Where are you located in ny
I have caught lots of Gar on rope flies. It is fun as hell.I would never fish for gar from my kayak though...How would you handle a fish with hundreds of needle sharp teeth inside your kayak? Rope flies don't usually have hooks so in order to release the fish you need to control it so you can open its mouth and remove the fine strands of nylon or the fish will likely die of starvation. Unless you have a good CR program and appropriate first aid gear with you it just seems risky,wasteful and irresponsible to me.BUT...they are fun as hell to catch...
I imagine sodus would be good on a kayak. But for bowfin AND gar in a kayak I would suggest oak orchard creek. Right near Sandy's marina where the creek splits. You could drift a with a minnow and bobber, and cast at the same time. If your having trouble hooking the gar use a piece of rope. YouTube gar fishing with cord or rope to see what I mean. The teeth get stuck in the rope and you wind em in. Not sure if it works for bowfin but it works great for gar there.
There is a difference with removing a hook from a fishes mouth and removing the dozens of strands of nylomn rope that is entangled...takes time and Gar get upset when you touch them....also their teeth are readily accessible with the mouth is closed...and their scales are razer sharp too.I fish bass and walleye in my kayak a lot, and I have watched people catch sharks and more...the difference is they are usually clubbing the fish dead before bringing it aboard or removing a single hook at the side of their boat.Might just be me but no way in hell am I ever going to allow a GAR to sit in or around my lap while I try to release it....
