Up next in 10
Catching Longnose Gar on the Ottawa River | Fish'n Canada
321 views
Apr 15, 2025
Pete Bowman and Angelo Viola travel to the nation's capital and hit the Ottawa River for what may be the most unique fish species they've ever targeted... the Longnose Gar. In this exciting episode, they literally stalk their prey by sight-fishing the protected bays of the Ottawa River. What comes unexpectedly is the amount of missed and lost fish they encounter. It's pure mayhem at it's best! ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanada... ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:06
okay we got to figure this
0:13
out oh there's a nice one oh yeah Bo
0:17
look at them all in here Pete 1 2 3 4 5
0:23
6 but awesome looking weird looking
0:26
crazy looking
0:28
fish he's yours are you kidding me how
0:31
do you get these things in a fre
0:34
D
0:36
wow the fish in Canada show brought to
0:39
you in part five Ram trucks built to
0:43
serve Princecraft boats dominate The
0:48
Waters Garmin pan Optics allseeing sonar
0:52
Mercury outboards go boldly and Outdoor
0:57
Canada Canada's only National fishing
1:00
and Hunting
1:02
[Music]
1:06
magazine for this week's episode Pete
1:09
and I hit the road toward our nation's
1:11
capital once again dropping the
1:13
Princecraft fnc into the Ottawa River
1:16
this time though in search of a fishing
1:18
Canada first in around Ottawa we have an
1:22
amazing fishery there's trophy
1:24
smallmouth bass as you can see by the
1:26
Tournament Trail that comes through here
1:28
within an hour there's trout fishing
1:29
there's there's amazing northern pike
1:31
fishing there's a world class musky
1:33
fishery got her big fish big fish W what
1:38
a beast and what the people don't know
1:40
there's amazing carp and also the mighty
1:43
longnose gar that's what we're after and
1:46
as a couple of gar fishing rookies we've
1:48
Enlisted the aid of an experienced Pro I
1:50
got into gar fishing about 10 years ago
1:52
it's uh became my favorite frustration
1:54
you know you'd see them cruising around
1:56
while fishing for bass or casting for
1:58
musky and uh they sometimes follow your
2:00
lures so it uh became my obsession to
2:03
try to find them and catch them took a
2:05
couple years to figure out the right
2:06
system and the right areas but uh you
2:09
know now where you consistently can put
2:10
fish in the boat especially when
2:11
conditions are right like
2:13
this while conditions might be right but
2:16
we're still forewarned that Landing one
2:18
of these weird looking beasts will be
2:20
nothing short of impossible we're going
2:22
to have to dig deep into our goodie box
2:24
and use every trick in the book to
2:26
figure out these toothy Critters see
2:29
that would work great great but how do
2:31
you put a hook on that little trouble
2:33
hook you going to catch on everything
2:36
though catch on every weed out there
2:38
pretty much problem is they'll hit it
2:41
this
2:42
way you can't you can't get a hook into
2:45
it you need little be tiny treble that
2:47
kind of gets all messed up in that snow
2:50
somehow you put a regular treble on the
2:54
the chanate it won't penetrate chances
2:56
of getting that to dig in is slim to
2:58
none but you know those little tiny
3:00
Stinger hooks do we have those got a ton
3:02
of them so if we take that run that
3:05
through the bait
3:08
somehow might do
3:13
it
3:15
maybe it's a
3:18
possibility we're certainly going to try
3:20
it it's good to Target different species
3:23
I think you know a gar really brings a
3:26
technical aspect in terms of casting you
3:28
have to be able to cast right spot so I
3:30
think even for a bass angler flipping
3:32
pockets it's pretty similar you you have
3:34
to put your bait in the right spot and
3:36
when you're due you're often rewarded no
3:38
he doesn't even have it does he I got it
3:42
somehow yes he does nice one
3:46
buddy that is awesome hang on let me get
3:49
the net yeah we got a I don't even know
3:51
if he's got a hook on a man I think he's
3:52
