Illinois has four species of gar, one of which — the longnose gar — is known to be in the Kankakee and Iroquois rivers and tributaries, although not in great numbers.

It is considered relatively common statewide, according the Phillip W. Smith's 1979 "The Fishes of Illinois."

Longnose gar frequently have been shocked up in recent years during electro-fishing by Illinois Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologists while gathering fish for tagging for the annual Kankakee River Fishing Derby. The shocking boats work between the Bird Park area and the Kankakee dam.

Longnose also were found in Illinois Natural History Survey electro-surveys of the river between its confluence with the Des Plaines River, northwest of Wilmington to the Illinois Route 17 bridge at Kankakee in 2013, with the most recorded below Wilmington's dam.

As its name indicates, the longnose is characterized by its long and slender snout, which appears to make up about one-fifth of its length, which reaches 3 feet or more — under half the size of the largest alligator gar on record in Illinois.

Like all gar, they are difficult and somewhat dangerous to catch on hook and line "because a hook usually cannot penetrate the bony jaws," Smith's book states. "Gars are fearsome in appearance, and in handling them, it is easy to be accidentally snagged by the sharp teeth. It is difficult to hold a struggling specimen in the bare hands without having the skin lacerated by sharp body scales."

Shortnose gar are generally less than 2 feet in length, but the spotted species also can grow to more than 3 feet. They are not recorded for the Kankakee system. While the spotted gar is less common, the shortnose was "extremely abundant" in the Mississipppi, Ohio and middle Illinois rivers, in surveys noted in Smith's book.