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Bowfishing

C

casts_by_fly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2022
Messages
239
Location
NJ
Hi gents,

Anyone here bowfish? I used to a bunch growing up. I always had my bow in the truck of the car for stops on the way home from work. On long days in the summer when I wasn't working I'd grab a BIG old soft army rucksack and my bow and just start walking the creeks for carp. It was nothing to put a dozen fish in the bag up to 15 lb (and have to carry it back to the car!).

I'm thinking of getting back into it as we have a couple lakes around that have immense carp populations. Last year in April with 50 degree water they were already in the shallows in massive schools. I have an old-ish browning mirage downstairs that will wind down to 50 lb plus a couple older fiberglass arrows rigged up. I'd have to get my reels from home. Anyone know the max poundage for fiberglass arrows? I imagine that 50 lb from a single cam (IBO 319) should be fine.

Thanks
rick
 
Yup, I bowfish a bit. Really fun when you get into them. My backup bowfishing bow is a compound set at 60 lbs using fiberglass arrows so you should be fine with your 50 lbs draw weight.
 
I bowfish a decent amount and fiberglass arrows are tough. Older arrows or ones left in the elements for awhile can start to develop loose fiberglass hairs that suck when getting in your finger or hand when handling them so keep an eye out for that.
If they start to get funky you can sand them down a bit and recoat with some polyurethane. If you have a dip tube, that'll make coating them even easier but not necessary.
Chips, loose heads and slivers can be repaired with epoxy but if there's any doubt just buy new, they're pretty cheap.
 
Following. Love the idea. What do you do with Carp? Down here we have snakeheads but I've never chased them
 
Gator said:
Following. Love the idea. What do you do with Carp? Down here we have snakeheads but I've never chased them
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generally trash. some use them for compost. A couple lakes here are overrun with them so taking them out of the ecosystem is a good thing.
 
Gator said:
Following. Love the idea. What do you do with Carp? Down here we have snakeheads but I've never chased them
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They're pretty good smoked or fried. I brine them then put em on the smoker. You can make carp cakes like crab cakes with the smoked meat or flake pieces off and eat. The pups love the smoked carp mixed in their dog food too.
Frying them is good but they're a little more challenging to clean and they're full of Y bones. They have a lateral line that tastes like dirt that I discard too.
Here's a good video showing how:
I understand they're one of the many fish that can have elevated levels of heavy metals and mercury so you may want to take that into consideration.
As said previously, they make good fertilizer just bury a few around the garden.
 
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Its a blast imo. I built a platform to float creeks
 
I was ruining my recurve so i revamped a kids bow that adjusted to my draw length and left at 30# of draw weight or so. You need a bow that you can easily draw a lot of times. Or be a much better shot than i am.

We cant eat fish on the creeks near my house so its all catch and release for game fish and possum food for carp.

If you have access to asian carp, try them. They are VERY good to eat
 
Will Harris said:
I was ruining my recurve so i revamped a kids bow that adjusted to my draw length and left at 30# of draw weight or so. You need a bow that you can easily draw a lot of times. Or be a much better shot than i am.

We cant eat fish on the creeks near my house so its all catch and release for game fish and possum food for carp.

If you have access to asian carp, try them. They are VERY good to eat
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Catch and release bow fishing? Or hook and line for gamefish, bow for carp?
 
BTaylor said:
We have em down here by the millions. Please come get all you want or all of them preferably. A case of dove loads and a big flat bottom, you can have a big time.
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Look how white the meat is. Very firm also. They are top feeders so they dont accumulate the heavy metals. The only drawback is they are same bone structure as northerns. Easy to make fish cakes or sausage. Most fry up and pick out y bones in the big fish

Very underutilized resource. There should be no hunger when these are so over populated.

Id love to have 1-2 per week forever
 
casts_by_fly said:
Hi gents,

Anyone here bowfish? I used to a bunch growing up. I always had my bow in the truck of the car for stops on the way home from work. On long days in the summer when I wasn't working I'd grab a BIG old soft army rucksack and my bow and just start walking the creeks for carp. It was nothing to put a dozen fish in the bag up to 15 lb (and have to carry it back to the car!).

I'm thinking of getting back into it as we have a couple lakes around that have immense carp populations. Last year in April with 50 degree water they were already in the shallows in massive schools. I have an old-ish browning mirage downstairs that will wind down to 50 lb plus a couple older fiberglass arrows rigged up. I'd have to get my reels from home. Anyone know the max poundage for fiberglass arrows? I imagine that 50 lb from a single cam (IBO 319) should be fine.

Thanks
rick
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I'd rather bowfish from my NuCanoe than deer hunt. You don't need a heavy bow to shoot fish, it only makes retrieval more difficult when you shoot through them. I use an old Bear Grizzly Recurve @ 40 # and shoot several hundred each summer. I take them to a bird sanctuary where they are frozen to feed eagles & other birds all year. When they are closed, an Amish farmer lets me throw them on his fields for fertilizer.
 

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Blacksmith said:
I'd rather bowfish from my NuCanoe than deer hunt. You don't need a heavy bow to shoot fish, it only makes retrieval more difficult when you shoot through them. I use an old Bear Grizzly Recurve @ 40 # and shoot several hundred each summer. I take them to a bird sanctuary where they are frozen to feed eagles & other birds all year. When they are closed, an Amish farmer lets me throw them on his fields for fertilizer.
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its a 2nd place finish for me. id rather deer hunt.

BUT, when you can go out and have a cold beverage, and be warm and not care about stinking and not have to sit still and not have to be quiet. its better than a barrel of monkeys.
 
I've been wanting to try this out, was thinking about thing a reel on my old compound but after reading this maybe the sage will get the nod
 
i used my sage for a while and it worked ok. i ended up going w the youth compound cause i could "tune" the bow to the weight of the arrow. they are heavy and the string adds even more drag. i could dial the draw weight to match the arrow weight until it flies straight. cant really cut down fishing arrows that i know of.
 
One of my wife’s friends lost her husband last night. He and some friends had been bow fishing and stopped for the night. He stayed at the boat launch while the other two guys went to get the truck and trailer. When they returned the boat had drifted away from the dock and they noticed him floating also. The media report has a lot of holes in it so we aren’t sure what happened. His body wasn’t recovered until yesterday late morning. Like I said there are a lot of questions still. We do know he wasn’t wearing a PFD. Happened on Stockton lake in Missouri.
 
Ckwilli said:
One of my wife’s friends lost her husband last night. He and some friends had been bow fishing and stopped for the night. He stayed at the boat launch while the other two guys went to get the truck and trailer. When they returned the boat had drifted away from the dock and they noticed him floating also. The media report has a lot of holes in it so we aren’t sure what happened. His body wasn’t recovered until yesterday late morning. Like I said there are a lot of questions still. We do know he wasn’t wearing a PFD. Happened on Stockton lake in Missouri.
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Sorry for your loss.
 
Man. I'd love to get into bowfishing. I've watched a few videos, and it looks like a blast. The closest I've come to it was a as kid. We were in a lake club and the lake had been stocked with these grass carp that had grown huge. Everyone hated the things. My cousin and I would paddle out to the shallows in a john boat and throw a brick out behind a group of them. We would then take turns shooting them as they passed by the boat with a snub nose 38. Man, that was fun. I bet it also contributed to hearing loss, but hey, it was the 80's.
 
Probably one of my favorite things to do in the off season when not hunting deer!!
 
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