got the line around his beak look at
3:54
well he might have that little Stinger
3:55
on I don't know what a cool looking fish
3:57
that is neat he's going to get a you
4:00
guarantee you this guy's going to you
4:01
don't have a hook in him I might have to
4:04
stick oh there he goes I don't think he
4:06
had a hook I don't think I did either I
4:07
think it was last around you just just
4:09
oh my
4:10
God that was user error for sure I
4:13
didn't have my Stinger on properly I was
4:14
just playing around but now I'll try and
4:16
figure a better way I can put that
4:18
Stinger on there the thing is they're so
4:22
the mouth is so hard just solid bone
4:24
multitude like hundreds of little razor
4:27
sharp teeth and and and when they grab
4:30
your bait first of all they're locked in
4:32
on it so when you set the hook you're
4:34
not pulling the bait into the fish Stay
4:36
Stay Stay Stay got him stay stay oh this
4:40
may be the most frustrating fishing ever
4:43
so you got to hope that on that first
4:46
strike there's some part of the hook
4:49
that's going to get kind of handled up
4:50
in the teeth you hadam what is it with
4:54
these things because otherwise you you
4:56
don't stand at
4:58
Chads you on you
5:01
man that's going to be crazy he had the
5:03
Stinger that's going to be crazy get in
5:06
him so everything I've got going here is
5:09
not good got braid and a stiff rod on a
5:13
tiny hook so I have to change that I'm
5:14
serious I got to change
5:19
this we're just playing around right now
5:21
we're just trying to figure things
5:27
out stay on there
5:30
[Music]
5:31
he's a big one he's on look at look at
5:33
the size of him oh that's nice that's
5:34
nice
5:36
oh that thing was a okay we got to
5:38
figure this
5:40
out don't get off don't get off holy
5:43
Lord don't get off oh no no no no no no
5:47
holy Lord buddy no no no no this thing
5:50
is
5:52
[Music]
5:56
massive you never know when you're out
5:58
here what you're going to see and and
6:00
how big they are but uh fish in the
6:02
Ottawa River over 50 in are common we
6:04
see them every week it's just a matter
6:06
of getting your bait in the right spot
6:07
and having everything come
6:12
together got him you on there yeah he's
6:16
on yeah oh look at the size of your PE
6:19
holy morning and make sure your drag is
6:21
set loose okay yeah it's loose make sure
6:23
you're set oh my God that is a monster
6:26
don't get off don't get off holy Lord
6:30
that's Beauty oh my God hang on go get
6:32
off oh look at that just that little
6:34
Hook is in okay can you pull him in the
6:36
net I'm going to try oh no no no no no
6:38
no holy Lord buddy no no no no this
6:42
thing is massive I don't want to scoop
6:44
him until he's close to
6:46
[Music]
6:47
me oh my mind
6:50
broke they don't fit in the net they
6:52
won't fit in the freaking
6:54
n your line broke yeah my line broke oh
6:57
my god did you see the size that I think
7:01
people do think gar fishing is
7:03
frustrating because when you're out in
7:05
the right spots you're in the shallows
7:07
on a nice hot sunny day you do see Fish
7:09
all over the place look at him huge
7:12
right here that's a big that's a big
7:14
beast oh my God 1 2 3 four five six oh
7:20
my God they're filthy in
7:23
here and the amount of fish that you do
7:25
hook compared to the ones that do hit
7:27
the net for a photo are uh there's a
7:29
little bit of difference there he cut
7:31
through that like nothing he cut through
7:33
it I didn't I think you know what I
7:36
think he was about here you got to get
7:38
him right straight in nose in almost get
7:40
that hole there's nose right out of that
7:42
hole what we got to do that Bish was
7:44
huge I thought you had him in the net it
7:47
was then he just turned and and he broke
7:48
his string did you see the size of that
7:50
thing oh my God I don't know how they
7:51
are in pounds but that thing was a
7:53
freaking monster wow oh my god well we
7:57
got we've seen two or three of them in
7:58
here like that so we got our work cut
8:00
