gar and snakeheads

I'm starting to plan out what I like to go after next year. I'm kinda a river monster chaser with the past year being a lot of 25inch plus walleyes and and 38inch plus muskeys out here in western part of the state. Made one trip to mattawoman and got skunked along with every boat we passed it seemed, just a bad day. It was right around the time the snakehead action was dying down as I was told after the trip. Any way the plans are to hit them pretty hard come spring but on my trip I also spotted a few little gar about 15 inch long right on top. As I have never caught one of these either, my question is has anybody targeted gar and if so where, what, and how. If I could double down on the trip in snakehead country as well that would be awesome. If there is a place polluted with gar and not a head in sight for miles, thats ok too. thanks for any and all help.