Spinafish. I lived among the Cajuns for a number of years. I have watched the ease out of a boat with a bailing hood attached to a short length of "plow line" and catch gar that way. What they did was pretty much like gabbling for catfish. Matter of fact, at one time there was a "Gar Rodeo" on Caddo Lake each year that had some good prizes for the biggest gar caught this way.
I have eaten gar several times. One Cajun lady I knew (you know she was a lady, she owned a bar!) use to skin them, cut them in two three inch pieces like slicing a loaf of bread, cook them in a pressure cooked for a while, them take it out remove any really large bones, and mash it up. She then added celery, green pepper (or Jalapeno) and onion, and several eggs. She rolled the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball, rolled that in a cornmeal mix, and deep fried. She called them "Gar Balls", and would usually fry up a large quantity and place them on the bar each Friday night along with oysters, shrimp and crawdads,,,,,,,,,,,,,order a cold beer, and eat all you want.
