Record Longnose Gar Caught In Lake Champlain’s South Bay

WHITEHALL, N.Y. (AP) — A man fishing for channel catfish on Lake Champlain has hooked a New York record for longnose gar, a needle-nosed fish considered a living dinosaur.

The Department of Environmental Conservation says Michael Gatus of Hoosick Falls in Rensselaer County caught the 14-pound, 10-ounce longnose gar using chunk bait in Lake Champlain's South Bay in Whitehall last month. The fish broke the 1999 state record by more than 1 ½ pounds.

Longnose gar are long, slender fish with a needle-like snout filled with rows of teeth. They're found in shallow, weedy areas, primarily in the St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers, Lake Champlain and eastern Lake Ontario.

It was the third record fish caught in New York this year. The others were a 4-pound black crappie and an 18-pound walleye.