Bow Fishing

[tcoop]

I had a buddy that went fishing last week in the warm weather here in central IL. He said that they saw a few carp crusing in the sallows already. They weren't spawning yet, but they were up.

Anyone else been out bow fishing or seen the carp up yet?

tcoop

[the long ranger]

Ive been looking for them, havent seen any carp yet. Had a few Steelies come up the river last couple weeks. Thats been nice. But Im dusting off the bow for the carp spawn. Suckers have made their way through already, so the carp should be in soon.

[the long ranger]

Got out and shot me some suckers today. ;bang_em

[img]http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/TheLongRanger/Fishies.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image']

[tcoop]

Great job Long Ranger. I see the waders so I assume you were wading. Can you give us more details and the rest of the story?

tcoop

[the long ranger]

I couldnt hold out any longer. Ive been patiently (until yesterday) waiting for the carp to start running. The suckers have been running for a couple weeks, but they are TOUGH little buggers to shoot. They are skinny fast and stay at the bottom of the river.
My cousin came over yesterday grinning from ear to ear. He says "I found a pocket of suckers in the Plum Creek, they are piled up on top of each other". He had been spearing them all morning, and wanted me to join the fun. I was hesitant at first since my only fish arrow needed to be fletched. Fletch All glue doesnt set very fast, so we brainstormed for a minute and decided to try Crazy Glue. It worked!
We grabbed the waders and headed out to the creek. I had a horribly slow start, missing fish after fish. I have a reputation among my friends for being damn good at bowfishing, and I was looking like a fool. Until the polarized glasses. If youve ever tried those things you know, they are a Godsent. Ray let me borrow his glasses since he already had some dozen fish tied up. The first shot I got with the glasses on was a snap shot from the side (kinda like hip shooting with a shotgun I guess) at a running fish. I nailed her center mass. Thats when the real fun began. We had such a blast.
I brought 9 home, Ray more than tripled me with his spear. Whenever I missed one seems like it whent straight to him.
Sure was a lot of fun.

[tcoop]

Great story!!

I hope to be able to get out here in the next week or two.

tcoop

[the long ranger]

What kind of bow you use tcoop?

[RobertWeber]

tried to coop!

but ran out of arrows, it takes at least 19 shots to get through the foot of ice still here.

by the time I had a trench cut i was out.

I'm kidding, we only can shoot carp, there aren't any right here, and the season opens May 15th.

we always see folks shooting other fish in NY, especially pike by us, but the general regs are:

"Bowfishing
Any person who has a fishing license or a small game hunting license or is entitled to fish without a license may take Carp of any size and in any number by Longbow from May 15 through September 30 from any water of the State where fishing and the discharge of a bow is permitted.

Taking fish by bow is otherwise prohibited."

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/f...html#Bowfishing (http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/fishregs/fishregsspangl.html#Bowfishing)


We go to southern NY, Mass and VT a bit to shoot carp, but time gets less and less.

those gar on champlain might be fun.

[tcoop]

Long Ranger,

My bow is a Renegade Archery Company (http://www.renegadebows.com/home.htm) Tominator. I really like it.

tcoop

[the long ranger]

Very nice looking bow, I see why you like it so much. I used to use my compound for bowfishing but found out it was easier with the recurve. I dont have to pull back 100% to shoot, I can get faster shots, and I dont shoot my arrows off anymore :) . Cant remember how many arrows Ive lost because the compound shoots so fast. It leaves without the string sometimes.
Robert, your laws suck there. @black
Michigan lets us have fun, we can shoot lots of fish.

[tcoop]

Long Ranger,

To be honest I haven't gone bow fishing with this bow yet. I just got it last fall. I used to use my OLD, OLD, Bear White Tail II. It was used when I got it about 20 yrs ago. I knida wish I woulda kept it for bow fishing.

I know what you mean though about shooting an arrow off of the string. I have done that 2 X. One time I missed so I was able to retrieve my arrow out of the mud. The other time it swam off. [cont] I've been wondering if that will be more of a problem now that I have a fater bow.

tcoop

[the long ranger]

Dont be surprised if it does shoot arrows off occasionally. I think its something to do with the cams and letoff that does it. Going from 0 to 300 fps instantly could be part of it too. My old recurve is slow but not too slow to work.

My recurve is OLD OLD too. My uncle bought it new in the early 70's, it will be my bowfishing bow for life hopefully. Gotta love it when you have something that doesnt need to be improved. B)
Its a Bear Kodiac Magnum