Chit. Not here they ain't. They are an invasive here. And get THIS. The Georgia DNR in all its infinite wisdom STOCKED a local lake with them years ago when the lake was first built. I've been trying to get a straight answer from them for years WHY and no one will say. I believe they "thought" they were doing something good, but they kill and eat every other species of fish and they are the most abundant fish in that lake. They ask people constantly to fish them out. I had a friend that caught one bigger than in the picture I posted. THey aren't worth a damn to eat, either sa they have three times the bones most other fish do. I'd love to find the cat responsible for stocking aligator gar in any lake and punch their lights out.
I stand corrected. You're right. The lake I spoke about was stocked with short nosed gar. They are BEGGIN people to come fish um out. I would go but the one time my son and I went, when we were coming back in, there was an elderly gentleman whose boat had got away from him on the dock. He jumped in to try to retrieve it and drowned. He was floatin by the dock when we came in with the EMTs going out to get him. Sad. We never went back.