over us this a nice little baby we got
8:01
to catch one of them
8:03
suckers that's caught that fish is as
8:05
good as caught this is such a new
8:06
fishery I mean if we sound like we don't
8:08
know what we're doing it's because we
8:10
don't know what we're doing this is all
8:11
brand new to us in fact I don't think
8:13
we've ever targeted garik
8:15
before landing gar um most people have
8:19
the most difficulty with that oh that is
8:22
a fish man wow look at that look at him
8:26
oh he's off he's off my biggest um trick
8:31
when it comes to Landing gar is don't
8:33
take a lot of time just get them on the
8:35
hook and as quickly as possible get them
8:38
in the net don't let them jump and roll
8:40
and all that
8:40
[Music]
8:44
stuff that's when things go wrong that's
8:46
when lines snap fish gets Tangled and
8:48
and hearts are
8:50
broken okay so you got to bring them
8:53
into this net and then gone there he
8:57
is you got him
9:01
almost had him oh that would have been
9:02
the that would have been the easiest
9:04
that job
9:05
yeah oh my God these things are nuts
9:08
they like how the heck coming in he's
9:11
yours you no he's stck me how do you get
9:15
these things in the freaking okay
9:16
there's got to be there's got to be a
9:18
way of doing this
9:21
okay oh he's got it in his mouth he's
9:24
got it he's in there oh he's got Weeds
9:26
now that's okay
9:30
still on I think he's on he's a good
9:32
fish think he's on not a super giant but
9:34
he's a good look at the mouth opening
9:38
up he's he's fat he's drag ho he's a
9:43
freaking big
9:45
fish so we're going to try and go nose
9:48
right into the center of the net
9:50
okay and just leave the drag loose like
9:52
that so he doesn't break the hook right
9:53
so he doesn't pull a hook here we go
9:56
that's awesome watch those pads buddy I
9:58
know you can't help but but with
10:00
spinning gear oh boy oh boy oh good he
10:02
cleared himself he goes in you got to
10:05
coming in De okay straight into the net
10:07
and then let him loose okay loose he's
10:09
yours you no he's stop kiding me how do
10:12
you get these things in the fre the
10:15
net okay there's got to be there's got
10:18
to be a way of doing this okay that fish
10:21
is longer than this net by by a long
10:23
shot it's not a big one I got to get
10:25
that beak through the hole through the
10:27
hole the net all right bring him fast
10:30
he's yours got you fer I got you fer did
10:35
your line oh your line's out too yeah
10:38
okay that's see that I got the beak
10:40
through the net look at this you got to
10:42
get that thing through a hole to give
10:43
you an exra 10 or 12
10:45
Ines okay now do we have gloves in the
10:48
boat let's get these puppies on that a
10:51
boy this is going to be
10:54
cool now the reason we brought these
10:56
gloves I got to tell you a little
10:57
experience my dad and I went wall
10:59
fishing one time and oh don't touch that
11:01
finger that and dad got a a gar and I
11:04
said I'll stay away from his teeth
11:05
completely stay away from his teeth
11:06
thinking everything is safe I grabbed
11:08
the back of them like a pike you would
11:10
do with the pike or walleye one of his
11:12
scales cut me cuz they're so such an
11:14
armor plate of fish I was infected for a
11:16
month after that I normally heal up in a
11:18
week that's how much these things are
11:20
dangerous so okay they're prehistoric
11:23
fish they around when the dinosaurs were
11:25
here they're uh Not Your Average um fish
11:30
that you do see in a regular basis they
11:32
have a big long snout lots of nasty
11:34
teeth you really got to watch yourself
11:37
look at
11:38
that that is so neat those scales are
11:41
hard oh buddy they will cut you they're
11:43
like steel they will slice you open can
11:45
you open his mouth yeah okay seriously
11:48
just just to show those teeth cuz that
11:49
is
11:50
remarkable those are all teeth and and
11:54
that that upper and lower is just solid
11:56
bone so it's just impossible to get a
11:58
