Has the obit been written on the Gar Rodeo?

Posted by edgodfrey

on August 10, 2009M at 2:30 pm

A bow fisherman poses with an 8 pound, 14 ounce shortnose gar

What happened to the once-annual Gar Rodeo at Lake Wister?
If anyone knows, please tell me.
Apparently, there won’t be a gar fishing tournament at Lake Wister this year.
Normally, the Gar Rodeo would be Saturday but according to park officials it will not be held this year. And by park officials I mean the lady at Lake Wister State Park last week who answered my phone call.
She didn’t know why there won’t be a Gar Rodeo this year but said there wasn’t one last year either. I got transferred to another lady at the park who said the same thing.
It kind of sounds like the Gar Rodeo is history.
I asked to have the park manager call me for an explanation but I never got a return call to find out why the Gar Rodeo is no more.
There is no huge outcry about this, I’m sure. Not a lot of people care about gar fishing. The tournament drew only about 50 to 60 anglers, but I always liked writing stories on these odd and unique fishing events across Oklahoma.
The Gar Rodeo was the first story I ever did when I took over the Outdoor beat seven years ago. (I am sure that endeared me to a lot of bass fishermen.)
For that reason, I always was kind fond of the Gar Rodeo (even though I can live without gar) and was thinking about going back this year to write another piece of prose about gar fishing.
Oh, well. I can always call this carp fisherman I know instead.