Funny thing happens in the skinny water I favor. Since there's no deep water for the fish to move to, often the fish will move to any shade that's available since the water will be a couple degrees cooler. I often find gar stacked under a tree providing a little shade with gills and Crappie sharing the same water often only 12 to 18 inches below the gar. I've learned to cast into the middle of the small gar looking for what's beneath. A little unconventional, but it often works.

I also briefly saw a gar following my spinner in Little Piney Creek a few weeks ago. I didn't get a good enough look for a positive ID, but probably an Alligator Gar based on the length. It was near five feet.