Gar fish. grrrrrr.

iIcaught one, and I somehow managed to skin it. (dragon scales, man) I didn't filet it, although i don't think it's too late.

it was about a 2foot long needle nose.

does anyone have a recipe that they themselves have tried and liked?

what? 

What are you talking about?

I thought it was a type of fish but since I get called "Gar" a lot, I googled it and a type of fish was the first definition, but this came up further down in "The Urban Dictionary"

A term used towards male characters and individuals who are so overwhelmingly manly that your own masculinity is absolutely *buried*, leaving you naught but a whimpering, swooning girl-child before them.

Obviously the urban dictionary does not get it correct all the time.     Of course, I'm also not a fish.

A gar fish.

here's a picture, it's not the exact subspecies that i caught, but same thing basically. there where so many post with wild recipes, i was hoping someone knew how to cook this. i'd just look it up online, but you never know about those recipes....

it's not big deal, i was just wondering if anyone knew how to cook it. it had already swallow the hook, so i didn't want to throw it back. 

I used to be in a party group (Riverats) that fished and drank beer...

The old grandpa that let us get to the river by his private road.. said his fav fish was gar... I would guess you cook it like any other fish...STAY THE HELL away from it's mouth...it looks like it has shark teeth..

He did say that he nailed the Gar to a tree and stripped the skin off the large center bone...so i would suppose you treat it just like a fish fillet after that..

It was considered a pest fish here and you could harvest any way as many as you wanted...not sure if that is still true... but  if you get a look in its mouth, you will easily see why other fish don't stand a chance around the gar. AND you may never swim in the river again.

Gar eggs are not to eat, poisonous.

Be careful as you skin it, try not to get slime on the meat (too late for that if you did it, but oh well). Take 12 oz of evaporated milk and a dash of crab boil seasoning, a teaspoon on Fresh cracked black pepper (or to taste) a teaspoon of salt (any salt really, adjust to taste, more if Kosher salt, which is less dense) and a small onion. Chop the onion, combine all at a low simmer, reduce heat, add fish, slop some of the mix over the fish and let sit for 5-10 minutes, pull it off when it's flaky.

Here in the tropics, we have a fish called gaspar which looks similar, but is considered very good eating. They don't get as big either. The last time I went fishing for one, I hooked a 80 kilo tarpon instead. It was a one sided battle, that I lost, but it was fun while it lasted.

Gar has many uses. Best way to cook is to make a small trench, build a fire in the trench and make coals to about 1-2 inches deep. Use a grate over the trench, and place the entire gar on it belly down, best you can cause it wants to roll over to its side. Wet an old burlap (jute) bag and lay it over the gar. Let it steam (same as doing oysters). When the scales start to pop open, its done. the middle part running down the back has sorta a fillet in it, and thats about the only part that is edible, but it tastes good.

Other uses, mostly Native American: the teeth were used as small saws, the scales on larger ones were used as arrow points and the entire scaled portions could be glued (using animal glue) onto a stiffer piece of hide (like buffalo or even cow) and made into a shield.

I cut the fish with ax, cleaver or hacksaw in to 6 in. pieces then slide your knife under the skin go all the way around then push the meat and all out .
start on top in the middle of the back and cut down to the ribs and fallow out to the side .
then you have two pieces of snow white meat ,@ 6 in long and no bones .
look for leaches little green spots cut out and cook ,eat The old wise tall is to eat it warm  or it gets bigger as you eat it.

Let me echo what Rockguy and Bull have said. Gar roe or eggs are poisionous do not eat them. That said if you have one with an egg sack with large sized eggs I understand the eggs make good panfish bait. The best part of a gar are the backstraps or fillet along the backbone. While the rest of the fish is also edible it is the meat along the back that is best (like most fish although cheek meat on most fish is perhaps the best piece there is not much of it and you have to cook the whole head to get it). The thing about gar, in my opinion, is it is easy to overcook it whatever method you use most likely because of it's prehistoric origins as mudfish or bowfin is the same way as are many other "older" species. I guess my "favorite" way to cook Gar is in a fish stew like a catfish stew (tomato based not stock but a true stew look one up online then adjust it to what you have on hand or your tastes not telling mine it's a family secret) only substitute gar.  The funny thing about fish stew is it is very forgiving as to what type of fish you use to make it including quality of the "cut" of fish. I like to trim my fillets of any fish till I get just white meat because I love fried fish and that is the best way to have it. This leaves me with pieces that are not white and bones with meat still on them (not a lot but some). I use thies pieces to make my fish stew and have even been known to add a few fillets in if I did not feel there was enough fish once I picked out the bones. I hope this helps and btw aside from a few species (except certian parts like puffers, and gar eggs or whole fish some sharks and I am sure there may be others) you can treat any fish the same as any other and they are all edible. Some of course are stronger "fish" flavor, others more oily/fatty, and other more mild and sweet each of which lends itself to being better prepared a certian way however one thing I can say you can never go wrong with grilling over a fire right on the beach or shore. I think that is the best way to have any fish.

I have heard horror stories about gar. They aren't the easiest fish to fix up into something to eat.