hook into this fish you're hanging on a
12:00
snake is what it looks like I swear to
12:02
God
12:03
okay perfect good release too buddy God
12:07
look at him oh man that is awesome that
12:11
neat and it's what you know the best
12:14
part is that is how long it takes you to
12:15
get one in the to get in how many fish
12:17
have we had on 10 so far we just got
12:19
here right 10 in this little Bay to get
12:21
one in yep wow we're on we're working on
12:24
10% that's good okay well no hook set at
12:29
all no none just start just start
12:31
dragging it in start reeling and and
12:33
eventually I think what happens is
12:35
you're dragging it in because it's not
12:37
thrashing yeah a hook gets buried uh in
12:40
in behind one of the teeth or something
12:42
I don't know but you saw I mean that
12:44
came out as soon as we got a net the
12:45
bait came out again right so as soon as
12:47
the pressure's off
12:50
yep yes
12:53
yes yes yes that's a beauty yeah he's a
12:57
pretty good one that's a beauty
13:01
okay now we'll see how good I am at
13:04
netting oh here he goes
13:07
no so I think one of the keys to this is
13:10
is really loose drag they're going to
13:12
run just let them run cuz these hooks
13:14
are so small ex trailer hooks Jamie says
13:17
get them in fast but you don't want I
13:18
don't know how you going to do that
13:19
without pulling the hook out of him I
13:20
know right here he
13:23
goes there we go that's how you net him
13:26
boy he's heavy holy macro that's
13:30
deceiving I know they're really
13:35
deceiving oh man little
13:38
mon
13:40
bye-bye can't hang on to
13:44
him and watching him Chase your bait is
13:47
just manad talk about an adrenaline rush
13:51
got him
13:59
to get to today's great gar fishing we
14:01
first drove East on Highway 401 we
14:04
turned North on Highway
14:06
416 and then West on
14:09
417 we next headed north on Road 49 then
14:13
Northeast on Solen Road and finally left
14:17
on leged Drive taking us to our
14:19
outstanding accommodations at the Brook
14:21
Street Hotel and Resort to have a place
14:24
that is this luxurious and yet
14:26
affordable is rare these days with a
14:29
perfectly manicured 18-hole Championship
14:32
golf course on the Brook Street property
14:34
this is a perfect place to put together
14:36
a great golfing and fishing getaway by
14:40
the way the hotel is only minutes from
14:42
the boat launch on the Ottawa
14:44
River we're out here in the the
14:47
Wilderness so to speak catching great
14:48
fish but at the end of the day it's nice
14:50
to sleep in a comfy bed and uh you know
14:53
once your arms are a little bit sore sit
14:54
in the hot tub or grab a swim so it's uh
14:57
Best of Both Worlds being able to join
14:59
enoy the outdoors and also you know plan
15:00
a little vacation pamper yourself take
15:02
your kids take your family or you know
15:04
we get a lot of people that are up here
15:06
enjoying a business trip and uh need
15:08
some time to decompress either on the
15:10
golf course or spending a half day on
15:11
the water and a full day on the water
15:13
and really enjoying what Ottawa has to
15:15
offer using an expert guide like Jamie
15:18
to fish a Waterway as vast as the Ottawa
15:21
river is a no-brainer I'll look after
15:24
everybody I got all the gear all the
15:25
equipment they just have to bring a
15:27
camera and a positive attit and we'll
15:29
get them on the
15:31
fish you know at the end of the day with
15:33
this fishery it's not so much the catch
15:37
as it is the action oh there's a nice
15:39
one oh
15:41
yeah oh look at them all in here Pete oh
15:44
yeah look at them all in here yeah wow
15:46
we found a motherload there's one there
15:49
there's one there there's one there
15:51
there's one two there oh this is crazy
15:54
talk about sight fishing this is out of
15:56
sight man I like to cast a little bit
15:59
past the fish and bring your bait right
16:01
in front of their nose you have to be
16:03
right on their nose you have to be right
16:05
beside them and they're not coming over
