What IS That?

The girls enjoy fishing. I don't mind holding the pole, but please don't ask me to put the minnow or worm on and definitely don't ask me to take the catch off of the hook! On Memorial Day weekend, we fished at Lake Grapevine, our normal lake hang out. HM and I usually use only 1 pole--if she gets a bite, she's definitely NOT going to reel it in. We got a bite and boy, we had something! Next thing we know, HV's line is caught up in the same "fish"! We finally pull it out of the water. HM shrieks and runs away when we get it up on the decking. J and I just look at each other. What IS that? J decides it would be best to just cut the line, letting it have the hook and all instead of messing with that mouth. Fast forward to this afternoon. We head back to Lake Grapevine--same fishing spot and all. HM and I have our same pole in the water but not in the exact same spot. What did we catch? The same darned thing! After some looking for it on the good ol' internet, I've determined it is a longnose gar. We thought it was an alligator gar at first, but after more sleuthing, I see that it's probably a longnose gar. I sure hope it decides to go live somewhere in the big lake. HM will freak if we catch it for a 3rd time.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, here's the fish count:

HM and K: 4 including the gar

HV: about 10!

J: I'm not sure if her count, but I know she caught more than HM and myself. We kept her quite busy since that gar kept eating our bait!