Indiana Lake Depths

Ancient fish · gar family

Gars (spotted, longnose and shortnose)

Lepisosteus oculatus (spotted) · L. osseus (longnose) · L. platostomus (shortnose) · also called garpike, needlenose gar

Native to IndianaRecorded in 96 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a gars in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Breathes air
Gulps air into its swim bladder
Spawns
Mid-April to May, near 68°F
Eats
Mostly small fish, ambushed near the surface
Warning
Gar eggs are highly toxic to people
Indiana records
Spotted Gar: 9 lb 11 oz — Rivir Lake, Noble County, 2024
Longnose Gar: 23 lb 12.2 oz — Ohio River, Floyd County, 2025
Shortnose Gar: 2 lb 15.9 oz — Wabash River, Tippecanoe County, 2025

Where gars have been recorded

96 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list gars, across 18 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Maxinkuckee, Marshall CountyBass Lake, Starke CountyTippecanoe Lake, Kosciusko CountyHamilton Lake, Steuben CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountySylvan Lake, Noble CountyWinona Lake, Kosciusko CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyLake of the Woods, Marshall CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyLake Gage, Steuben CountyAdams Lake, LaGrange CountyJAMES LAKE, Kosciusko CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyBig Lake, Noble CountySilver Lake, Steuben CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyWabee Lake, Kosciusko CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Kosciusko CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKuhn Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyLittle Turkey Lake, LaGrange CountyBear Lake, Noble CountySkinner Lake, Noble CountyCedar Lake, LaGrange CountyIndiana Lake, Elkhart CountyCenter Lake, Kosciusko CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyCass Lake, LaGrange CountySechrist Lake, Kosciusko CountyOlin Lake, LaGrange CountySouth Mud Lake, Fulton CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyTROY-CEDAR LAKE, Whitley CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyBall Lake, Steuben CountyUpper Long Lake, Noble CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyDiamond Lake, Kosciusko CountyCree Lake, Noble CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountyEagle Lake, Noble CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyStory Lake, DeKalb CountyBig Otter Lake, Steuben CountyHill Lake, Kosciusko CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountySand Lake, Noble CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyBell Lake, Steuben CountyLittle Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyLake Everett, Allen CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountyEmma Lake, LaGrange CountyEngle Lake, Noble CountySpear Lake, Kosciusko CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyFish Lake, Elkhart CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRound Lake, Steuben CountyOld Lake, Whitley CountySacarider Lake, Noble CountyMcClures Lake, Kosciusko CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountySellers Lake, Kosciusko CountyCrane Lake, Noble CountyMartin Lake, LaGrange CountyGreen Lake, Steuben CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyHenry Lake, Steuben CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountyPleasant Lake, Noble CountyMoss Lake, Noble CountySummit Lake, Noble County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 96lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 6 to 3,508 acres (median 94) and from 6 to 125 ft deep (median 38.5 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
83 of 170 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
0.75 per net lift where found
Highest
5.2 per net lift
Method
fish per net lift (gill and trap nets)

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 82 lakes at a typical 3.7 per hour of electrofishing. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Cree Lake, Noble 2019–2023 5.2
  2. Diamond Lake, Kosciusko 2013 5.2
  3. Big Otter Lake, Steuben 2015 4.5
  4. Crooked Lake, Steuben 2016 3.5
  5. Barton Lake, Steuben 2018 2.5
  6. Eve Lake, LaGrange 2016 2.5
  7. Indiana Lake, Elkhart 2014 2.5
  8. Royer Lake, LaGrange 2019 2.5
  9. Sellers Lake, Kosciusko 2015 2.5
  10. Wall Lake, LaGrange 2017 2.5

Fish per net lift (gill and trap nets), with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

A long, toothy snout and a body armored in hard, diamond-shaped scales that interlock rather than overlap. The snout and the spots tell the three apart. In the lakes on this site, spotted gar are recorded far more often than the other two.

Don’t confuse it with

Spotted gar — A moderately long snout, with spots over the head, body and all fins.
Longnose gar — A long, narrow snout more than twice the length of the rest of the head.
Shortnose gar — A short, broad snout, with spots only on the tail and rear fins.

Life in an Indiana lake

Gar lie still near the surface and ambush passing fish, swallowing them head first. A primitive swim bladder lets them breathe air, so they survive in warm, low-oxygen water. Spotted gar favor clear, weedy water in natural lakes, backwaters and marshes.

Spotted and shortnose gar spawn over plants and other submerged objects; longnose gar over gravel along windswept shores. The fry hang from objects by an adhesive pad until their yolk is used up. Spotted gar mature at about 3 years and 20 in.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 96 lakes with gars

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 1

Lake Everett

DeKalb County 1

Story Lake

Dubois County 1

Huntingburg Lake

Elkhart County 2

Fish Lake, Indiana Lake

Fulton County 3

Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake, South Mud Lake

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Jackson County 1

Cypress Lake

Kosciusko County 21

Beaver Dam Lake, Big Chapman Lake, Center Lake, Dewart Lake, Diamond Lake, Hill Lake, Hoffman Lake, Irish Lake, JAMES LAKE, Kuhn Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, McClures Lake, Pike Lake, Sechrist Lake, Sellers Lake, Shock Lake, Spear Lake, Tippecanoe Lake, Wabee Lake, Winona Lake

LaGrange County 17

Adams Lake, Atwood Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Lake, Emma Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Little Turkey Lake, Martin Lake, Messick Lake, Olin Lake, Oliver Lake, Royer Lake, Wall Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 1

Stone Lake

Marshall County 3

Dixon Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lake of the Woods

Noble County 21

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Big Lake, Crane Lake, Cree Lake, Diamond Lake, Eagle Lake, Engle Lake, Gordy Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Moss Lake, Pleasant Lake, Rivir Lake, Round Lake, Sacarider Lake, Sand Lake, Skinner Lake, Summit Lake, Sylvan Lake, Upper Long Lake

Parke County 1

Rockville Lake

Pike County 2

Pigeon Pit, Prides Creek Lake

St. Joseph County 2

Riddles Lake, Rupel Lake

Starke County 1

Bass Lake

Steuben County 12

Ball Lake, Barton Lake, Bell Lake, Big Otter Lake, Crooked Lake, Green Lake, Hamilton Lake, Henry Lake, Lake Gage, McClish Lake, Round Lake, Silver Lake

Whitley County 5

Blue Lake, Little Cedar Lake, Old Lake, Round Lake, TROY-CEDAR LAKE

Sources

← All fish of Indiana