16:06
for it he's on it he's on it no
16:12
no he took a snap at it he didn't like
16:16
it like they don't know until it's right
16:19
on
16:19
[Music]
16:22
them you got to be kidding me there he
16:26
goes there he
16:27
goes come on baby come
16:30
on and watching him Chase your bait is
16:33
just
16:34
[Music]
16:36
man talk about an adrenaline
16:43
rush he's
16:47
interested got him
16:51
okay Mayhem on the aut garpike Mayhem
16:55
look at the tail that's that's pretty
16:56
cool very cool what a great looking fish
17:00
they
17:01
are you look like you're releasing a
17:03
jablin
17:05
an oh there's something about this that
17:10
makes it more of a hunt than a fish
17:12
because you're not just casting randomly
17:15
you're casting at a particular fish that
17:17
you see so it it's a the Dynamics are
17:20
totally different but it's a blast it's
17:22
an absolute
17:23
riot absolute riot who
17:29
you don't have the little the treble
17:31
hook in it yeah no no it's hanging down
17:33
below see it's wrapped around and maybe
17:34
the line has caught itself or something
17:36
I'll bet you these garpike by the way
17:40
like nobody fishes for them for whatever
17:43
reason I don't know other than the fact
17:44
really nobody knows a whole lot about
17:46
them but they've been around for
17:47
obviously millions of years they're
17:49
almost prehistoric Spurgeon isn't it our
17:51
two old fish Y in Canada
17:55
yep I'll tell you what this is the first
17:57
trip of me for for me to to Target these
17:59
things and it will not be my
18:01
last nice underneath yeah there you go
18:05
buddy thank
18:07
you oh look at this guy's got a rip an
18:09
they're not that tough look at oh yeah
18:11
something damaged him so they are they
18:14
are followable
18:16
yeah what an awesome looking weird
18:19
looking crazy looking fish you see those
18:21
teeth W hundreds of teeth that's a
18:24
shredder wow that is so cool
18:29
what a single
18:31
costume here buddy I'll just drop you
18:33
straight down little bit of scum
18:36
off there he goes when you look at the
18:39
pure sports fishing aspect of it these
18:41
are some of the most exciting and
18:43
wonderful fish to catch especially when
18:45
you're out sight fishing people are at
18:46
least seeing their target and they're
18:48
casting and uh having lots of action was
18:51
yeah oh yeah there he is yeah oh boy wow
18:54
this sight fishing is unbelievable you
18:57
know whether you're into bass or or in
18:59
our case here gar you're making contact
19:02
visual contact with the fish before you
19:05
even put the bait out to them it is so
19:08
exciting it's
19:09
unbelievable what's more unbelievable is
19:12
that it's taken us this long to set our
19:14
sights on these prehistoric fish woo
19:18
there you go I'm already looking forward
19:20
to the next time
19:23
hey what a great
19:26
fish I think they're one of the most
19:28
underrated game Fish we have in our
19:30
Waters and we're truly blessed that
19:32
after a million years they're still
19:34
here there he
19:43
[Music]
19:44
goes today's hot spot is in Shirley's
19:47
Bay the Waypoint on your screen will
19:49
take you right there this Bay loads up
19:52
with gar of all sizes with some real
19:55
monsters included but be careful the
19:58
entrance to this Bay is strew in with
20:00
lots of Boulders also be cognizant of
20:03
the fact that at the back of the bay is
20:05
a Canadian military firing range for
20:08
more hotpots like this one check out
20:10
fishing
20:12
[Music]
20:18
canada.com the fish in Canada show
20:20
brought to you in part five Ram trucks
20:24
built to
20:25
serve Princecraft boats dominate The
20:30
Waters Garmin pan Optics allseeing sonar
20:35
Mercury outboards go boldly and Outdoor
20:39
Canada Canada's only National fishing
20:42
and hunting
20:43
magazine close captioning for this
20:45
episode was brought to you by fishing
20:47
canada.com the gateway to your next
20:49
fishing
20:51
Adventure come alone to our cabin in a
20:55
wild
20:57
[Music]
#Fishing
#Outdoors