I went gar fishing on the Roanoke river this past spring. My boy shot several as did I.

Using a tin snip to open the skin and a fillet knife to remove the “backstraps” I was able to clean about 5 fish in less than an hour.

I had heard that gar is some of the best eating, and judging by the meat I can believe it. But before cooking it I did a little research on contamination.

Being that gar are at the top of the food chain, they tend to have exceedingly high concentrations of heavy metals and pcb’s. Up to a 1000 times the concentration of other fish tested in the same polluted waters.

So with a heavy heart, I tossed the fish in the woods.