Longnose Gar
Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus) is a freshwater species. The first thing to check: a very long, slender beak — at least twice the length of the rest of the head — lined with needle teeth. The look-alike to rule out is Alligator Gar: alligator gar have a short, broad snout and two rows of teeth in the upper jaw, and grow vastly larger.
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| Scientific name | Lepisosteus osseus |
|---|---|
| Also called | needlenose gar, billy gar |
| Water | Freshwater |
| Group | Gar |
| Temperature | Feeds through the warm months from the mid-60s into the 90s °F; spawns in late spring in the low 70s. |
How to identify a Longnose Gar
- A very long, slender beak — at least twice the length of the rest of the head — lined with needle teeth.
- A single row of teeth in the upper jaw.
- A cylindrical body armoured in hard diamond-shaped ganoid scales, with the dorsal and anal fins set far back near the tail.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Alligator Gar | Alligator gar have a short, broad snout and two rows of teeth in the upper jaw, and grow vastly larger. |
| Spotted Gar | Spotted gar have a much shorter snout and bold dark spots on the head, body and fins. |
Read the full entry for Alligator Gar and Spotted Gar.
Where it lives
Rivers, oxbows, reservoirs and backwaters through the eastern and central United States. Cruises just under the surface in slow water and often rolls to gulp air.
Temperature
Feeds through the warm months from the mid-60s into the 90s °F; spawns in late spring in the low 70s.
The conditions that matter
Gar are surface-oriented air-breathers, so they show themselves most in warm, still, low-oxygen water — the hot, flat afternoons that are unproductive for everything else. Water temperature and dissolved oxygen logged per catch make that pattern obvious.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about longnose gar into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.