Season of the Gar

by Spitzer, Mark

• ISBN13: 9781557289292
• ISBN10: 1557289298
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-03
• Publisher: Univ of Arkansas Pr

Summary

Season of the Gar is a fang-infested, monster-headed, armor-plated romp through the prehistoric swamps and murky rivers of America’s most feared and demonized fish. Follow Mark Spitzer on his lengthy and often frustrating quest from Texas and Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas to catch his own gar. Read about his sometimes bizarre angling adventures in search of this air-breathing freshwater giant (up to ten feet in length and well over three hundred pounds) as he separates fact from fiction. Spitzer draws on folklore, science, history, his own pet gar, and even gar recipes to tell this unique and exciting literary eco-tale about a fish that has inspired imaginations for centuries, a fish many have hated, a fish many have thrown on the shore to die.

Author Biography

Mark Spitzer is assistant professor of writing at the University of Central Arkansas, managing editor of the Exquisite Corpse Annual, and a lifelong, passionate fisherman. He's the author of a number of novels, short story and poetry collections, and translations, and a past resident of Paris's famous Shakespeare and Company bookstore. He was a recent guest on a television episode of Animal Planet's River Monsters.

Table of Contents

Gar Images	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Getting a Garfish	p. 1
In Search of Massive Missouri Gar	p. 17
Gar and Loathing in Texahoma	p. 27
Gator vs. Gar: A History of Misinformation	p. 37
The Existential Fish-Life Crisis (or How I Finally Got a Gar)	p. 43
When Gars Attack	p. 53
Some Messy Nessie Gar Myths and Other Distortions	p. 59
Mutant Gar Is Missing Link	p. 65
How I Finally Bagged the Big One	p. 69
Frankengar	p. 77
Gar in the Balance: Texas, the Trinity, and the Homosexual Rod and Reel	p. 85
Arkansas Gar Wrangling: Out of Sight, Out of Mind	p. 105
A Psychological History of the Arkansas Alligator Gar with Recommendations for Its Future: A Polemic	p. 117
Long Live the Gar!	p. 143
Gar Recipes	p. 157
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