21]

Sweet! I'll have to remember to check that out this spring.

[jigginjim]

leech where did you catch your gar at? I have caught them in the mississippi river and no wet noodle, fought better then most northerns, for a4lb fish.

[LEECH21]

All the gar I have caught were shortnose. I can usually find them in the slack waters of the Minnesota River. Most of them were only about 2 feet long or so, maybe a little longer.

Guess I cannot speak for larger fish. Would love to get onto some larger longnose gar sometime. A few years back I fished Kentucky Lake, and saw huge schools of longnose. Some were pushing 6 feet I bet. Couldn't get close enough to them without spooking them.

Leech