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Floyd County angler catches state record longnose gar
Floyd County resident Justin Brown caught a record-setting longnose gar on the Ohio River on Dec. 30 of last year, on a warm winter afternoon.
The fish weighed 23 pounds, 12.2 ounces, beating the previous record from 2008 by almost a pound and a half. The previous record fish was caught from the White River. Brown caught his gar from a boat using a jigging spoon.
All three of Indiana’s gar records have now been broken in the past three years – the shortnose gar record was set in 2025, and the spotted gar record was set in 2024.
Longnose gar are one of Indiana’s most common gar species. It is found throughout the state, and the largest longnose gar typically live in bigger rivers.
Gar are ambush predators that lie still, near the water’s surface, to feed on small fish as they swim past. Gar are difficult to catch using basic hook and line techniques because of their hard, bony mouths. Many methods have been developed to catch gar, including using a snare with bait in the middle that tightens around the gar’s mouth.
Phil Kacmar, who is the big rivers fisheries biologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), says anglers who use live bait to catch gar should let gar that bite run with the bait to give them time work the fish down in their mouth to have better success landing it.
Visit the Where to Fish map at on.IN.gov/where2fish to find a fishing location near you.
Learn more about the Indiana Record Fish Program at on.IN.gov/recordfish.
Learn about purchasing a fishing license at gooutdoorsIN.com.
To view more DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.
The fish weighed 23 pounds, 12.2 ounces, beating the previous record from 2008 by almost a pound and a half. The previous record fish was caught from the White River. Brown caught his gar from a boat using a jigging spoon.
All three of Indiana’s gar records have now been broken in the past three years – the shortnose gar record was set in 2025, and the spotted gar record was set in 2024.
Longnose gar are one of Indiana’s most common gar species. It is found throughout the state, and the largest longnose gar typically live in bigger rivers.
Gar are ambush predators that lie still, near the water’s surface, to feed on small fish as they swim past. Gar are difficult to catch using basic hook and line techniques because of their hard, bony mouths. Many methods have been developed to catch gar, including using a snare with bait in the middle that tightens around the gar’s mouth.
Phil Kacmar, who is the big rivers fisheries biologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), says anglers who use live bait to catch gar should let gar that bite run with the bait to give them time work the fish down in their mouth to have better success landing it.
Visit the Where to Fish map at on.IN.gov/where2fish to find a fishing location near you.
Learn more about the Indiana Record Fish Program at on.IN.gov/recordfish.
Learn about purchasing a fishing license at gooutdoorsIN.com.
To view more DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.