what is the best bait for carp and gar

[dereckthomas]

what is the best bait for carp and gar

[pineywoods]

I've never fished for carp, but everything I've read says doughballs are the cat's whiskers. For gar, which I do know something about from experience, you'll have the best luck with some live bait like a small bluegill. If you spot a gar cruising near the surface you can generally trigger a strike with a lure if you pull it snappily across in front of him, but they can be hard to hook on account of their bony mouths.

[santa]

I like using zucchini squash or cucumber for carp. But one of the larger (lenght) fish I have ever caught was an alligator gar that came up and bit the speck (spotted seatrout) I was reeling in. Therefore I know that a 12 or 13 inch speck is a temptation for an alligator gar. When the gar are rolling on the surface real bad in the local river, I have taken a large feather duster on a steel leader and just had fun with them. A piece of frayed nylon rope also works and just gets caught in their teeth. Good luck.

[6phunter]

try using a dead minnow below a bobber one foot near the surface,when he hits don;t try and set the hook just pull up slow and keep the slack out and pressure on .

[Cgull]

I've used life perch for gar under a cork or other float. you must let the gar swim some time before setting the hook. The frayed nylon rope works nice also.

[SIR JAMES]

I used doughballs & never had any luck with them....for catfish, I have always used canned corn...like you would find at Redner's. corn has always worked for me.

As for Gar, I have no experience with them so I can't tell you what to do for them.